Open Meet Report

We attended a number of Open Meets in 2010 of varying standards and varying team sizes.  Many of our swimmers came away with medals from these meets, as well as a host of PB’s, speed awards and club records over the course of the year.  It was pleasing to see a number of swimmers competing in Open Meets for the first time this year and it was even more pleasing to see them come back to further meets later in the year.

 

We try to attend a variety of meets with different distances and at different levels so there is a chance for everyone to find something to suit them, particularly since you get to choose the events instead of the Team Manager deciding.  In the past we have had a few swimmers who haven’t wanted to do general Open Meets but who have wanted to swim in the County Championships.  Unfortunately from 2011 onwards this will not be possible as qualifying times for the County Championships must have been achieved in a licensed meet.  Some of the larger clubs get their own Club Championships licensed, but that is really not practical for us unless we revamp the way we do Club Champs, which we feel is not what we want to do at this time.  Therefore the only way for our swimmers to qualify for County Champs in future is to swim in other Open Meets beforehand.

 

I am always pleased to see how our swimmers support each other at these meets – we may go with a small team sometimes but without exception our swimmers get plenty of encouragement from the others.  Obviously, the more people we have there, the more noise we can make in support of the team so it would be great to get even more new attendees next year – so why not resolve to attend at least one of the meets listed below.

 

Date	Event Title	Level	Location
TBA – probably May	Stevenage Open Meet	3	Stevenage
14-15/05/2011	Hatfield UK Challenge	2	Hatfield Sports Village
18-19/06/2011	Maxwell Open Meet	3	Aquavale, Aylesbury
03/09/2011	Hoddesdon Open Meet	4	Southbury Road, Enfield
24-25/09/2011	Bishops Stortford Open Meet	3	Braintree
2/10/2011	Cheshunt Open Meet	3	The Venue, Borehamwood
TBA – probably Oct	Hemel Open Meet	3	Hemel Hempstead Sports Centre
20/11/2011	Herts Dev Meet	4	The Venue, Borehamwood
26/11/2011	Hatfield Winter Wonderland	2	Hatfield Sports Village
TBA – probably Nov	Watford Middle Distance and Sprint Meet	2	Woodside Leisure Centre

 

Keep an eye on the website for full details of each event nearer the time and of course, if you find out about a meet you would like to go to, please let me know.

 

I have mentioned above about the team spirit shown at these meets and I must also say that behaviour has been excellent, making my life on poolside far easier and enjoyable.  My life is also made easier by the poolside help given to me, so that I don’t have to always be there with the team. I must therefore thank Dean Barnes, Alan Brown, Jamie O’Malley, Jackie Summerfield and Lisa Taverner for their help (and apologies if I missed anyone – your help is appreciated nonetheless).

 

I look forward to seeing many more of you at the Open Meets this year.

 

 

Kevin Binns

 

Open Meet Co-ordinator, Bushey Amateur Swimming Club