Frequently Asked Questions & Answers

Annual Membership and Coaching Fees:

Our membership year runs July 1 to June 30. You will receive an invoice for Club membership for this membership year and a monthly invoice for coaching fees for your child’s squad.

For competitive and club swimmers a component of your membership fee is to register with Swimming Canterbury West Coast and Swimming New Zealand. This needs to be paid before you can enter your first meet. We have included this fee in our membership fee, so once you have paid the membership fee, we will manually update the Swimming NZ database and you will be good to go!

If you are already registered with SNZ then it is only our club portion that is payable.

Invoices will arrive via Xero email and can be viewed online. Payment is made into our club account, noted on the invoice, it would assist if you could include the invoice number when paying.

We encourage members to set up an automatic payment. We are a separate entity from the Aquagym Swim School, and a not-for-profit sports club. Our main expenses include pool hire and wages for coaching staff. We are reliant on membership fees, monthly coaching fees and grants and donations to support the Club.

Uniforms:

We do not carry stock for uniforms. Orders are made periodically throughout the year, and you will receive an advance email prior to the next order.

Andy will provide you with your first swim cap at no charge, replacements can be purchased for $12 from the coaches.

Club Messages:

Our primary means of contact is email. We try not to send out too many emails, but your coach will contact you with relevant information about training schedules and, if you are interested in competing, the meets that you are eligible to enter.

We also use the application TeamReach for communications at short notice.

We remain a family club with aspirations of developing strong competitive swimmers. We are always looking for supportive parents to get involved and assist with club oversight, swim meets and travel assistance.

Please feel free to discuss any aspect where you could help. Otherwise keep an eye on Facebook@AquaGymSwimClub and Instagram feed aquagym.swim.club. We encourage you to like/follow these to see what the team is up to

What are Squads?

At Aquagym we have 7 squads.

1.       5 competitive squads that start with the Transition Squad and progress towards a National Squad. Each progression involves more swimming and more advanced coaching.

1.       Fitness (for Triathlon / Surf Lifesaving / Masters / Open water swimming / Water Polo)

2.       Para Athlete

How often does my swimmer have to swim?

The higher the squad, the more times a swimmer is expected to swim each week. Swim times can be found on our website and each squad has its own swim times. There are often choices for the more advanced groups. For example, junior squad is expected to swim 2 – 3 times a week, and there are 4 times to choose from.

https://www.aquagymswimclub.co.nz/squads

How does a swimmer move up squads?

Moving up squads depends on swimming ability, attitude, age and a desire to swim harder and better. The head coach with the help of assistant coaches usually decides when a swimmer is ready.

A swimmer can always ask the coaches if they are ready, or what they need to do to move up.

What are the different types of swimmers at Aquagym?

1.       Non-competitive swimmers – These are usually our swimmers who are new to swimming or are fitness swimmers whose competitive bias is not competitive pool swimming.

2.       Competitive swimmers – Swimmers who compete locally, regionally and nationally

3.       Fitness swimmers - Swimmers who compete in Surf Lifesaving, Triathlon, Open Water Swimming, Water Polo etc

What are the different types of coaches?

We have 2 types of coaches at Aquagym. Our Head Coach Andy Mclay, and 2 assistant coaches Emma Smith, Jeri Masangkay and Jordan Astley. You can find out more information here:

https://www.aquagymswimclub.co.nz/coaches

What are “Times” and why do they matter?

A “Time” is the time a swimmer has recorded for a specific event (e.g. a swimmer takes 30 seconds to swim 50M Freestyle).

Some events / races have a minimum time a swimmer must meet in order to be allowed to enter.

Some events / races have a maximum time a swimmer must be slower than in order to enter. This means high performance swimmers don’t race against swimmers with much less experience.

What are the different types of swim meets?

There are 5 levels of swim meets in New Zealand:

How do you enter a swim meet?

You enter races through, located at this address: https://fastlane.swimming.org.nz/login

1.       Go to the Events page and find the Meet you want to enter.

2.       Look at the Meet Flyer and choose the races.

3.       Things to think about are choosing 2-3 races per session and not doing back to back races.

4.       Start with the shorter races when your swimmer is new. You can ask the coaches for guidance with what to enter.

5.       Click on the ‘Enter’ button and select the races. Follow the instructions for payment.

If you are unsure of your swimmers login email Tracy secretary@aquagymswimclub.co.nz

What gear do I need to bring to training?

This information is on our website at this location: https://www.aquagymswimclub.co.nz/squad-gear-requirements

Does my swimmer need specific race togs? – because they can be REALLY expensive!

Swimmers 12 and under are not required to wear technical suits (high-performance suits with bonded seams and compression).

For swimmers over 12 years old there are no restrictions. However, unless you swimmer is approaching a high standard (e.g. finals or top 10 in Tier 2 or above) we suggest looking for bargains during sales to try and keep the cost as reasonable as possible.

Common Swimming Abbreviations

Strokes:

  • FR: Freestyle

  • BK: Backstroke

  • BR: Breaststroke

  • FLY: Butterfly

  • IM: Individual Medley

Distances:

  • 50M: 50 meters

  • 100M: 100 meters

  • 200M: 200 meters

  • 400M: 400 meters

  • 800M: 800 meters

  • 1500M: 1500 meters

Events:

·         50 FR:             50 meters Freestyle

·         100 BK:          100 meters Backstroke

·         200 BR:          200 meters Breaststroke

·         100 FLY:        100 meters Butterfly

·         200 IM:           200 meters Individual Medley

·         400 IM:           400 meters Individual Medley

Relays:

  • FR Relay: Freestyle Relay

  • MR: Medley Relay

Training Terms:

  • DPS: Distance Per Stroke

  • DR: Drill

  • EZ: Easy

  • HOLD: Hold Pace

  • K: Kick

  • P: Pull

  • S: Swim

  • SP: Sprint

  • T-pace: Threshold Pace

  • U/W: Underwater

Competition Terms:

  • DQ:        Disqualification

  • NT:         No Time (no previous recorded time)

  • PB:         Personal Best

  • Q:           Qualified (for next round or finals)

  • Taper:   Reduced training volume before a major competition

  • Split:     Time taken for a specific segment of a race

  • Heat:     A preliminary round in swimming competitions

  • Final:     The concluding race determining the final placings

Governing Bodies and Organizations:

  • SCWC: Swimming Canterbury West Coast

  • SNZ:      Swimming New Zealand

  • FINA:     Fédération Internationale de Natation (International Swimming Federation)