Quick guide to Reading Swimming Club

Mission statement – RSC seeks to promote competitive swimming amongst boys and girls in Reading and the surrounding areas, by offering the best possible coaching in a friendly, affordable and high-achieving environment.

The Club – It was formed in 1885 and is a member of the South East Region ASA and in the Berks & Bucks sub-region (the County association).

Membership – Three grades:

• CAT 1 - Swimming members , non competitive
• CAT 2 – Swimming members,  competitive
• CAT 3 - Non-swimming members (e.g. parents) – one-off yearly nominal amount.  This includes voting rights at the club meetings and cover by ASA insurance when working at pool side as a helper or official.

Organisation – The Executive Committee, elected at the AGM every year, manages the organisation and running of the club. The members are: the chair, vice-chair, secretary, assistant secretary, membership secretary, assistant membership secretary, treasure, assistant treasurer, welfare officer, liaison officer, trophies officer, 2 meets coordinators (home and away), Website and communications, medical advisor, sponsorship coordinator, swim21 coordinator. All the committee members are volunteers.

Coaching team – The head coach leads our team of Coaches and Teachers. He/she liaises with the Committee on any matters to do with swimming.

Finance – Training fees are paid on a monthly basis with an annual membership due at the beginning of each academic year.

Equipment – Swimming members need the following equipment, all available at the Club shop located in the foyer of Central Pool on most Thursday evenings:

• RSC hat
• Goggles (plus spare)
• Float
• Pull buoy
• Fins
• Drinks bottle
• RSC T-shirt (strongly recommended when you represent the Club in competitions)

Competitions – RSC is a competitive club and will try to offer as many opportunities as possible for members to represent the club. There are various types of competitions:

• Club Galas – Only open to RSC swimmers. For example:
• RSC sprints – July
• RSC championship – October

• Interclub Galas – Arranged by clubs or swimming bodies for competition between clubs.  The coaches select the team for these types of galas. Parents do not have to fill in forms or pay entry fees for these. RSC attend the following two galas:
• Thames Valley Junior League – swam over three rounds in the first three months of the year. Aim is to develop younger swimmers (aged 9-12 years)
• National Arena Swimming League South – Three rounds, held in October, November and December. Contains the best competitive clubs in the South of England.

• Championships – Need “qualification times”.  Parents need to fill in entry form and pay for entry
• Berks and South Bucks County Champs - They are held in the February/March each year.
• South East Regional Champs – Next step from County and held in May/June
• National Champs – Top level of “age group” swimming. Held in August.

• Open meets – They are the most common and take place all around the country. Children swim these events as individuals while still representing the club. Children must be 9 years or over to attend these meets. Parents need to fill in entry form and pay for entry
• Graded open meets (A, B or C) – If it is a timed meet, those who swim faster that the stated time will not qualify for awards but will be given a certificate or “speeding ticket” as a form of congratulations.

• Licensed open meets – They are run at different levels:
• Level 4 – limits entry by “no faster than” times. Children with faster times cannot enter that event. Aimed at children competing at fairly low levels
• Level 3 – These can have upper and lower time limits. Suitable for children trying to qualify for the county championships.
• Level 2 - These have upper and lower time limits. Suitable for children trying to qualify for the regional championships.
• Level 1 – Only have lower qualifications times – swimmers must be faster that the entry times shown. Aimed at swimmers trying to obtain national times.

Communication – One of the ways that the club communicates with its members is through an email group - your email will be added to this distribution list when you join the club. Thursday night is club night and most members of the Committee are at Central Pool for any enquiries. The website is, of course, our external portal to the world (www.readingswimclub.org).

Volunteers – RSC is run by volunteers, all members of the Executive Committee are volunteers and a large number of volunteers are required to run our home competitions.  Your help is greatly appreciated!

A pdf document of this webpages is available here.