Team Gala Selection Policy.

Aim.

• To establish a fair and transparent structure for team selection.
• To provide competitive opportunities for swimmers to represent the club in team galas appropriate to their level of ability.

Policy.

The team sheet will be posted on the club notice boards approximately two weeks prior to the gala. Swimmers/Parents are responsible for ticking the sheet to denote their availability. The team selector will then post the confirmed team sheet on the notice board a week before the gala.

If swimmers are unable to compete having declared themselves available the Head Coach must be informed so that a replacement can be found. Swimmers failing to attend galas having declared themselves available and not having given notice may risk not being selected for subsequent galas.

As a general rule the fastest available swimmer in the age group concerned will be chosen to compete in an event. In some galas there are restrictions on the number of events that individual swimmers can compete in.

The Head Coach retains the right to select an overall squad with the greatest chance of success taking account of the running order of events.

To be selected to represent the club should be considered an honour. It may be that swimmers are selected to compete in events that are not necessarily their fastest or favoured stroke. On occasions swimmers may be selected to compete in one event only. 

The Team Selector will use ASA rankings’ results from the club Age Group and Open galas, as well as time trials to select the team.

Crusader League.

• The team will be selected from swimmers who have not achieved the qualifying standard for the Northwest championships. Priority will be given to those swimmers who have not been selected to compete in either the Speedo or Deva Leagues that season.

Deva League.

• The team will be selected from the fastest available swimmers not to have achieved the qualifying standard for National Championship that year.

For both the Crusader and Deva Leagues, swimmers who have achieved the relevant qualifying standard may be asked to compete if no other swimmer of the appropriate standard is available within that age group.

Team captains are expected to attend all Team Galas.

Speedo Gala.

• This is the highest standard of Gala that the club competes in. The team selector will choose the fastest available squad for each individual Speedo Gala. This may well mean that swimmers could be asked to compete in a relay event only.

In situations where a swimmer feels that they have been overlooked, the swimmer or their parent should talk to the Coach or the Team Managers to avoid any feeling of preferential treatment being given to other swimmers.