The National Arena Swimming League is the largest team competition for swimming in England. Over 400 clubs are involved from across the country. The country is divided into 7 regions with each region having a number of divisions Clubs compete against teams in their region. Kingston Royals are based in the Southern Region and currently swim in Division 1 West (the second tier of the Southern Region). Competitively the League is seasonal – running from September-May and is structured around 3 regional rounds that take place in October, November and December. After the 3 regional rounds, the top 16 teams will qualify for the National Finals (A & B) which generally take place in March/April. Teams within each region will be promoted/relegated based on points accumulated across the 3 rounds.
Swimmers are broken into age groups - 9-11; 13 & Under; 15 & Under and Open. Within each age group there are individual races over either 50m or 100m in each stroke, with one person per club per gender racing each event. There are also two relays per age group culminating in a final 6 swimmer cannon relay. At each of the 3 rounds swimmers compete for the team and will score points based on their event placing. The success of the team is based on points scored not only by swimmers in individual events, but also by those swimmers taking part in the relay events so swimmers are expected to perform to the best of their abilities in both relay and individual events.
The National Arena Swimming League is the biggest club team event of the year for the club and if selected swimmers are expected to be available to participate.
Set out below is the competition format adopted for each round of the competition:-
