High performing people in a high performance system working in unison to consistently achieve Olympic and World medals
Swimming Domestic Competition Plan (2021–2022 Season) Please consider the content of this document alongside the associated 2021–2022 Season Plan
Galas
The emphasis for galas is on ‘fun’ in individual and/or relay swimming. If prizes are to be awarded, they are for participation rather than awards for first, second and third positions within a race. The focus is on club/team representation and athletes compete for a finishing position which provides their club/team with a point score towards a club/team accumulative score Meets The emphasis for meets is on individual/relay performance for a time and a finishing position. Meets will usually swim consolidated heats with outcomes declared from either a Heat Declared Winner basis (HDW) or from athletes qualifying for finals from heat swims
General
All Swim Ireland competitions are open to all Swim Ireland registered members subject to relevant qualification criteria as applicable. At National Meets, specific qualification criteria are available for athletes with disabilities. Clubs and Regions should make reasonable adjustments to include athletes with disabilities at their meets.
In all cases, coaches should ensure athletes meet an adequate standard to enter any competition
All competitions (other than schools’ competitions or Inter/Intra Club Galas) to be age classified as of 31st December
within the year in question. The plan follows a sequential swimming development model in age bands as follows:
▪ Intra–Club Galas from 7 years upwards. Such galas can be organised on ‘blank’ weekends on the season plan
▪ Inter–Club Galas from 8 years upwards (other than the Swim Ireland Christmas Cracker Gala which will be from 7 years upwards). Such galas can be organised on ‘blank’ weekends on the season plan
▪ Club Invitational/Open Meets from 9 years upwards. Such meets are predominantly to be utilised for entry into the Future Challenger Series, Aspiring Champions Series and/or the Super Series. However, they may also be used to
qualify for Regional Championships and National Meets subject to licencing requirements. Such meets can be organised on ‘blank’ weekends on the season plan
▪ Regional Skills Challenge (In–house) from 8 to 12 years in the year that the season starts i.e in the 2021–2022 season, athletes born 2013 to 2009 are eligible to participate in such competitions
▪ Regional Future Challenger Series from 10 to 12 years
▪ Regional Aspiring Champions Series from 13 years upwards
▪ Super Series from 13 years upwards for females and 14 years upwards for males
▪ Regional Age Group & Senior LC Championships and National Division 2 Meet from 12 years upwards
▪ Regional SC Championships, National Meets/Championships from 13 years upwards
Swim Ireland Tech Suit Policy
Athletes aged 12 years old and younger (age as that prescribed by each meet’s entry conditions) will not be permitted to compete in a tech suit in any swimming competition which falls under the jurisdiction of Swim Ireland – all Swim Ireland licensed/sanctioned meets on the island of Ireland. The following statement must be added to the meet conditions/information for all competitions in Ireland:
“Athletes aged 12 years and younger (age as defined in the meet conditions) will not be permitted to compete at this meet in a tech suit. A tech suit is defined as any male or female swimsuit manufactured using fabric with water–repellent properties or using any bonded or taped seams regardless of its fabric. Athletes aged 12 years and under will be disqualified if officials observe such an athlete competing in a tech suit.”
The full policy is available here.
