MINI Meets

Your child will usually start out competing at Mini Meets. These meets are a great opportunity to introduce competitive swimming to the novice swimmer in a fun, friendly, relaxed atmosphere. This is all that most 5 -7 year old swimmers need. Mini Meets take place in Penticton, at our pool, usually on Saturday morning (occasionally on Friday afternoon). They last 1.5 -2 hours. These are non-sanctioned meets (no upgrade in insurance/registration). Occasionally, we invite other teams to participate in our Mini Meets as well (eg. Summerland ORCA or Masters Swimmers).

Regional Swim Meets

These are meets within a reasonably short drive from Penticton (Kelowna, Vernon, Kamloops). Penticton traditionally hosts the first meet of the season in mid-October and a second meet in April. These meets are usually invitational meets or meets where there is a high end dequalifying time (eg. our very fast swimmers are not invited), so they are appropriate for our newer swimmers to attend. They are a bigger time commitment than the Mini Meets -usually all day for the older swimmers, although they try to have the10 & Under swimmers done by noon. They are sanctioned, so swimmers must upgrade their insurance to compete and the times will be recorded as official. These are great meets for our 10 & Under swimmers and Novice 11 & Over swimmers to begin their competitive careers.

Travel Meets

it has become a tradition that the KISU Swim Club plans a travel meet sometime in the spring. In the past, we went to Prince George to see their new 50 m pool, to Oak Harbour in Washington and last year to Calgary. This year's plans have not been finalized. We look for an all-level, invitational meet, so that all our competitive swimmers can go. We rent a large bus, travel together and billet with the host team. It is a great meet for team bonding, making new friends and starting off the long course season.

Qualifying Meets

AA's and AAA's - some of you may have seen the Swim BC Time standards that are posted on the bulletin board or on the Swim BC website. These are the times swimmers have to achieve to attend Provincial level swim meets. There are three levels. 'A' times mean that you are in the ballpark. AA's (the next level) mean that you can attend the BC Championship Trials and AAA's (the top swimmers in BC) can attend the BC Championship Meet. These meets are Heats and Finals format (all swimmers will swim in the morning. The top 8 swimmers will swim again in the evening) and introduce to our swimmers the challenge of swimming under pressure. This season's short course (25m pools, vs. long course 50 m pools) AA's are in Kelowna (mid-Feb.) and the AAA's are in Richmond (early March). These meets are usually held at the premier pools in the Province.

Junior National and National Level Swim Meets

again these are qualifying meets which have specific times. For National level meets, the time standards are given by SNC (Swimming/Natation Canada, check the web site) and apply to the entire country. These time standards apply to the elite swimmers in Canada. The meets are held twice a year (short course season, February/March and long course season, July/August). This season's short course meets are held in New Westminster for Junior/Youth/SWAD Nationals and in Victoria for Nationals.