As a visitor, you can join in our swimming fun, be it a short business trip where you want to keep fit with a bit of swim training, or a weeks holiday where you might want to compete at the weekend. For longer visits, you could join a club and become a registered swimmer.
For a quick swim anywhere in Britain, there are about 1,400 pools which are available for public use at most times. try your local telephone Yellow Pages once you are here. Some sessions may be reserved, e.g. for schools or clubs, so check before going.
The Introduction tells you a little about the way swimming is organised in Britain. Most competitions are run under ASA Laws which have a few differences compared with FINA Laws, but these are usually highlighted in the competition programmes. Very few swimmers read all the rules.
In these pages, there are 220 or more competitions which are split into two groups:
There are about 70,000 Age Group swimmers and 7,000 Masters to compete against. You can expect Club-level Age Group and Masters competitions to have 100 to 400 swimmers competing. Masters national-level competitions have 800 to 1500 swimmers competing.
For longer stays in Britain, you might want to join a club and partake fully. In this case you should read the page on How to become a British Age Group Swimmer or the page on How to become a British Master swimmer.
There are many accommodating Masters competitions and accommodating Age Group competitions that are happy to have overseas visitors and anyone who belongs to a registered club that is in a FINA registered country can enter these.
There are about 14,000 swimming clubs in Britain, and a growing number of active Masters Clubs. There is a growing list of British swimming clubs with websites so you can see the sorts of things that are going on at club level.
Usually both Age Group competition entry forms and Masters competition entry forms must be sent about one month prior to the competition. Masters competitions usually have a separate entry form for each competitor. Age Group swimmers usually have one form per club entry, with the club coach being responsible for entering competitors, providing submitted times, and collecting entry fees.
Payment of entry fees is in Pounds Sterling. You can make payment using an International Money Order, which is acceptable to British banks. Alternatively, if you cannot obtain Money Orders, you may (or may not) be able to persuade the competition organiser to take payment on the day.
You will be expected to make your own local travel and accommodation arrangements. Please to not impose on the competition organiser to do this for you, because the organiser has many hundreds of other competitors and officials to consider too and is under much pressure immediately before, and during the competition, with managing the smooth running of the event and sorting out general problems. Travel maps and accommodation details are provided for many competitions. As hotel rates change, these may not be given so you will need to contact the hotel direct, or the local City/Town Tourist Information Office, whose telephone number may be provided.
Recent Rules changes - allow Masters to stand on the front of the blocks before "Take your marks" is given. Also the "No false start Rule" applies - if you make a false start, you will be disqualified, so be careful not to wobble on the blocks.
You will find that sexual equality has reached most parts of Britain and Ladies can enter the same events as Men, particularly in events such as 1500m freestyle (and incidentally, the Ladies are good at this too, so watch out, because 1500m is often swum as a mixed race).
Oddly, you may find that you are a year younger in Britain. This sounds impossible, but because competitions run under ASA Laws use age at 31st December of the current year, you may find yourself competing in a younger age group than you do at home. There are a few "age-on-the-day" competitions, so read the programme carefully before completing your "age group".
Here's a useful address for finding your way around the UK: Street Map of UK and The weather is always tricky so check with the UK Meteorological Office who provide up-to-the-hour covering the British Isles.
Thats it. Good Luck and don't forget to pack the costume.
If there is anything else that you want covered on this page, please leave a comment in the comment box.