Definition of Qualifying/Consideration Times
▪ When an athlete achieves a Qualifying Time set within the parameters of a particular set of meet conditions, such an athlete is guaranteed entry into this event
▪ When an athlete achieves a Consideration Time set within the parameters of a particular set of meet conditions, such an athlete will be considered for entry into this event. Meet managers will make their decisions based on entry
numbers and cut off accordingly per event ▪ When an athlete does not achieve a Qualifying/Consideration Time set within the parameters of a particular set of meet conditions, such an athlete will NOT be considered for entry into this event
Annual Season
▪ The season will be defined as the period 01/09/21 – 31/08/22
▪ The National Performance Director (NPD) will provide a required Programme of Events for all National and Regional
Championship Meets
▪ The National Performance Pathway Manager (NPPM) will provide a Programme of Events for the Future Challenger,
Aspiring Champions and Super Series. However, each Region can adjust the order of events to suit their needs
▪ Each Region will write their own Qualifying and/or Consideration times for Regional events based on the demographic of their athletes. The NPD (in consultation with the Performance Advisory Group) will write the Qualifying Times for all National Championships and the National Division 2 Competition
Short Course Season (Period 1)
▪ All events to be competed in short course pools only in the period 01/09/21 – 31/12/21
▪ The Regional culmination of the short course season will be each Regional SC Championships
▪ The National culmination of the short course season will be the Irish National SC Championships
▪ The International culmination of the short course season will be the World or European SC Championships
Long Course Season (Period 2)
▪ Events to be competed (as much as possible) in long course pools in the period 01/01/22 – 31/08/22
▪ The Regional culmination of the long course season will be each Regional LC Championships
▪ The National culmination of the long course season will be the Irish Open Championships in the first training cycle and the Irish Summer Nationals in the second training cycle
▪ The International culmination of the long course season will be the Irish Open Championships in the first training cycle
and the benchmark summer LC international meet in the second training cycle. In 2021–2022, this is the FINA World LC Championships, the LEN European LC Championships or the Commonwealth Games for senior athletes and the
European Youth Olympic Festival, LEN European Junior Championships or the FINA World Junior Championships for junior/youth athletes
Full Time National Centre Athletes
▪ On an individual basis, such athletes may enter a Regional Championships either within the Region in which their National Centre is based or in the Region of their home club
▪ Such athletes who enter a Regional Championships within the Region in which their National Centre is based (where this is a different Region to that of their home club), such athletes will be eligible to compete in heats and/or finals but will not be eligible to win medals from within that Region
▪ Such athletes may only compete in one Region’s Championships during the SC season and one Region’s Championships in the LC season. The selected Region for the LC season may be different to that of the SC season
Regional Skills Challenge (In–House)
▪ The Skills Challenge will provide feedback to young athletes based on their improvement over time in five predefined competitive aquatic skills
▪ The Challenge is open to all registered members aged 8 to 12 years in the year that the season starts i.e. in the 2021–2022 season, athletes born 2013 to 2009 are eligible to participate
▪ In House Assessments can take place within any number of sessions during each term (September to December, January to April and May to July)
▪ Clubs may choose to run these in silo or in partnership with other clubs
▪ Clubs will submit the athlete’s best results from each term to their respective Regional Pathway Development Coach and collated results will be produced
▪ Athletes will receive a certificate each term as a record of their score and their progression over time
Regional Future Challenger Series
▪ The Future Challenger Series will replace the Regional Development Meets
▪ The series will be delivered in two rounds with two meets per round (four meets in total)
▪ Regions may choose to split their clubs into two venues and run each meet on the same or separate days within each window of opportunity ▪ No qualifying times are required to enter these meets
