Purposeful Racing Opportunities & SNZ Event Calendar
Tena koutou katoa,
" We have a few updates to provide regarding the competition pathway overview and changes to SNZ events from 2023. We are also excited to announce the dates and venues for the 2023 and 2024 SNZ Event Calendar. Please take the time to read through each update as they link together from 1 to 5.
1. Competition Pathway Overview
As part of the Swimming NZ Event Calendar announcement, we wanted to provide a reminder of the competition pathways offered throughout New Zealand, and how this has shaped the 2023 calendar.
The purpose of the competition pathway is to remind our swimming community of the different levels of competitions available in New Zealand, and how this provides opportunities to progress to the next level of competitions once additional experience and skills have been achieved. The pathway is a reminder of which competitions are significant racing opportunities for more competitive swimming, and which are ones are tailored toward growing your skills at development meets, so that purposeful racing opportunities continue to be provided for each level of swimmer.
A brief reminder of the competition pathway is outlined below to display the progression levels provided within competitive swimming:
Club Level
Meet Options: Club Nights, Club Champs, All In Meets, Time Trials, Have A Go Meets
Focus: Fun, regular and local participation celebrating PBs and valuable race practice to develop skills
Frequency: Regular
Duration: 1-2 hours
Meet Type: Development Meets
Inter Club Level
Meet Options: Duel Meets, Leagues, Inter Club Meets, Skins & Relay Competitions
Focus: Opportunity to host local fun racing opportunities with neighbouring clubs. These can also include team racing for points, relay opportunities and other concepts, whilst also serving as valuable race practice to further develop skills
Frequency: Regular
Duration: 1-2 hours
Meet Type: Development Meets
Regional Level
Meet Options: Regional Champs, Designated Meets
Focus: These competitions provide a significant racing opportunity to crown the regional champion and/or qualify for national championships. These competitions provide scope for greater participation at significant racing opportunities than national championships, as part of swimmer development. Please note: every designated meet doesn’t need to offer every event
Frequency: 10 per year, plus regional champs nearing end of the training cycle
Session Duration: 2-3 hours
Meet Type: Designated Meets
Zonal Level
Meets: Div II Zonal, Zonal Champs*
Focus: These competitions provide a significant racing opportunity against swimmers within the neighbouring regions. These competitions are also a stepping stone to national level for those aspiring to reach the national level moving forward.
Sessions Duration: 2.5-3.5 hours
Meet Type: Designated Meets
*We acknowledge that not all zones offer a Zonal Championships – eg: South Island Short Course Championships
National Level
Meets: NZ Open Water, NZ Champs, NAGS, NZ Secondary Schools, NZ Short Course
Focus: These competitions are the pinnacle significant racing opportunities for swimmers within NZ. These competitions are held to crown the national champion in each event and provide opportunities to qualify for international competitions.
Sessions Duration: 2.5-3.5 hours
Meet Type: Designated Meets
International Level
Meets: FINA Events, World Para Swimming Events, Olympics & Paralympics, Commonwealth Games, Targeted Performance Meets
Focus: Opportunities for swimmers selected to represent New Zealand on the international stage at pinnacle competitions, and preparation for pinnacle competitions.
2. Explaining the Changes for the Division II Swimming Competition
From 2023, following discussions with the Events Advisory Committee and regions, the decision has been made to improve the format of the Division II Swimming Competition. The calendar will offer a Division II Zonal Competition held in 4 locations on the same weekend and will be held across 3 days. The competition will be open for swimmers aged 13 and over who have not qualified for NZ Champs or NAGS, rather than just the 13 – 18 years of recent years.
This decision has been made following these considerations:
Increase the opportunity for participation at the tier below national level competitions. When Division II has been held in Dunedin the past few years, we have hosted 529 swimmers in 2019, 496 in 2021 and 334 in 2022 respectively. By offering this competition closer to home, we hope to provide more participants a significant racing opportunity. This significant racing opportunity is better suited as a stepping stone for those aspiring to swimming at National Championships moving forward at the zonal level, whilst also catering for greater participation across the country. We have successfully implemented the same Zonal concept when changing the Junior Festival to be held across 4 zones in previous years. In 2016, the Junior Championships were held in 1 location for 489 swimmers, whereas this increased to 1234 the following year when held in 4 zones. This change has provided more opportunities for participants to be involved over the past 5 years.
From feedback received from working groups and surveys over the past 12 months, the most common barriers to participation we hear are cost and length of sessions and/or competitions. By shifting the competition to be held closer to home within zones and shortening the length of the competition, we have improved the offering to reduce the costs of participating at the event by having less nights of accommodation and reduced travel costs due to being closer to home.
