DistrictDivisionRegion
Swimming
Published 12 August, 2026
These rules apply to State, Region and Division competitions. Any variations to these rules at Region and Division levels will be found on the relevant event page for those events.
Rules
- Conditions:
- See the School Sport Victoria’s ‘General Conditions of Competition’. All players, teachers, spectators and officials are bound by the ‘SSV Codes of Conduct’ and the ‘Participant Behaviour Policy’.
- Sports Tape must be supplied by the student/competing team. Strapping for injury prevention as required must be performed by the student/competing team. NB. The First Aid Responder attending the state finals are not permitted to perform strapping.
- Rules:
- Swimming is conducted under the rules of Australian Swimming Inc. unless otherwise stated.
- Please see the SSV Primary Schools Resource Manual for more useful sport specific information.
Age Restrictions
- Ages are calculated as at December 31 in the year of competition.
- A competitor may compete in an older age group provided they only compete in one age group for all of their individual events.
- A competitor may compete in a different relay age group to their individual event age group.
- Competitors may only compete in one age group in each relay type (medley relay, freestyle relay).
- The age group a swimmer/athlete competes in at District Level (Secondary – Division Level) cannot be changed when competing at higher levels of competition.
Event Restriction
- Secondary competitors may compete in not more than FIVE swimming events. This excludes relays.
- Primary competitors may compete in not more than TWO swimming events. This excludes relays.
- Primary Multi Class swimmers may compete in not more than THREE swimming events. There are no Multi Class relays.
- Changes to entries, as notified by the Region Coordinator, will only be accepted up to two (2) working days prior to the Championships. After this time, changes will not be accepted.
Qualifying
- The competing swimmers are those who have qualified through from each of the eight Sporting Regions of the SSV and must be full time students attending schools that are members of SSV.
- One swimmer per Sporting Region qualifies for State Championships (invitations excepted).
- SSV reserves the right to invite more than one Multi Class swimmer based on times at Region and the Multi Class points system.
Relay Teams
- The four members of each relay team must be students at the same school/campus, with names submitted on the relay team sheet prior to the competition.
- One team per Sporting Region qualifies for State Championships.
- Small schools from the same Sports District with a combined enrolment of 300 pupils or less may select a combined relay team.
- Teams will be disqualified if a relay team sheet is not supplied or swimmers in the event do not match the names listed. Alterations can be made to the team sheet up to 20 minutes prior to the event running.
- Girls are permitted to compete in a Boy/Mixed Relay provided they do not also compete in a Girls’ Relay. A Boys/Mixed team must be made up of a minimum of one Boy.
- Boys are not permitted to compete in the Girls’ Relay.
Multiclass Swimmers
- Multiclass events are conducted over 50 m in Freestyle, Backstroke, Breaststroke and Butterfly.
- Multiclass events will be conducted using the multi disability format for both boys and girls and results calculated using the Swimming Australia Multiclass Points Schedule (MCPS).
- Each Multiclass swimmer must have competed at the Region level.
- Students must hold a current classification. Students without a classification must contact Swimming Victoria.
- SSV reserves the right to invite extra Multi Class swimmers to the State Final that have not qualified by placing first at Region competition.
- Multi Class swimmers wishing to compete in able body events (including relays) must qualify according to the regular SSV progression pathway.
Dress Regulations
- Swimming costumes must comply with the Swimming Victoria Swimwear Bylaws and current related guidelines except Swimming Victoria (SV) By-Law Competitions and Events 6.2 Competitors 11 years and under are not permitted (or allowed) to wear a technical/performance suit in SV hosted competitions.
- ie. SV By-Law 6.2 does not apply to School Sport Victoria events and Competitors 11 years and under are permitted to wear technical/performance suits.
- Competitor must wear only one swimsuit in one or two pieces. No additional items, like arm bands or leg bands shall be regarded as parts of a swimsuit.
- Swimwear for boys shall not extend above the navel nor below the knee, and for girls, shall not cover the neck, extend past the shoulder, nor shall extend below the knee.
- The costumes of all competitors shall be in good moral taste, non-transparent and suitable for the individual sports discipline.
- The Referee and/or Convener have the authority to exclude any competitor whose costume does not comply with this rule.
- Football shorts or board shorts are not considered suitable for competition at State Championships.
