Bishop’s Stortford Swimming Club (BSSC) is affiliated to Swim England East Region and has more than 150 competitive swimmers aged 8 to 60+. We are a diverse club that caters for the widest possible range of swimmers, with a structure that supports development from those starting their competitive swimming journey to those competing internationally.
We regularly compete in open meets and host our own galas. We compete in the Hertfordshire Peanuts League and the National Arena Swimming League.
Our squads are structured to ensure that swimmers are developed appropriately in terms of their age and swimming abilities.
Each squad swims at differing times and for varying numbers of hours per week. The number of hours that the squad trains for determines the squad fees charged per month. Find out more about our current training schedule.
Every swimmer in the club is a member of Swim England, our governing body. Membership categories for Swim England will vary depending upon whether you are competing or not. Swim England will hold information about you as a member, subject to their privacy policy.
Every year many children join the club from local swimming schools, and trials are held regularly by our coaches.
Membership Enquiry
If you would like to enquire about joining BSSC please complete our enquiry form.
Please be aware that your enquiry is handled by our membership system (Swim Manager) which will store your data during the enquiry process. Upon joining the club you will be asked to use this system to manage your own details, or should you not wish to proceed with membership, your data will be deleted.
Joining BSSC FAQs
We hope the information on this page has helped you. We’ve also listed some frequently-asked questions below, and if you have any other queries, you can contact our membership secretary directly.
What standard of swimming are the coaches looking for in swimmers joining Rookies or Juniors?
Rookies or Juniors C is very often the squad that you would join as a new junior member. Swimmers who would like to trial for Rookies will:
- Be able to demonstrate a good technique in 50m freestyle, 50m breaststroke and 50m backstroke.
- Be able to swim 25m butterfly (minimum 15m with good dolphin leg kick)
- Be able to dive from the side or the block
- Be able to do a basic forward roll at the wall
For swimmers under the age of 18, we require that a parent/guardian becomes an associate member of the club. This allows parents to vote at our AGM and also to help at Club events. Associate members also become Swim England members as part of this process.
I am already swimming competitively and would like to join the club
In the first instance you should contact our membership secretary, Sarah Cass, who will direct you to our head coach. It would be a good idea to have details of your PB’s to hand in order to assist in determining your current level.
As a new swimmer, you will be assessed by one of the Bishop’s Stortford Swimming Club competitive squad coaches, depending upon availability. After a short in-water assessment of your swimming ability, you may be invited to join the squad best suited to your level of ability, as decided upon by the assessing coach. This is of course, being subject to there being space in that squad.
As a master looking to join the club will I have to be assessed?
Yes, you will be assessed by a Masters coach. You must have a competitive swimming background and be at the standard the coaching team require to run an effective training session. Please contact our membership secretary, Sarah Cass.
I’ve been offered a place – what do I do now?
You’ll need to complete your membership details in the Club’s membership system, which uses the Swim Manager system. This enables comprehensive management of your swimming journey. You must also complete your Swim England Membership online. Our Membership Secretary will send you invitations and instructions for both of these systems. Our Treasurer will also be in touch to organise a direct debit for squad fees and to explain how membership, joining and Swim England fees are paid. You cannot swim until this process is complete, so that you are covered by the Club’s Swim England insurance policy.
