Academy Competitions
Academy swimmers are able to compete in several internal AVSC competitive galas and external competitions.
AVSC Club Championships
Club Championships are a great way for a swimmer to start competitive competitions and obtain times for different events. AVSC typically holds Club Championships for short to medium distance events in Autumn (50m, 100m, 200m) and longer distance events in the Spring-Summer (400m, 800m, 1500m). Events are normally held on a weekday evening.
Club Championships are licensed meets, meaning that they follow Swim England rules for competitive swimming and have a full set of Officials (Referee, Starter, Timekeepers, Turn Judges etc) in order that the times can be recorded and qualify for external events. Officials will ensure that swimmers follow Swim England competition rules to ensure that the times can be used for qualification for external events.
Medals are awarded for first, second and third place for each age group category.
Swimmers enter the Club Championships through SwimManager after the AVSC Meet Team sends an email to indicate the competitions are open for entries. Swimmers should discuss their entries with their coaches prior to submitting an entry. Academy swimmers will be encouraged to enter the shorter distance races under the guidance of their coach.
Thames Valley Junior League
The Thames Junior League is held in the Spring (February – April) and is a competitive club competition for swimmers in the 9-12 age group in the Thames Valley area. There are typically three rounds, with galas held on Saturday evenings in a variety of local pools, such as Amersham. Points are awarded for individual events and relays and a winning club announced for each Round and for the overall competition. Further details can be found on the TVJL website
Thames Valley Junior League: A development competitive swimming league
Coaches select the swimmers for the TVJL team for each round and send an email to invite swimmers to the squad. It is important to respond to these invitations promptly in order that the club can make sure a full team is available for the event.
On the night of the event, parents transport their swimmer to the gala and sign in with an AVSC Team Manager. Parents can spectate – the events normally have a great atmosphere!
Arena Junior League
The Arena Junior League is another club competition that targets younger swimmers. For the past few years, the AJL has been held virtually – each club swims the events in its own pool and sends times to the organisers after the event. AVSC combines these competitions with Time.
Trials so that a greater number of swimmers can participate. Normally these events are not licensed, and therefore times recorded are not official times reported to Swim England.
Swimmers for the AVSC AJL team are selected by coaches and an invitation sent.
Further details of the Arena JL can be found on their website: The National Arena Junior Swimming League - National Arena Junior Swimming League
Development Meets
"Dev meets" are competitive galas targeted at younger swimmers. Oxford and Witney normally host Dev Meets several times per year. In most cases, swimmers do not need a qualifying time to enter, and therefore these meets are great opportunities for an individual swimmer to experience competitive swimming and get recorded times that can be used for other galas that do require a qualification time. In some cases, entries will have "not faster than" times meaning that the faster swimmers will not be able to enter. Dev Meets are normally licensed"Level 4" meets.
Development meets are announced by an email from the AVSC Meet Team and each swimmer enters the event through SwimManager. There is always an internal AVSC deadline for entries prior to the deadline date for AVSC’s Meet Team to submit the entries to the external meet host club. The host club will then inform AVSC which entries have been accepted.
Parents are responsible for transporting their swimmers to the external meet and collecting them. On arrival the swimmer will sign in with the AVSC Team Manager. – typically 20-30 mins in advance of the warm-up time for the session. Although Spectators are normally allowed, the club expects the swimmers to stay with the team during each session. This enables the Team Manager to get the swimmer to the correct warm up and each race on time. Swimmers must sign out with the Team Manager when leaving the session.
AVSC Club Championships
Club Championships are a great way for a swimmer to start competitive competitions and obtain times for different events. AVSC typically holds Club Championships for short to medium distance events in Autumn (50m, 100m, 200m) and longer distance events in the Spring-Summer (400m, 800m, 1500m). Events are normally held on a weekday evening.
Club Championships are licensed meets, meaning that they follow Swim England rules for competitive swimming and have a full set of Officials (Referee, Starter, Timekeepers, Turn Judges etc) in order that the times can be recorded and qualify for external events. Officials will ensure that swimmers follow Swim England competition rules to ensure that the times can be used for qualification for external events.
Medals are awarded for first, second and third place for each age group category.
Swimmers enter the Club Championships through SwimManager after the AVSC Meet Team sends an email to indicate the competitions are open for entries. Swimmers should discuss their entries with their coaches prior to submitting an entry. Academy swimmers will be encouraged to enter the shorter distance races under the guidance of their coach.
Thames Valley Junior League
The Thames Junior League is held in the Spring (February – April) and is a competitive club competition for swimmers in the 9-12 age group in the Thames Valley area. There are typically three rounds, with galas held on Saturday evenings in a variety of local pools, such as Amersham. Points are awarded for individual events and relays and a winning club announced for each Round and for the overall competition. Further details can be found on the TVJL website
Thames Valley Junior League: A development competitive swimming league
Coaches select the swimmers for the TVJL team for each round and send an email to invite swimmers to the squad. It is important to respond to these invitations promptly in order that the club can make sure a full team is available for the event.
On the night of the event, parents transport their swimmer to the gala and sign in with an AVSC Team Manager. Parents can spectate – the events normally have a great atmosphere!
Arena Junior League
The Arena Junior League is another club competition that targets younger swimmers. For the past few years, the AJL has been held virtually – each club swims the events in its own pool and sends times to the organisers after the event. AVSC combines these competitions with Time.
Trials so that a greater number of swimmers can participate. Normally these events are not licensed, and therefore times recorded are not official times reported to Swim England.
Swimmers for the AVSC AJL team are selected by coaches and an invitation sent.
Further details of the Arena JL can be found on their website: The National Arena Junior Swimming League - National Arena Junior Swimming League
Development Meets
"Dev meets" are competitive galas targeted at younger swimmers. Oxford and Witney normally host Dev Meets several times per year. In most cases, swimmers do not need a qualifying time to enter, and therefore these meets are great opportunities for an individual swimmer to experience competitive swimming and get recorded times that can be used for other galas that do require a qualification time. In some cases, entries will have "not faster than" times meaning that the faster swimmers will not be able to enter. Dev Meets are normally licensed"Level 4" meets.
Development meets are announced by an email from the AVSC Meet Team and each swimmer enters the event through SwimManager. There is always an internal AVSC deadline for entries prior to the deadline date for AVSC’s Meet Team to submit the entries to the external meet host club. The host club will then inform AVSC which entries have been accepted.
Parents are responsible for transporting their swimmers to the external meet and collecting them. On arrival the swimmer will sign in with the AVSC Team Manager. – typically 20-30 mins in advance of the warm-up time for the session. Although Spectators are normally allowed, the club expects the swimmers to stay with the team during each session. This enables the Team Manager to get the swimmer to the correct warm up and each race on time. Swimmers must sign out with the Team Manager when leaving the session.