Here you will find answers to frequently asked questions regarding the Gilroy Gators swim team.


1. What are the differences between short course and long course seasons? When do they happen? How do they affect my swimmer?

Short course (SC) simply means swimming in a pool that is 25 yards, long course (LC) means swimming in a pool that is 50 meters (like the Olympics). There are seasons for each. SC season is September thru May, and LC season is May thru August. In the summer during LC season we swim at some LC meets and Coach Tom tries to arrange for some long course practice (otherwise the pool looks pretty long the first time you see it!). The events are roughly the same-there is a 50 meter (LC) freestyle as well as a 50 yard freestyle-but meters is slightly longer than yards (1 meter = 3.3 feet). During this time at GGST we are also just starting our summer league tri-meet series, and these are conducted in short course yards. So swimmers get to swim a little of both during the summer. During the winter, the meets are only in SC.

2. I want to sign my child up for a swim meet that the coach has suggested he/she attend.  How do I register?

Registration for most meets can be done by either mailing in a hardcopy, following instructions on the meet entry form,  or by completing an online entry via www.pacswim.org/index_new.html.  You can get to the Pacific Swimming website by clicking the link here, or click on the ’Links’  tab above.  For online entries,  select the ’meets’ tab and scroll the list for the swim meet of interest.  Then click ’online entries’ for that meet.  For registration by US Mail / hardocpy, meet sheets for upcoming meets are available at the membership office in the ’Upcoming Meets’ display rack.