How to Join
Swim Academy
To organise a trial in the Swim Academy please fill in the 'Request a Trial' form at the top of the page.
Children aged 4 years and above, who are Stages 1-4, can join our Learn to Swim lessons at Kingswood Leisure Centre. For those children aged 6-10 who are learning how to swim we also have a Swim Academy for aspiring young swimmers! We teach swimmers from Stages 5 to 8 at Badminton School, Easton, Kingswood (up to Stage 6) and Henbury Leisure Centres, St Mary Redcliffe and Temple School and Clifton College swimming pools.
Being a swimming club, we have age based entry criteria which is assessed against the National Plan for Teaching Swimming. Our lessons are very popular and we have some availability in some groups although if our groups are full your child can be added to the waiting list and spaces come up as swimmers move up groups and graduate to the main squad. The aim is swimmers attend two lessons a week to ensure they make sufficient progress to enter the main squad by their 10th birthday (not available at Kingswood). There are however, some once a week slots as well. We assess each child individually who comes to try out in a relaxed and informal way and then allow prospective members to stay for a free try out lesson.
Swim Squads
To enquire about availability in all squads, please click on the Request a Trial button above.
On completion of the academy swimmers will be invited into the competitive pathway of the club. Swimmers will have the choice of two pathways based within the city. The pathways prepare swimmers for their progression into competitive swimming environment. Swimmers will learn the basics of training, starts, turns, and gain a better understanding of the skills required to compete with the best in the country.
At Kingswood Leisure Centre, our Skills Development and Competitive Skills squads also provide an opportunity for swimmers to develop the skills and techniques for competitive training and competition, and our County Development squad supports swimmers who are competing or close to qualifying at county level.
The Recreational squads for those swimmers who have not yet achieved county qualifying times or for those who wish to focus on a less competitive route. There are four squads in this cluster. These are Junior Club for non-competitive swimmers graduating from the Swim Academy that want to maintain their swimming fitness and improve their technique, Age Group Club, Youth Club and County Age and Youth.
We run parallel performance pathways centred around Hengrove/Badminton or Kingswood. There are three squads in the Performance cluster: Bronze/Regional Potential for swimmers who have attained county qualification times, Silver/Regional Age for swimmers with county qualification times that are aiming for regional level and Gold(Performance)/National Potential(Performance) for swimmers with county, regional and national qualification times who are training at a high level and want to commit to more sessions.
Masters
For swimmers 18 years and over who are both competitive and non-competitive swimmers. Masters swimmers are encouraged to participate in the coaching of the squads so that they can pass on their experience and skills. Masters swimmers have access to five sessions a week with over five hours of swimming. Some of our masters swimmers also coach for Penguins and are therefore eligible to swim for a reduced fee. Masters swimmers can choose to swim one to six times a week. Find out more about the Masters squad here.
To enquire about availability in all squads, please click on the Request a Trial button above.
See the Training Times page for specific days and times.
