FAQs

1) What are the different types of competitions?

GALAS: - St Austell ASC has its own club gala, which is usually held in July. Any member of the club can compete in this gala. There may also be other galas that the club might enter, eg CCASA Junior Inter Club Gala, and a selection policy will be used, based on ages and abilities. Swimming for the Club should be considered a privilege, and therefore, if selected, a swimmer should ensure that they are available.

OPEN MEETS: - These are competitions that Club swimmers can enter individually, using their personal best times for each stroke and distance. Normally there will be some discussion concerning these events between swimmers and coach, and the Club may pick certain Meets that they try to ensure that swimmers attend. There are different levels of Open Meets

Level 1 - Is aimed at National qualifiers, or swimmers close to National qualifying times.
Level 2 - Is aimed at District qualifiers, and will have qualifying times and upper limit times.
Level 3 - Is aimed at swimmers who are looking for County qualifying times, and will also have qualifying times and upper limit times, which will be set accordingly.

2) What are BAGCAT points?

In order to help young swimmers realise their full potential, the British ASA believes that each young swimmer should compete in a number of events, and not specialise at an early age. In order to do this, events are divided into various categories, so swimmers are encouraged to swim across all strokes and distances.

When a swimmer competes in a BAGCAT event (such as the County Championships) their times are converted into points (depending on age and sex). A swimmer can enter as many events in each category as they have qualified for. Their highest points score in each category are then added together to reach a final BAGCAT total. The five categories used are 50m, 100m, Form Strokes, Distance and Individual Medley. The 50m and 100m include all four strokes. The Form strokes are butterfly, breastroke and backstroke (swum over 200m). The Freestyle is not a Form stroke and is swum over the longer distances of 200/400/800 and 1500m depending on age (the distance group).
The points awarded are calculated according to time achieved, the stroke, age, sex, and a correction factor. Each stroke has a different correction factor so it is not easy to realise which stroke is a swimmers best event. To help estimate what points are given for a swimmers time there is a free download calculator at Sportsystems, which may need to be updated each year.

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