- Compression clothing (such as Skins, Underarmour, Performax etc) that are not specifically designed for swimming are not considered suitable. Swimmers wearing compression clothing that is not approved by FINA will not be permitted to compete. For a full list of approved FINA swim suits click here.
Marshalling
- Competitors must report to the marshalling area for their event at least 20 minutes prior to the scheduled starting time of the event.
- Competitors should be aware that the scheduled times printed in the program are approximate and subject to change.
- Appropriate announcements will be made concerning any substantial alterations.
Presentations
- At the conclusion of each event the first three placegetters will, when announced, mount the victory dais and be presented with awards. Placegetters are to wear their school tracksuit or school polo to presentations.
Protests
- Protests must be notified to the Referee in Charge on the day of competition only by either the competitor or teacher or adult responsible for the competitor.
- Any competitor aggrieved by the ruling of the Referee may request to compete under protest (in the case of a disqualification/failed attempt) until their Appeal can be heard.
- After the Referee has made his/her decision, there is an opportunity to lodge an appeal in writing with the Convenor within 10 minutes of the conclusion of the race or the Referee’s decision, whichever comes first. There is an appeal fee of AUD$50 cash to accompany any appeal.
- Presentations will be withheld whilst any protest or appeal is being heard.
- No protests or appeals will be heard after the day the competition is conducted.
Privacy
- SSV will publish the names of qualifiers to this event and their school names on the SSV web site for the official conduct and administration of this event.
- In order to celebrate the achievements of student in school sport events, SSV will publish full results from the Championships, including competitors’ names and schools on the SSV web page and will make full results available to Swimming Victoria for the purposes of official verification of times.
- “Sports Trend”, official photographer to SSV, will be taking action photos plus photos of all presentations at the Championships. SSV may forward suitable photos to the media (the Herald Sun, The Age etc) for inclusion in articles covering the Championships.
- If you wish to have your (or your son’s/daughter’s) name and/or images withheld please contact the School Sport Victoria office on (03) 9084 9001 or school.sport.victoria@education.vic.gov.au
Team Vic Selection
- The Team Vic Swimming Team will not be selected and announced after these Championships.
- All swimmers who wish to be considered for Team Vic Swimming must nominate online at the School Sport Victoria website via the Team Vic Swimming page.
- Please note that qualifying criteria and closing dates apply.
Age Group
9-10
11
12-13 (P)
12-13 (S)
14
15
16
17
18-20
Freestyle 200m
3-4
3-4
3-4
1-2
1-2
1-2
Breaststroke 50m
7-8
9-10
11-12
13-14
15-16
17-18
19-20
21-22
23-24
Breaststroke 50m MC
133/136
134/137
135/138
139/142
139/142
140/143
140/143
141/144
141/144
Breaststroke 100m
5-6
5-6
5-6
5-6
5-6
5-6
Butterfly 50m
27-28
29-30
31-32
33-34
35-36
37-38
39-40
41-42
43-44
Butterfly 50m MC
45/48
46/49
47/50
51/54
51/54
52/55
52/55
53/56
53/56
Butterfly 100m
25-26
25-26
25-26
25-26
25-26
25-26
Freestyle 50m
61-62
63-64
65-66
67-68
69-70
71-72
73-74
75-76
77-78
Freestyle 50m MC
79/80
81/82
83/84
85/88
85/88
86/89
86/89
87/90
87/90
Freestyle 100m
57-58
57-58
57-58
59-60
59-60
59-60
Backstroke 50m
93-94
95-96
97-98
99-100
101-102
103-104
105-106
107-108
109-110
Backstroke 50m MC
111/114
112/115
113/116
117/120
117/120
118/121
118/121
119/122
119/122
Backstroke 100m
91-92
91-92
91-92
91-92
91-92
91-92
Medley Relay
123-124
123-124
123-124
125-126
125-126
127-128
127-128
129-130
129-130
Freestyle 400m
131-132
131-132
131-132
131-132
131-132
131-132
Indiv. Medley 200m
145-146
145-146
145-146
147-148
147-148
147-148
Freestyle Relay
149-150
151-152
153-154
155-156
157-158
159-160
161-162
163-164
165-166
Schools’ Competition - Secondary Points
Event Type
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
Individual
10
8
6
5
4
3
2
1
Relay
20
16
12
10
8
6
4
2
Points are not awarded if competitors are disqualified, do not finish, or do not marshal. "Invitation" competitors cannot earn points for their school.