Competitions

Contents.

1 What to expect and how to prepare for galas

2.Three types of competition

3 Nutritional advice for competitors

What to expect and how to prepare for galas

  1. When attending a gala please arrive in plenty of time so that you are poolside ready for the warm up session.
  2. Upon arrival the swimmers can go straight through to the changing area whilst parents queue to enter the spectators’ area. Once changed swimmers should go and meet their team poolside

3 Please arrive on time

4  Be properly equipped. i.e.

A large towel, goggles, hat, water bottle (no fizzy drinks) and some light clothing to wear in between events i.e. tee shirt & shorts. Please make sure that goggles fit before you leave home and it may be an idea to have a spare pair in your bag just in case!

5 Stay hydrated though out the day  Bring snacks for poolside and lunch

6 A good warm up before competition is essential (your coach will guide you through it)

7.Your behaviour must be exemplary – remember you are an official representative of the club

8 Wear your club colours (hat & shirt) with pride

9 Be modest in victory and gracious in defeat

10  Remember the most important thing is to do your best and enjoy yourself!

There are 3 different types of competitions:

To enter some levels of competitions a Category 2 Swim England registration is required. This will be notified to you if/when required.

Club Championships

This is held annually, in November and is open to any swimmer who is a member of the Vikings.

Club Competitions

This is when the Vikings compete against other swimming clubs. It is a team competition rather than an individual event.

When entering a gala you may be asked to swim in your age group or in a higher age group depending on your ability and other swimmers the same age as you, in the club.

Open Meet

Open Meets are available for all standards of swimmer, from novice to senior international.  Each meet has a licensing level according to the purpose of the competition and they all have qualifying or consideration times.

The main competition each year for the club is the County Championships. This is an open meet held over several weekends, in February and March.  Entrance to the Championships is through qualifying times.  Swimmers can start competing at County level from the age of 9 years as long as they have gained the qualifying

This section contains valuable guidance on the best food items to eat before, during and after competition and also has some great recipes for providing the nutrients required to fuel and aid performance.

Nutritional Advice For Competitors

1. Boosting carbohydrate for a competition
 Start the day with a bowl of cereal and low fat milk and/or toast (easy on the spread)
 Add dried fruit or a sliced banana to breakfast cereal.
 Reduce the fat and protein component of meals and add extra carbohydrate. For example have an extra potato and less meat, an extra spoonful of rice or pasta and a spoonful less of oily or creamy sauce. Add an extra spoonful of beans and omit the fat from the toast.
 Choose a thick base pizza rather than a thin and crispy on but cut down on the fatty toppings, i.e. more tomato, vegetables, ham, tuna, pineapple and less cheese.
 Drink extra juice, squash or sports drink with your meal. This adds additional carbohydrate with no extra fat.
 Choose carbohydrate rich, low fat snacks such as dried fruit/popcorn/tea-cakes, breakfast cereal, bagels, bananas, rusks.
2. The night before the competition
 Rice or pasta with a low fat sauce
 A noodle dish (e.g. chow mein)
 Jacket potato with low fat filling
 Deep pan pizza (ham and pineapple / vegetarian) and half the amount of cheese as normal.
 Beans on toast
 Chunky vegetable/bean based soup and sandwiches
 Breakfast cereal and toast
 Boiled or mashed potato dish with lots of potato and smaller portions of meat/fish.
3. Pre-event meals and snacks
 Breakfast cereal and low fat milk
 Porridge with syrup and raisins
 Toast (scraping of fat) with honey/Jam
 Banana or jam sandwiches
 Muffins/crumpets with jam/honey/pancakes and syrup
 Beans on toast
 Pasta with tomato based sauce
 Jacket potato with low fat filling.

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