SNZ Events
Epic Swim
High Performance
SNZ Events
Epic Swim
High Performance
At Pukekohe Swimming Club
Every child is given the assistance required to fulfil their potential, regardless of their level of attainment.
Through the structure of the club programmes we will enable the swimmer to reach their own personal goals, be it fitness, learning to dive, or reaching national level competitions. We will coach through the basic fundamentals of swimming, developing a life long love of the sport. Focusing on good technique from an early age will help us develop national swimmers of an exceptional standard.
Swimming fosters social skills necessary for life. Organisation, communication, goal setting, planning, time management, interaction, dealing with pressure, adapting to characters around you etc. We believe that the young people that persevere with this sport are well-rounded and successful individuals.
What training squad will I be in?
PSC has planned for all levels of swimmer.
Starting squads – Once a week swimmers that have joined the club from lessons. They will learn to read the programmes, learn lane discipline, and fundamental stroke techniques. To join the club you must swim 100m f/s, Bk and have the correct breaststroke kick. Fitness groups are also available for the 12 year and up age groups, who wish to develop stroke work and keep fit. This is a great interactive session for young teenagers. To join PSC please contact our squad manager on pukekoheswimmingclub@xtra.co.nz to arrange an assessment. From there a group will be recommended for you.
Becoming a competitive swimmer- If you are keen to become a competitive swimmer, from the once a week training sessions please inform your coach.
IF you are part of a squad it is expected that you will swim competitively at meets throughout they year including Club Nights.
Each term the entire coaching team sit together to determine progression of swimmers through the squads.
Each of the following factors are considered:
If all coaches are in agreement the squad manager will notify the swimmer of their move. Movement between the squads usually happens at the start of each term, unless exceptional circumstances arise.
Swimmers who qualify for NZ Junior Championships as a 12 year old will either move to seniors when they turn 13, or in the term following NZ Juniors if there is space available.
For swimmers that don’t make a NZ junior’s time the move to seniors will be based on the squad movement criteria as out lined above.
Once joining the senior squad, swimmers must train a minimum of 5 times a week this must include 3 morning training sessions.
An annual goal sheet must be filled out for all swimmers moving to the Senior squad.
What equipment will be required?
All PSC members should have their own training fins. PSC swimming caps are to be worn by all swimmers. Club togs are available for all swimmers. (Endurance). All swimmers to bring drink bottle.
All swimmers should have 2 pairs of goggles. Swimmers from gold squad up will also require paddles. Seniors training 7 times per week, also require drag pants and a snorkel
What Fees will I pay?
Training Fees are paid each term for your training. The fees are based on the amount of times you are swimming and how long your pool sessions are. Every swimmer will be given an invoice for their terms swimming. Holiday training will be publicised on website and back of whiteboard when available, extra charges will apply for this. Coaching Fees are paid to O2Swim Ltd.
SNZ Competitive Registration. Any swimmer that wishes to compete at swim meets other than our club racing, is required to be registered annually as competitive. The Swimming New Zealand year runs from 1st July to 30th June. Please contact the Club Treasurer with regard to the amount of this payment – it is reviewed annually. The club pays your registration fee to our regional association Swimming Counties Manukau (SCM). It is then split between SCM and Swimming New Zealand for swimming initiatives and funds for our top athletes.
PSC Membership. This is an fee you pay each term to PSC to be a member of our club; this helps us to pay for club relays, winter leagues, club nights, incentive prizes, administration, insurances, purchasing medals and ribbons among other expenses.
Who makes Decisions about PSC?
PSC club is run by a committee of parents who meet once a month to help organize competitions, meet entries, trips, fundraising, swim meets, officials and the administration of the club. Without the committee the club would not function. Those on the committee are people who make our club one of the best in the region. As with all committees, not everyone is on for life, new blood and new ideas are always welcome. If you would like to help out the club, but do not want to be a committee member, please contact our president. Your help will be gratefully received.
Who is needed to run a meet?
Vital to competitive swimming are the swim meet officials. These are volunteers.
Meet Director
Referee – oversees the meet, and is directly responsible for any decision made. – 1
Starter – signals the start of the race – 1
Judge of stroke – walks the length of the pool and checks the legality of the strokes – 4
I.O.T – Inspector of turns – checks the touch and turns of the swimmers – 6
Chief timekeeper – ensures that all times are recorded and if a stopwatch doesn’t start takes that swimmers times – 1
Lane timekeepers – 3 times keepers per lane. They take the swimmers time and record all times – 18
Recorder – takes all timekeeper sheets home, along with the DQ forms and types the results onto the team manger report that is then printed out and sent to the web sites for publication: (PSC; Take Your Marks and Counties Swimming) – 1
Announcer – announces the swimmers in the races and DQ’s along with prudent information through out the meet – 1
Marshall – gets swimmers lined up for their races, ensures they know lane number, checks togs – 2
Team managers – sends the swimmers to the marshalling area – 2
Refreshment assistants – ensure that all the officials are keep rehydrated and sustained – 2-4
Raffle and door people. To collect door entry fees and raffle money – 2
We need over 40 volunteers to run a swim meet.
If your child is competing you will be required to assist at the meet, for at least one session. This helps to make the meet more meaningful and allows you to interact with your children more. You can become registered with Counties Swimming as a qualified official through PSC. We have a technical team who will help get you on the road to becoming a qualified official (see committee members). This is a great way to support your children in their chosen sport. There is usually a natural progression – Timekeeper, Inspector of Turns, Starter, Referee and experience is gained at each stage before moving on. . If you are unable to officiate at a meet you have a swimmer at, please ensure that you offer an extra session at a future meet. If a swimmer is competing in an 800m or 1500m event, they must provide a timekeeper. A record of helpers is kept after each meet (please see our meet co coordinator to check your record). Remember this is voluntary and you can choose which meets and sessions you would like to officiate at. This experience will give you an insight into the amount of work required to run a meet. Your assistance is helping your child achieve their goals. Without these volunteers swim meets do not run.
