Leagues_&_Competitions

LEAGUES & COMPETITIONS

The Club competes each year in a number of Leagues consisting of various galas. These are at different levels of competition and require swimmers of different abilities.

Peninsular Development League:
This is, as the name implies, a league for developing swimmers in the earlier stages of ability. We try to involve as many Club members as possible, particularly those who have recently joined. This is a good starting point for learning gala skills. The events in these galas are time limited to exclude the fastest swimmers and provide a chance to swim strokes or distances that the swimmers have not yet participated in. It is also a good opportunity to get PB’s (personal bests) on a large number of swimmers.

Peninsular League:
This is normally swum by our strongest team and involves longer swims. We compete against five other teams: - Bebington, Birkenhead, Ellesmere Port, Hoylake and Wallasey. These galas are held in four rounds, with the teams rotating so that each gala we swim against two different teams.

Merseyside & District Junior Swimming League:
This has now been reorganised for 2011/2012 into a three division competition with 5 teams in the first division and four in the second and third divisions. Woodchurch will be competing this coming year in Division 2 against:- Birkenhead, Bootle & North Liverpool and Crosby.. We will swim four galas against the same 3 clubs. The season for this league is September to June, which means that the swimmers will be a slightly different age mix to that of the Peninsular League. At the end of the season the winning team in each division is promoted to the next division up and the team with the lowest number of points is relegated to the division below. We came top of Division 3 last season and were therefore promoted to Division 2..

Peninsular Group Galas:
We encourage Club members to compete in these larger events. They consist of: Age Group Championships; usually held in February and Licensed Meets held throughout the year.. An All Clubs Gala and a Development All Clubs Gala; are usually held towards the end of the year.

Championship Meets:
More able swimmers may enter the Cheshire Championships and the Liverpool and District Championships. Swimmers who have competed in the M & D League may enter the M & D Individual Championships..

Woodchurch Annual Club Gala:
All full members of the club are expected to enter this gala which is held towards the end of the year.