▪ The Future Challenger Series is open to all competitive members aged 10 to 12 years
▪ Meet formats will be provided to the Regions by the NPPM
▪ Team awards will replace individual medals and a scoring system will be provided to the Regions
▪ Regions may decide to limit the number of entries per athlete and/or the number of relay entries per club
▪ Times achieved by athletes aged 12 years can be used to enter the Regional Age Group & Senior LC Championships ▪ Regions may accept entries from athletes/clubs outside of Ireland but Irish clubs/athletes may only compete in their own Region (unless two or more Regions merge to run such an event) and such events should be considered as ‘Closed’ in this sense
Regional Aspiring Champions Series
▪ The Aspiring Champions Series will replace the Regional Qualifying Meets ▪ The series will be delivered as two 2–day meets – one short course meet in October and one long course meet in
March ▪ The Aspiring Champions Series will be open to all competitive members aged 13 & over and will offer all of the Olympic events plus the 50m Form Strokes (for athletes aged 15 & over) plus relays
▪ These meets must have Consideration Time standards for entry into the 400m, 800m and 1500m events. Club time trial results, signed off by the Head Coach, can be accepted for entry into these events
▪ Any meet can be utilised for entry and LC/SC conversions will be accepted
▪ Meet formats will be provided to the Regions by the NPPM
▪ Team awards will replace individual medals and a scoring system will be provided to the Regions
▪ Regions may decide to limit the number of entries per athlete and/or the number of relay entries per club
▪ Times achieved can be used to enter the Regional Championships, Irish National Division 2 Competition and the Irish Summer Nationals provided they are within the qualification period for each respective meet
▪ Regions may accept entries from athletes/clubs outside of Ireland but Irish clubs/athletes may only compete in their
own Region (unless two or more Regions merge to run such an event) and such events should be considered as ‘Closed’ in this sense
Super Series
▪ The Series will be delivered as four 0.5 day meets – two short course meets in the short course season and two long course meets in the long course season, with one meet being held in each Region
▪ Entries will be limited to National Squad/Programme athletes and those who achieve one or more of the published Qualifying Times
▪ Gift Vouchers or prize money will be awarded to category winners at the end of the Series
Regional SC Championships
▪ The schedule of events shall be set by the NPD
▪ Two or three–day competition with all four Regions running this event over one of two specified weekends. Regions
may merge for this competition if required ▪ Age Groups as Youth (Male 13–16 years and Female 13–15 years) and Senior (Male 17 years & over and Female 16 years & over)
▪ Qualifying Times and Consideration Times to both be utilised to allow maximising entries for meet managers
▪ Separate Qualifying Times and Consideration Times for the two age groups per gender
▪ SC Qualification times (plus LC conversions) may be used for entry. Any suitably licensed onshore or similarly licensed offshore meet can be utilised for entry ▪ Full Olympic programme of individual events plus 50m Form Strokes and 100m IM
▪ Four relay events to be Single Gender 200m Freestyle & 200m Medley relays and Mixed Gender 200m Freestyle & 200m Medley relays (two male/two female)
▪ One Open Final or ‘A’ and ‘B’ Open Finals ONLY (for the fastest qualifiers irrespective of age) for all events other than relays and 400m/800m/1500m (Heat Declared Winner events)
▪ Times achieved can be used to enter the Irish National SC Championships and the McCullagh International Meet
▪ Regions may accept entries from athletes/clubs outside of Ireland but Irish clubs/athletes may only compete in their own Regional SC Championships (unless two or more Regions merge for this competition) and such events should be considered as ‘Closed’ in this sense
Regional Age Group & Senior LC Championships
▪ The schedule of events shall be set by the NPD
▪ Up to four days of competition with all four Regions running this event over one or two weekends in the designated window; the Championships shall be a meet of two, three or four days (if one weekend is used) or 2 x two days of
competition per weekend (if two weekends are used). Regions may merge if required
▪ Age Groups as 12 years, 13/14 years, 15/16 years and 17 years & over
