Getting started

Young swimmers able to swim a length (25m) may be ready to join a competitive club. In our pre-competition groups, we coach swimmers in the techniques, skills and processes that they will eventually use in competition swimming.

Once they graduate to the competitive squads, children as young as 7 can swim in local galas and enjoy the camaraderie of being part of a club team as well as the exciting atmosphere of a swimming competition.

Get in touch with us and we’ll guide you through how to get started in club swimming.

Our membership secretary will arrange a free trial for your child at one of our training sessions. One of our coaches will assess their swimming level. They will tell you which group your child belongs in and what this means for you. If you’re happy, we’ll let you know when and where to go for the first session and everything that you’ll need to be ready.

Our Approach

Although we do not offer lessons for beginner swimmers, we have based our criteria for pre-competition groups on the Swim England Learn to Swim Framework and the Swim England Competitive Skills Framework. This ensures a secure grounding in core skills alongside a strong emphasis on confidence in the aquatic environment, feel for the water, balance and efficiency.

Young people progress through Ripples and Waves (our groups) on successful completion of criteria laid down for each group. We do not have individual groups for Stages 1-7 because there is little difference between some of the stages and, due to the fact that we offer more pool time than an average Learn to Swim programme, the young people progress faster. It is also good to work on different elements from different stages in a single session, as well as revisit elements from prior stages and this flexibility is part of our holistic and child-centred approach.

Swimming in competitions

At BSC we develop the skills of the swimmer according to their own goals. No one is required to compete, but we find that many of our young swimmers can’t wait to get to their first gala! For more information about competitive swimming, visit our Compete page.

Interested?

Go to our Contact Us page or email our membership secretary at bromsgrovescmembers@gmail.com .