Inter-Divisional Championships
Stewart Nicklin,
St. Josephs Catholic Junior School,
Chatsworth Avenue,
Wembley,
London
HA9 6BE
Contact Stewart
2023 Event (2022-23)
Saturday 11th/Sunday 12th March 2023 - 72nd Inter-Divisional Championships
Venue : Alan Higgs Centre (50m), Coventry
Licensed: This event licensed as a level 1 meet (1WMtbc).
Timings (TBC):
Saturday: Arrival 12:00; Photos from 12:00 in event room (upstairs); Warm up 13:00; Start 14:00; Estimated finish time 18:00
Sunday: Warm up 09:00; Start 10:00; Estimated finish time including presentations 14:00 - All teams are expected to remain poolside for the presentations
Selection for 2nd ISF U15 Gymnasiade School Summer Games: Brasil 2023
This event will be used to inform team selection for the 2nd ISF U15 Gymnasiade School Summer Games in accordance with the selection policy.
Please see the Internationals webpage for all further information.
Start Lists/RESULTS:
Start lists and Live Results, plus links to live streaming will be available from the end of warmup on the Live events page (click here)
Results from previous years are located in the RESULTS section lower down this page.
Officials:
This will be a Level 1 licensed meet. We are inviting licensed officials to sign up using the link below.
https://forms.office.com/r/kSdkbYjR4P
Expenses will be paid in accordance with our expenses policy:
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Frequently Asked Questions:
Who can enter?
This is a team event where swimmers represent their school, swimming for their Division, rather than their club. Selection is made by the Division.
It is open to all secondary school aged swimmers. All schools are automatically affiliate to ESSA on entry to any of its events; there is no need to pre-register or affiliate. Home schooled swimmers that wish to participate should contact their division representative.
How do I enter?
It is not possible to enter the championships as an individual or school. Participation is by invitation from each Division.
Sometimes Divisions will arrange a selection meet to guide selection to their team. However, with the competition calendar being so full, this is often impractical to run.
Typically, selection to the Divisional team is done using data from Swim England's Rankings.
ESSA Division boundaries are very similar to Swim England Regional boundaries, but there are some differences, and particularly ESSA base their eligibility to swim for a Division on the postal address of the school attended by the swimmer, whilst the Swim England's Rankings data is based upon the affiliated region of the swimmer's ranked club. This can create cases where a swimmer's Region according to Swim England's Rankings differs from the ESSA Division in which they are eligible to swim. In this case swimmers are recommended to submit an 'Expression of Interest' form to the Division in which their school is located to avoid being overlooked in the selection process. Divisions may inadvertently provisionally select swimmers that are ineligible to swim for their team - this is usually picked up during selection eligibility confirmation before provisional invitations become formal.
I have been invited to swim for my Division, but I plan on entering an Open meet as I am chasing National Qualifying times; what should I do?
Only the swimmer can determine what is right for their individual circumstances.
It may be worth considering that Swim England recognise and support these ESSA championships as a National level competition and that it is licensed at level 1, so that times swum in individual events at these championships count towards national qualifying.
Competing at these ESSA championships satisfies one of the selection policy criteria for International Schools events where ESSA send a team. Swimmers that decline an offer to represent their division at these championships are unlikely to be selected to represent ESSA internationally, unless they are attending a Swim England national pathway organised event, or have other valid extenuating circumstances.
I am the fastest in my age in my Region, why haven't I been selected?
There are a number of reasons that a Division may not select a swimmer who on a simple inspection of Rankings may appear to be the fastest swimmer:
- ESSA competitions use a school year, so ages are calculated as at 1st September at the start of the academic year in which the competition takes place, so filters that use year of birth will not produce valid results.
- ESSA competitions use age-groups that contain multiple years. For the Inter-Divisional championships, those age-groups are 11-12, 13-14, 15-17, based on age at the start of the academic year in which the competition takes place.