▪ Qualifying Times and Consideration Times to both be utilised to allow the maximising of entries for meet managers
▪ Separate Qualifying Times and Consideration Times for the four age groups per gender
▪ LC Qualification times (plus SC conversions) may be used for entry. Any suitably licensed onshore or similarly licensed offshore meet can be utilised for entry
▪ Full Olympic programme of individual events for all age groups plus 50m Form Strokes for 15/16 years and 17 years & over only
▪ Mixed gender 200m Medley and 200m Freestyle relay events for athletes aged 12 years (two male/two female)
▪ All Olympic relay events, mixed and per gender (age as 13–15 years and 16 years & over)
▪ Finals in each age group for all events other than relays and 400m/800m/1500m (Heat Declared Winner events)
▪ Times achieved can be used to enter the Irish National Division 2 Competition or Irish Summer Nationals
▪ Regions may accept entries from athletes/clubs outside of Ireland but Irish clubs/athletes may only compete in their
own Regional LC Championships (unless two or more Regions merge for this competition) and such events should be considered as ‘Closed’ in this sense
Regional Swim Festival
▪ One or two–day competition with all four Regions running this event over one specified weekend. Regions may merge for this competition if required
▪ End of season event for athletes who did not qualify for the Irish National Division 2 Competition or the Irish Summer Nationals
▪ Regions may accept entries from athletes/clubs outside of their own Region (from any Region who chooses not to host this event) and from outside of Ireland and such events should be considered as ‘Open’ in this sense. Regions
should write criteria into their own Qualifying Meet Regulations which gives preferential entry conditions to athletes from their own Region, with entries from other Regions accepted on a ‘top–up’ basis
McCullagh International Meet
▪ Four–day competition (Thursday – Sunday) and the schedule of events shall be set by the NPD
▪ The meet will run the Heats sessions in the afternoon/evening and Finals sessions in the morning. The heat sessions will be run as slowest heats in the afternoon followed by the fastest heats in the evening
▪ Age Groups as Age Group (Male 13–14 and Female 13) and Youth (Male 15–18 and Female 14–17) Senior (Male 19 years & over and Female 18 years & over)
▪ Separate Qualifying Times for Senior, Youth and Age Group events
▪ LC Qualification times (plus secondary SC entry times) may be used for a SC/LC tiered entry
▪ SC entry times will be converted to LC for seeding purposes
▪ Qualification window 20/02/20 – 24/01/22
▪ Club Open Meets organised by Irish Clubs can be ratified for this subject to application to Swim Ireland (through the
Regional Meet Licence Coordinator) regarding the proposed timing on the annual calendar and that they meet the Swim Ireland Meet Licence Level 3 conditions
▪ Offshore meets in the period above which meet similar standards to those of Swim Ireland Meet Licence Level 3 may be nominated in advance to Swim Ireland as a Qualification meet ▪ Full Olympic programme of individual events plus 50m Form Strokes for Youth/Senior athletes
▪ 200m IM, 200m Freestyle, 200m Backstroke, 200m Breaststroke, 200m Butterfly, 400m Freestyle & 400m IM individual events for Age Group athletes (Male 13/14, Female 13 years) will be incorporated into the afternoon heat
sessions. The 200m IM is open to all athletes entering at least one other event, whether they have the 200m IM qualifying time or not
▪ All ‘Open’ Olympic relay events mixed and per gender and to be classed as the ‘National Relay Titles’ for 2022
▪ ‘Youth/Senior A’, ‘Youth/Senior B’ and ‘Age Group’ integrated Finals for all events other than relays and 800m/1500m (Heat Declared Winner events)
▪ To be run as an ‘Open’ event in Heats, ‘A’ Finals and Age Group Finals. To be run as a ‘Closed’ event to Irish athletes in ‘B’ Finals
Irish National SC Championships
▪ Three or four–day competition and the schedule of events shall be set by the National Performance Director
▪ Age Groups : Male 13–16, 17 & over; Female 13–15, 16 & over
▪ Age groups are for meet qualification purposes only
▪ SC and LC Qualification Times will be published
▪ Qualification standards can be achieved from 01/07/19 – 8/11/21 for Regions utilising Option 1 for their Regional SC Championships OR 15/11/21 for Regions utilising Option 2 for their Regional SC Championships
▪ LC entry times will be converted to SC for seeding purposes
▪ Open event (conditional)
▪ Club Open Meets organised by Irish Clubs can be ratified for this subject to application to Swim Ireland (through the
