Out To Swim is a swimming, water polo and synchro club for gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, transgendered people and their friends. Straight men and women are also very welcome.

London swimmers train seven days a week with hour long coached sessions at six venues including pools in the West End, Victoria and London Bridge.  Out To Swim South trains three nights a week at pools in and around Brighton. On Thursday evening (at Oasis, 8pm) there is a women-only swimming session.  Water polo training in London takes place on Saturday and Wednesday evenings. Synchro training is on Saturdays.

We encourage competition at national and international events and strive to create an environment in which LGBT men and women feel welcome and comfortable.

Swimming

If you're interested in the swimming side of the club then to participate you'll need to be capable of swimming for an hour using at least two of the four recognised strokes: free-style (front crawl), back stroke, breast stroke and butterfly. We're organised into lanes according to speed. Our top lane swimmers (fast swimmers) would swim anything from 2.8k-3.4k in an hour depending on the type of swimming we do. The slower lanes will do slightly less. If you are unfit or relatively new to swimming then we would suggest you join the back of the slow lane - pace yourself with the aim of getting through the session. Within a few weeks you'll be up to speed.

Lessons for beginners and improvers takes place on Sundays and our coaches can help improve technique and performance in the regular sessions.

Swimmers come from far and wide and we have a system whereby you can join us to swim at special events as an out of town member, that way you can come with us to exciting swim competitions abroad.

To help you with your swimming we have prepared two guidelines/documents:

• Lane Etiquette
• Glossary of swimming terms

Water Polo

Water polo training takes place in London on Saturday and Wednesday evenings. Our competitive water polo team, London Orca, participates in London league matches as well as other national and international competitions.

The water polo squad contains players of all abilities and experience, although it's a tough sport so a basic level of swim fitness is required. Anyone wanting to try out water polo is very welcome to join us at one of our training sessions and the first Saturday of the month is aimed at beginners.

More information:

• Venues
• Membership application form/details
• A facebook group exists as well (search for "Out to Swim")
• There is also a facebook group for Out to Swim women

Our aims as a Club

To quote our Constitution, paragraph 1.2:

The aims of Out To Swim Swimming Club shall be the following:

1. To promote participation in aquatic sports among lesbian women, gay men and friends of our community, including masters Swimming and Water polo, both of which are integral parts of the club;
2. To provide an atmosphere where gay and non-gay athletes can practice together in mutual understanding and support;
3. To provide an opportunity for athletes of all abilities to participate in organised practices and competitions in a team atmosphere and so to achieve their own goals in their aquatic sports and;
4. Make visible the contribution of lesbian and gay people to all aspects of swimming/ aquatic sports and to oppose all forms of homophobia, sexism and racism in the sport.

Out To Swim Swimming Club is an equal opportunities club. Membership will not be restricted on grounds of gender, sexual orientation, race, disability, religion, HIV status or any other basis.