All About Competitions

Our swimmers participate in a number of competitions each year ranging from Team Galas to Open Meets where swimmers participate as individuals. 

  • A Gala is an inter-club competition where the swimmers participate as a TEAM. Individual performances are converted to points for the team. The team is selected by the coaches and invitations are sent by email to the swimmers that have made the team.
  • An Open Meet is a competition where the swimmer competes as an INDIVIDUAL under the Club banner. Swimmers are responsible for submitting entries for the events they wish to enter. The Eastleigh SC Open Meets Team sends invites to Open Meets by email and swimmers need to select their events and submit their entries before the closing date specified on the email.

Open meets come in four different levels. Swimmers entering their first competitions will start with either Level 3 or Level 4 competitions. As swimmers gain experience and speed, they will start to obtain the qualification times needed for Level 2 and Level 1 competitions.


Level 4

Level 4 meets are either organised by our club for our own swimmers (a "closed meet"), or occasionally by two or more local clubs. 

The Eastleigh Club Championships is an example of a Level 4 meet. All our swimmers aged 8 and over are invited to race at our Level 4 meets. Race times achieved at Level 4 meets get recorded by Swim England and can be used as entry times for Level 3 meets.


Level 3

Level 3 meets are held in 25m or 50m pools and swimmers can usually enter events at these meets even if they have not raced the event in the past.

Race times achieved at Level 3 meets can be used as qualification times into Hampshire County Championships and South East Regional Championships.  

The clubs that are organising the Level 3 meets may opt to select swimmers based on times already achieved - fastest to slowest, or they may accept all entrants, including those with no times, on a first come, first served basis until the events are full. It is mandatory for organisers to set upper limits on the entry times for each race at a level 3 meet and swimmers who have previously swum times faster than those limits will not be allowed to enter those races.


Level 2

Level 2 meets always take place in a 25m pool. It is mandatory for Level 2 meets to set entry qualification times and swimmers must be faster than the qualification time for each event they wish to enter.


Level 1

Level 1 meets always take place in 50m pools. Swim England set strict requirements on the number of officials (referees, starters, stroke judges, etc) that must be present to fulfill the license conditions for Level 1 meets. It is mandatory for Level 1 meets to set entry qualification times that swimmers must have previously achieved to be permitted to enter each event.


Galas and Leagues

The Club schedules a number of Galas each year targeted at different groups and squads of swimmers. The aim is to allow different groups of swimmers the opportunity to compete as part the Club team and to help in swimmer development as for many participation in Galas is a stepping stone to doing Open Meets. It is also an opportunity for younger, less experienced swimmers (and their parents) to watch and see the senior swimmers in race conditions so they can learn and hopefully aspire to be like them.

The Galas we normally participate in are:

  • The Rother League (3 galas)
  • Junior Cup (1 gala)
  • Gemini Trophy (1 gala)
  • Arena League (3 galas)
  • Junior Arena League (3 galas)
  • Fun Interclub Galas
  • Dual Meets