We have opened opportunities for 19 years and older to race at the Division II Zonal Competition to provide the same opportunity for all ages 13 and over. We have identified a large drop off in participation for swimmers in their late teens, with only 1% of club swimmers and 6% of competitive swimmers being 19+. By offering an opportunity for swimmers not quite at the NZ Swimming Championship level, we are hoping to encourage swimmers incentive and a significant racing opportunity that helps inspire them to stay in the sport as a young adult. This means that swimmers of all ages above 13 have this opportunity.
The NZ Secondary School Swimming Championships offer a similar short course competition only 2 months later for the same age bracket (rangatahi). NZ Secondary Schools caters for participation and developing swimmer opportunities through relays and 50m races whilst catering for the more competitive swimmers at the same competition through a different event schedule at the national level. In 2023, the competition will be further improved to best cater for these swimmers.
" This decision has been made to best complement the competition pathway, and overall, the best competition calendar moving forward for swimmers in New Zealand. Each level is important for providing purposeful racing opportunities, and we encourage the opportunities provided at each level of the competition pathway continue to be valued and utilised.
3. Explaining the changes for NZ Short Course
For 2023, the decision has been made to remove age group medals from the championships. There will be a qualifying time for 16&U and 17&O for females, and 17&U and 18&O for males, noting that swimmers need to be 13 and older to enter. The championships will take place over 4 days.
The reasons for these improvements are:
By removing the age group medals, we are acknowledging that NZ Short Course now sits in term 3 of the school year, and to have two national championships with age group offerings within 3 weeks of each other is not aligning with the Balance is Better philosophy that creates an environment for teenagers to balance their studies and swimming.
As NZ Champs and NAGS are structured in April for long course, NZ Secondary Schools and NZ Short Course will now follow a similar structure. NZ Secondary Schools will focus solely on age group swimming, and NZ Short Course will focus on the open level.
4. 2023 Event Calendar
Length of Championships
From 2023, we have shortened the number of days for the Apollo Projects NZ Swimming Championships and NZ Short Course Swimming Championships to 4 days of competition. The only exception to this will be in the Olympic year for NZ Champs, which will be held across 5 days, to provide the best opportunity for swimmers trying make the Olympic and Paralympic teams.
The reason we have made these changes is upon receiving the feedback about the length of competitions and the cost being the most common barriers to participation. We have identified that these competitions could be delivered across 4 days, which would be cheaper for attendees.
2023 Orangetheory New Zealand Open Water Swimming Championships & Epic Swim
Lake Taupo
14 – 15 January 2023
2023 Apollo Projects New Zealand Swimming Championships
Sir Owen G Glenn National Aquatic Centre, Auckland
1 – 4 April 2023
2023 Apollo Projects New Zealand Age Group Swimming Championships
Hawkes Bay Regional Aquatic Centre, Hawkes Bay
12 – 16 April 2023
2023 Apollo Projects Division II Zonal Competition
Venues to be confirmed for each zone
Dates to be confirmed (second week of Term 1 school holidays)
2023 New Zealand Secondary School Swimming Championships
Wellington Regional Aquatic Centre, Wellington
20 – 23 July 2023
2023 New Zealand Short Course Swimming Championships
Hawkes Bay Regional Aquatic Centre, Hawkes Bay
9 – 12 August 2023
2023 Junior Festival – Aquaknights
Waterworld, Te Rapa, Hamilton
3 – 5 November 2023
2023 Junior Festival – Harlequins
Sir Owen G Glenn National Aquatic Centre, Auckland
4 – 5 November 2023
2023 Junior Festival – Makos
Caroline Bay Trust Aoraki Centre, Timaru
10 – 12 November 2023
2023 Junior Festival – All Stars
Wellington Regional Aquatic Centre, Wellington
10 – 12 November 2023
5. 2024 Event Calendar
Please see the following events where we have a confirmed date and location:
2024 L New Zealand Swimming Championships
Hawkes Bay Regional Aquatic Centre, Hawkes Bay
9 – 13 April 2024
2024 New Zealand Age Group Swimming Championships
Hawkes Bay Regional Aquatic Centre, Hawkes Bay
15 – 19 April 2024
2024 New Zealand Secondary School Swimming Championships
Waterworld Te Rapa, Hamilton
25 – 28 July 2024
2024 New Zealand Short Course Swimming Championships
Parakiore Recreation and Sport Centre, Christchurch
17 – 20 August 2024
2024 Junior Festival – Aquaknights
Waterworld Te Rapa, Hamilton
1 – 3 November 2024
2024 Junior Festival – Harlequins
Sir Owen G Glenn National Aquatic Centre, Auckland
2 – 3 November 2024
2024 Junior Festival – Makos
Parakiore Recreation and Sport Centre, Christchurch
8 - 10 November 2024
2024 Junior Festival – All Stars
Wellington Regional Aquatic Centre, Wellington
8 – 10 November 2024
" All details for each event respectively up to the end of August 2023 will be published by early October.
Nga mihi nui,
Dale & Chloe