Do we Fundraise?
As with most clubs, PSC must raise funds to supplement their revenue gained from registrations. We work throughout the year on a variety of fundraising activities that allow PSC to subsidize swimmers competing at National meets and cover the cost of every PSC relay team / winter league teams and when possible individual national meets entries.
Is there a Team Uniform?
As with all teams, the PSC Swim Team has a uniform that all swimmers wear at competitions. The black and gold club shirt, the black and gold jacket and black shorts, should be worn to meets to identify members of the Club. Pool coats for swimmers are also available. This is our uniform and all competitive swimmers wear it at competitions when representing PSC. When racing swimmers who wear caps race in a PSC cap. Please contact our Uniform co coordinator for more information.
When do I become a Competitive Swimmer?
A great introduction to competitive swimming is via our monthly club racing. All club swimmers are encouraged to come along to these afternoons. Club racing enables you to experience the thrill of racing in your own familiar pool environment, with your friends and family supporting you. PSC club nights are run under Fina rules and require officials to be present in various roles, thus we need lots of parents to help out. The results from this racing is posted on the club website within a few days. As this is an official meet you will be disqualified if you do not follow the rules of racing. Once you feel you would like to race competitively against other clubs, at meets around NZ you need to register with SNZ. Once you are registered with Swimming New Zealand your times are sent onto Take Your Marks as official times.
The progression of competitive swimming is as follows;
PSC Club Nights – click here for a detailed description of what goes on at club nights
Counties Winter Leagues, Counties Manukau regional competitions, PSC Club Championships, Open meets (Hamilton and Henderson) i.e. Hot 50’s
Counties championships / Auckland Championships
AIMS Games (school based competition)
NZ Juniors
Secondary Schools Champs (School based competition)
SNZ Division II
SNZ Age Group Championships (aka NAGs or Div I)
SNZ Open Championships (both short and long course)
Aussie Age Group Champs / Youth Olympics
Pan Pacs and World Champs
Oceania Champs
Commonwealth Games
Olympic Games.
How do I enter swimming meets? – click here for a more detailed description of entry process
To enter competitions you need to fill out a form and post into locker 79 poolside or give to a squad manager. Your entry must be accompanied by payment. The meet poster will be in the notice board, and the closing date will be advertised on the poster. No late entries will be accepted. It is your responsibility to check the psych sheets on the relevant web site prior to the meet to ensure you have been entered.
What happens at National Meets?
The club has a national team travel policy for all national meets. The club requires team mangers to assist at nationalmeets and applications will be sought from those that are interested. click here to view the Team Travel Policy.
What happens when I go to a Swim Meet?
Come prepared. All swimmers must be in PSC uniform. Bring your swim bag packed with 2x togs, towels and goggles. 2x drink bottles and poolside snack food. Lunch items if required. Cards or a book for prolonged rest intervals. You must wear the Fina approved togs for racing and wear only 1 pair of swimming togs.
Warm up -You need to be at the pool 15 mins prior to the meet warm up starting. To ensure you get seating and to start your dry side warm up. After a long drive you need to loosen up and warm up the muscles that will be required in your warm up. When warm up begins, do the warm up your coach has prepared. (20 – 30 mins) This will include working all the muscle groups required for you to race well. Do not play around or disrupt other swimmers warm up. There is no diving into lanes during a warm up. Diving lanes will be allocated in the last 20 – 30 mins of warm up. Do not climb out over the touch pads at the end of the pool.
After your poolside warm up, have a drink and nibble of food, change togs if required and do some stretching.
Marshalling- the team manager will let you know when you are required to be at marshalling. You must listen for your name, you can be disqualified if you do not hear your name called and are not seated ready to race. Wear something warm to marshalling. Prior to going to marshalling check with your coach. They will give you last minute reminders (i.e. touch with 2 hands / negative split the 2nd 100 etc) remember what you have done in training is what will help you now.
After your race, go immediately to the warm down pool and start your warm down. This should take between 15 – 20 mins. Descending and finishing with work on the next race you have. Then go back to see your coach, who will discuss your race and give you advice on things to work on in training to make this an even better race next time. Younger swimmers may not be required to warm down and can return to their team immediately after the swim.
Please bear in mind that we have some very large squads and often have swimmers racing immediately after each other. Our apologies if we don’t get to speak to you all, but our priority is to watch every swimmer race. We may need to catch up with you at a later time on your race performance. (Ideally we would love to speak to every one of you)
PB’s – these are personal best times. On the programme you will see that your child has a time next to their name. This is the first registered time they have recorded. They achieve a PB when they beat this time. If your child has never done the swim before they are on the program with NT (no time). Some meets we are not allowed to enter a swimmer with NT, so the recorder will estimate a time for swimmer, or the coach will do a time trail and advise the recorder of the time.
Splits – these are the times per 25m, 50m or 100m, depending on the length of the race. From these times the coach can see where the swimmers weakness in technique / fitness is. I.e. dropping 5 second on the 3rd 25m swim and not getting it back for the last 25m, tells us the swimmer went out too fast and didn’t have the fitness to sustain the swim.
DQ’s
If you have been disqualified for a race, we will explain the reason for it; we then need to ensure that you work on that item to make sure it never happens again. Learn from it.
Club Code of Conduct – click here.
Committee and members that are available to help with all your questions – click here.