Regional Meet Licence Coordinator) regarding the proposed timing on the annual calendar and that they meet the Swim Ireland Meet Licence Level 3 conditions
▪ Offshore meets in the periods above which meet similar standards to those of Swim Ireland Meet Licence Level 3 may
be nominated in advance to Swim Ireland as a Qualification meet
▪ Full Olympic programme of individual events plus 50m Form Strokes and 100m IM
▪ Four relay events to be Single Gender 200m Freestyle & 200m Medley relays and Mixed Gender 200m Freestyle & 200m Medley relays (two male/two female)
▪ ‘A’ and ‘B’ Finals (fastest qualifiers irrespective of age) for all events other than relays and 800m/1500m (Heat Declared Winner events)
Irish Open Championships
▪ Five–day competition. Irish Trials for International selections with the schedule of events set by the NPD
▪ Age Groups : Male 13–16 years, 17/18 years, 19 & over; Female 13–15 years, 16/17 years, 18 & over
▪ Age groups are for meet qualification purposes only (separate qualifying times per age group per gender)
▪ Open event (conditional)
▪ LC Qualification times only – no SC or SC conversions
▪ Qualification window 01/07/19 – 27/02/22
▪ LC Club Open Meets organised by Irish Clubs can be ratified for this subject to application to Swim Ireland (through
the Regional Meet Licence Coordinator) regarding the proposed timing on the annual calendar and that they meet
the Swim Ireland Meet Licence Level 3 conditions
▪ Offshore meets in the periods above which meet similar standards to those of Swim Ireland Meet Licence Level 3 may
be nominated in advance to Swim Ireland as a Qualification meet
▪ Full Olympic programme of individual events plus 50m Form Strokes
▪ ‘Open A’, ‘Junior’ and ‘Open B’ Finals for all individual events other than 800m/1500m (Heat Declared Winner events).
Junior Finals to be Male 18 years & under and Female 17 years & under. Finals will be populated in this order
Irish National Division 2 Competition
▪ Five–day SC competition and the schedule of events shall be set by the NPD
▪ Age Groups as 12 years, 13 years, 14 years, 15 years, 16 years and 17 years & over
▪ Separate Lower Qualifying Times for the four age groups per gender. Separate Upper Qualifying times to be set at the
Irish Summer Nationals Qualifying Time standard ▪ LC Qualification times (plus secondary SC entry times) published and both may be used for entry
▪ Club Open Meets organised by Irish Clubs can be ratified for this subject to application to Swim Ireland (through the
Regional Meet Licence Coordinator) regarding the proposed timing on the annual calendar and that they meet the
Swim Ireland Meet Licence Level 3 conditions ▪ Clubs attending Offshore meets which meet similar standards to those of Swim Ireland Meet Licence Level 3 may be
nominated in advance to Swim Ireland as a Qualification meet ▪ Qualification window 01/01/22 – 13/06/22
▪ Full Olympic programme of individual events plus 50m Form Strokes (15 years & over only)
▪ Mixed gender 200m Medley and 200m Freestyle relay events for athletes aged 12 years
▪ All Olympic relay events, mixed and per gender (ages as 13–15 years and 16 years & over)
▪ Finals for all events in all age groups other than relays and 800m/1500m (Heat Declared Winner events)
Irish Summer Nationals
▪ Five–day competition and the schedule of events shall be set by the NPD
▪ Age Groups as 13 years, 14 years, 15 years, 16 years and 17 years & over
▪ Open event (conditional)
▪ Separate Qualifying Times for the five age groups per gender
▪ LC Qualification times only – no SC times or SC conversions
▪ LC Club Open Meets organised by Irish Clubs can be ratified for this subject to application to Swim Ireland (through
the Regional Meet Licence Coordinator) regarding the proposed timing on the annual calendar and that they meet
the Swim Ireland Meet Licence Level 3 conditions
▪ Clubs attending Offshore LC meets which meet similar standards to those of Swim Ireland Meet Licence Level 3 may
be nominated in advance to Swim Ireland as a Qualification meet
▪ Qualification window 01/01/22 – 13/06/22
▪ Full Olympic programme of individual events plus 50m Form Strokes (15 years & over only)
▪ All Olympic relay events in two separate age groups (13–15 years and 16 years & over)
▪ Finals for all events in all age groups other than relays and 800m/1500m (Heat Declared Winner events)
▪ Athletes who have only qualified for one event in this competition may also compete in the Irish National Division 2
Competition (but not in the event in which they have achieved the Irish Summer Nationals Qualifying time)