- ESSA Division boundaries are very similar to Swim England Regional boundaries, but there are some differences, and particularly ESSA base their eligibility to swim for a Division on the postal address of the school attended by the swimmer, whilst the Swim England Rankings data is based upon the affiliated region of the swimmer's ranked club. This can create cases where a swimmer is invited based on rankings data but is ineligible to swim for the Division, or cases where a swimmer that appears to be ineligible to swim for a Division based on Swim England rankings may be selected.
- Each Division's team size is constrained by the championship regulations. This means that the Division's team cannot accommodate a specialist for each individual event. The selection process must balance the team to give it the best mix across all events, where a swimmer may not be the fastest available in an individual event, but maybe the second fastest across a number of events for example.
- Selection reports are generated for each Division based on a snapshot of reports provided specifically for this purpose by Swim England to ESSA. These snapshots are timed to aid selection by the divisions, typically after winter regional championships are completed. Occasionally a further snapshot is taken after winter national championships, but this is dependent upon availability of resource to create and process the reports, and is often too late to make invitations before swimmers have committed themselves to other open meets. This means that if a swimmer's best time is recorded in rankings after the snapshot is taken, the swim may not be recognised by the selectors.
Can I appeal a selection decision?
All selection decisions are in the hands of the Division. Divisions are expected to use a fair selection process but are under no obligation to disclose the reasons for selection of a particular swimmer over another. Divisions will be seeking to build a team that will best represent its interests and those of its swimmers and will be using multiple criteria that require judgement. Where an error may have been made in a Division's selection process, it is unusual to de-select a swimmer unless they fall outside of the eligibility criteria of the championship regulations.
Selections can be protested to the event Referee based on eligibility to swim for the Division at the championships, against the eligibility criteria in the championship regulations.
Matters that fall within the terms of the policies of the ESSA as set out in Section 3 of its constitution may be referred to the ESSA Honerable General Secretary, or to the ESSA Welfare officer.
What events are included?
The championships include all individual long-course events (excluding long-distance events), plus 4x100m freestyle and medley relays, in each age-group and gender.
Additionally, 50m individual events are included for the open (11-17) age-group in each gender and each day's events are rounded off with a squad relay that includes a swimmer from each age-group and gender.
For 2023, we have introduce para events for 100m in each stroke (S/SB 1-14), plus 200m IM (SM 5-15)
See the 'Programme of Events' download for further details.
Each Division is allocated one lane, allowing one swimmer per Division for each individual event. Occasionally spare lanes offer the opportunity to swim non-scoring time-trials, requested and allocated through the Divisional Representative according to demand and availability.
Can we enter a team with an underage swimmer?
No, swimmers must be within the applicable age range for their age group. ESSA events are based on age groups that set upper and lower ages for swimmers. Ages are based on ages at the start of the academic year (31st August/1st September).
Do results count as a licensed time?
Yes, the championships are licensed at Level 1. All times swum during individual events, including time trials where applicable, are submitted to rankings. Times from the first leg of a relay are not eligible for submission to rankings.
Records
National Championships Results
72nd Inter-Division Championship Results (2022-23) Session One & Two (Saturday & Sunday)
71st Inter-Division Championship Results (2021-22) Session One (Saturday) Session Two (Sunday)
70th Inter-Division Championship Results (2019-20) Session One (Saturday) Session Two (Sunday)
69th Inter-Division Championship Results (2018-19) Session One (Saturday) Session Two (Sunday)
68th Inter-Division Championship Results (2017-18) Session One (Saturday) Session Two (Sunday)
67th Inter-Division Championship Results (2016-17) Session One (Saturday) Session Two (Sunday)
66th Inter-Division Championship Results (2015-16)
65th Inter-Division Championship Results (2014-15)
64th Inter-Division Championship Results (2013-14) Session One (Saturday) Session Two (Sunday)
63rd Inter-Division Championship Results (2012-13) Session One (Saturday) Session Two (Sunday)