You will be swimming for your Club AND your town against all the other top swimmers your age in your County. To be able to swim you have to swim a qualifying time for each of the events you want to swim in. It’s good to do well in each of the individual events, but the best girl/boy your age is the one who does well in lots of events

What do I have to swim?

You will only be able to swim in those events where you have achieved the qualifying time

What is ‘BAGCATS’?

British Age Group Categories is a system which has been designed to reward swimmers who are successful in a range of events – a combination determined by the age of the swimmer & their sex. As an example, in the case of an 11 year old boy competing at County Level, the events available are:

Sprint Category - 50m on all strokes
Form Strokes - 200m on Back, Breast & Butterfly
Distance Freestyle - 200m or 400m Freestyle
IM - 100m / 200m / 400m Individual Medley

You can swim in as many events as you like – as long as you have met the qualifying time. Points are awarded for each swim – the faster you swim the more points you get. The best points score from each category is added up & the swimmers with the most points is the winner – the best all rounder!

Who’s in charge?

As with all other swimming events you will have been to, your Club Coaches will be there to offer advice before you swim & to give some feedback after. You could try to keep track of your PB’s & your BAGCAT scores – if you can work it out. Find out where the results are posted so you can see how you are doing

If you need to leave the poolside, make sure your Team Manager knows and is ok with that

Will I need to be there all day?

Quite possibly - the events are usually spread out over two or three sessions over the day, usually over 2 weekends with team relays on the 3rd weekend

What do I need?

Make sure you have spares of everything – especially those little bits to mend goggles!

You will also need:

Enough clothes to keep warm – including some to keep dry to go home in
Your club kit
Shoes and shirt for the poolside
A waterproof bag to keeps things in on the poolside
Things to keep you busy & occupied – e.g. computer games (best ask your coach if this will be ok)
Enough to drink – bottled water is simplest – at least 1ltr per session – you will not drown!
Plenty to eat – easily digestable & high carb – e.g. pasta, bananas
A can of fizzy & a packet of salt & vinegar? Definitely not!

Qualifying for Regional Championships?

In the same way that you had to qualify for the County Championships – the next tier of competition is the Regional Championships & there are qualifying times for that too. They are harder to get than the times for the County event – but that’s the next target to aim for. There’s always next year

If you do eventually make it to the Regionals, the final rung in the ladder is to qualify for the National Age Groups, which are held in Sheffield each year. The very best swimmers from all over the Country strive to qualify for the ‘Nationals’ – but only the very best make it – who knows what the future may bring ?

Coping with a long day is crucial for success – many really good swimmers fail to do well in BAGCATS because they can’t cope with the long days. Don’t make silly mistakes – drink & eat well – the right things – that’s always a good start & listen to your Coach’s advice!

How will you cope?

Being there all day is hard work – it is usually so hot and crowded on the poolside and sometimes difficult to find anywhere to sit.

Its a good idea to have a wander (if your Team Manager says its ok), make friends with other children from other clubs that you have met at Open Meets and on Training Camps around the County

Its sometimes difficult to work out how you are doing in your own age group as all the age groups swim together, but if you locate the results on the wall it should make more sense

Hopefully you will enjoy being part of a club team where everyone supports each other and you might manage a few PBs at the same time. Another PB and you might just persuade Mum to buy you that new cossie you want which might make you swim even faster!