Follow the section on how to enter a gala.

Race Selection

Which events should I enter?

If you are unsure which races your child should swim, the first point of contact should be your coach. However, before speaking to your coach, you should read the conditions and qualifying times in the gala documentation as this will tell you which races your child is allowed to enter. The gala documentation is linked to the relevant item in the season's fixtures list in the Competitions tab of the website.

Some gala organisers will allow you to enter a time on your form that does not exist in the ASA database. They don't mind, because they trust your club (and coach) to only allow swimmers to enter that are appropriate to their gala and it is largely about preparing the order of the heats. In other galas, such as the County/Regional/National competitions and those preceding or relating to them, they will only allow entrants who are truly eligible via registered times and in these cases, they will check and there is no point in submitting a time that is not on the ASA database. In fact you will most likely put your application in jeopardy because by the time your form is submitted by us and subsequently rejected, there will be no time left to resubmit or the gala will already be full. So if you don't have a registered time, check with your coach and ask how strict the gala is, and if it isn't, get a time from the coach to put on the form. You should mention on the form that it is a coach-submitted time.

What happens if I don’t submit an entry time on my form?

The club volunteer who processes your form will ask you to to resubmit the form. The only forms that do not require an entry time are the Club Champs.

How do I convert a 25m time to a 50m time or vice versa?

The Qualifying times will always say whether they are 25m pool times or 50m pool times - sometimes they quote times for both. They will also specify whether the entry time that you put on your form should be a 25m or a 50m time. If they are asking for a 50m time and you only have a 25m time, you can convert it to a 50m time by applying a formula, and vice versa. Click here for Pullbuoy's conversion tool.

Submitting the Form

How do I submit my form?

You should receive an email with instructions on how to submit your form. Failing that, or if you're worried you haven't received the email, go to the relevant item on the season's Fixtures page (under the Events tab of the website) and there should be links to the documentation and entry forms.

What happens if I don’t submit the form by the deadline?

For most galas, a Dulwich Dolphins volunteer will put them in a special piece of software and send off a single file to the club organiser. Sometimes the club running the meet insists that this is the only way they will accept entries. If you submit your form after the volunteer has submitted the file to the organiser, you will need to contact the gala organiser yourself and see if you can submit an individual application form directly to them - they will have forms on their website. Our club will set a deadline to swimmers reasonably early in order that we don't get our application rejected because the gala is full, which is why you might see our deadline as being much earlier than the deadline published on the gala organiser's website. 

After submitting the form

How do I know you have received my form?

We will endeavour to set up an automated confirmation email of your entries. If you don't hear from the club about your application, you can keep checking the gala organiser's website to see if they have published a list of accepted entries.

When do I pay?

Once the gala host has sent us a list of accepted entries, our club volunteer sends an invoice list to the Treasurer who will collect the amount via GoCardless at one of the subsequent mid-month collection times (around the 14th of the month). You will get 2 days warning from GoCardless that the payment is going out and hopefully more notice than that when the invoice is emailed out to the parent. You should not send a cheque or make a transfer because then you risk being charged twice and causing some admin work to rectify it.

Are all entries accepted?

Some galas get full very quickly and others may accept only a few entries from each swimmer. This can be very frustrating if you are left with only one or two races, and perhaps a long journey to and from the gala. Only experience and talking to the coaches can predict this possibility, as well as filling out your form correctly of course. The volunteer processing the forms will tell you if any of your races have been rejected ('scratched'). On your entry you agree to abide by the terms and conditions of the gala (usually set out in the Promoter’s Terms & Conditions) and these state that an entrant is required to pay for races they have been accepted for.  Unfortunately, if you decide it's not worth going, you will still have to pay for the accepted races because the club will have already paid the gala organiser on your behalf.

When do I find out if my submission has been accepted by the organiser of the competition.

The club volunteer will email you individually if any of your races have been rejected. You can also check the host's website for information on accepted/rejected entries.

What happens if only a few of my entries are accepted?

The volunteer processing the forms will tell you if any of your races have been rejected ('scratched') and unfortunately, if you decide it's not worth going, you will still have to pay for the accepted races because the club will have already paid the gala organiser on your behalf.

What happens if I want to withdraw from a gala after my entry has been accepted by the organiser?

You should email the club volunteer so they can let the gala host know, but you will not receive a refund for your entries.