Metro Swimming Information

METRO SWIMMING INFORMATION

Metro is unique to the Wairarapa, it is designed for swimmers of any age who would like to participate in racing however are not quite ready or who are unsure about making a commitment to swimming competitively.  It is a great starting point for all swimmers.  I am sure if you ask around the club you will find all of our senior swimmers raced in the metro grade at some stage. The aim is to provide a supportive environment where the child enjoys the experience of racing.

Metro grade also gives your child the opportunity to race against swimmers with similar times.  For this reason metro swimmers times are capped.  This timing system ensures the swimmers in metro grade are placed in races with swimmers at a similar level.

For those of you who are unsure how this works, you may have seen your child promoted from the event they chose for our recent Open Metro Carnival. A metro swimmer can only swim a metro event if they are equal to or slower than the times attached. For example. Maddex swims his 50 Backstroke faster than 52 seconds. Because he was too fast for the metro grade Maddex did not swim the metro event, he was promoted to the open event for 50 Back (he swam the remainder of his events in the metro events). In Maddex’s case he can continue to swim metro grade for the events where he is still under the designated time.

If your child does race and an official sees an infringement during the race, don’t be alarmed if you see an official talking with your child; rather than write a disqualification notice the referee or another official will often provide constructive advice about how to resolve any issue with your child's stroke or finish.

If you have any questions or if you are unsure if your child is either in or out of metro in any event, please don’t hesitate to ask and we can send you through their times. As a swimmer progresses through Metro, the coach may discuss with you the option of your child joining one or two of our long distance programme events (which are normally reserved for the squad swimmers). These invitations are at Russell’s discretion and hopefully provide a little something for our younger swimmers to aspire to. Over time I am sure your children will all achieve their goals, so please don’t be offended if you hear another child has been invited when your child may not, we do not want to push anyone too soon and would hate to take away their enjoyment of swimming by asking them to swim a long distance event too soon.

Most importantly please remember, if you have any concerns or questions, please feel free to talk with Russell.