Our squad structure reflects the updated swimming strategy that the club has been implementing for the past few years and takes into account two main factors when determining squad placements: age and swimming times. Swimmers are grouped by the calendar year in which they were born, and by their times against a target list for that age within each squad. The detailed squad criteria are downloadable at the foot of this page. As an example, a swimmer born in 2006 could in the 2020/21 season be in Cadets, Juniors, Minimes, or Elites depending on their eligibility.
All squads will have targets and be training for appropriate competitions; this way they will be grouped so they are training with swimmers of a similar age and similar times to give them the optimum training experience. All swimmers, regardless of squad, will have performance targets set by coaches, and this way will have the best chance of progressing and achieving them as the training for each squad can reflect individual targets within the group. Determining squads in this way ensures that the training is appropriate both for the age, physical development and ability of the swimmer, and also helps the coaching team to ensure swimmers are targeting the right meets and events throughout the year as part of the overall strategy.
Squad movements take place once a year, prior to each new season in September. Times achieved are reviewed after the last meet on the summer schedule, and any changes are communicated prior to training resuming in August/September. The squad structure for the 2020/21 season is shown below and the full criteria given at the bottom of this page.
Key points
Movement between squads will be decided and communicated at the end of the current swimming season (typically late July), after the last competition on the Competition Calendar.
Movements will be based on age (year of birth), meeting entry criteria (where appropriate) and attendance during the current swimming season.
Swimmers may decide not to become part of a squad and will therefore be directed to a different squad according to their motivations.
DownloadSquad criteria 2020-21 (163.8 KB)
