How to Attend A Swim Meet
By John Leonard
A lot of “things” go
into having a successful and happy swim meet experience. This article explores a
number of those “things”.
Pre-Meet Things to Cover:
1.
Coach tells team
and parents where, when meet is.
2.
Coach tells team
what events they are entered in.
3.
Parents make
sure: (if a 12 and under swimmer….a 13 and over should do this “on their own”,
it’s an important part of maturing. )
A)
Swimmer is on
time for warmup. (10 minutes BEFORE asked to be there.)
B)
Swimmer has eaten
a good breakfast before meet.
C)
Swimmer has all
appropriate gear, suit, two pairs of goggles, warm-ups if weather appropriate.
Extra towels if needed.
D)
Swimmer has an
appropriate snack food and water. Water. Water…and…Water. All the fancy drinks
are is expensive urine. Water is best.
E)
Parents resist
the urge to tell the child how to swim. Parents Parent, coaches Coach.
F)
SHOES are a real
help at a swim meet. Energy leaves the body through the arch of the foot. No
flip-flops, no bare feet. Sneakers with an arch support are the appropriate
footwear.
G)
The idea of a
swim meet is FUN and a learning experience. It’s not warfare with ten year olds.
Act like it!
4.
Coaches – have
spoken with the athletes (days, or weeks, depending on age of athletes,) on what
they expect of each athlete in each event. (set-up the swims!)
At the Meet:
1.
Find a seat in
the team area. Be respectful of others space.
2.
Athlete finds
coach and learns the warmup procedure.
3.
Athlete Warms up
WELL and completely. (parents, CRUCIAL that the child be “on time for warm-ups.”
Coaches will focus on those there “on time”…hard to play “catchup” with the
swimmers who come late….)
4.
Athletes go swim
fast! Focus on themselves. Focus on improvement and demonstrating all they have
learned in practice.
5.
Athletes COME to
see the coach and get the vital analysis of the swim AFTER the
event...immediately…first stop. Get feedback on the goal/process. Get told how
to swim faster next time. Always. Always faster next time.
6.
Athletes go warm
down as instructed by Coach, assuming a warm-down pool is available.
7.
Athletes return
to team area. Chat with friends. Chat with parents if in the same area.
8.
Parents REFRAIN
from critiquing swims….if you can’t restrain yourself, just ask , “what did your
coach have to say?”. If you get no response or a fractional response,
maybe the child didn’t focus on hearing the critique…in which case, AFTER the
meet, a conversation between coach and parent is in order.
9.
Repeat above for
each swim.
10.
Cheer for your
child. Better yet, cheer for your child’s friend. (his parents will cheer for
your child. As parents, we all get a little “carried away” cheering for our own
kids, and it mostly embarrasses them. Chill. Your child will love you cheering
for his friend.
Post meet:
1.
Thank the coach,
head home, feed the child and make sure they have lots of fluids to drink.
Refuel as quickly as possible post meet.
2.
Coach evaluates
swims, charts best times, does both subjective and objective analysis of
results.
3.
Next day, Coach
and athletes “download” the meet….appropriate evaluations would include:
A)
What was your
best swim? Why?
B)
What was your
poorest swim? Why?
C)
What did you
learn from this meet and how will you apply that in practice?
D)
Parents contact
coach with any comments, questions they may have. A day or so after the
meet so the emotions and fatigue levels of all concerned are ameliorated.
Short hints for:
1)
Parents.
A)
Don’t coach.
Parent.
B)
Don’t go bonkers
at officials. They are volunteers, nice people and the coach will question
anything that needs questioning.
C)
Let the coach,
coach during the meet. Ask questions after the meet. Days after the meet if
possible. The Coach is INCREDIBLY busy at the meet….and is emotional about the
“good things and bad things” just like you are. Not a good time for a reasonable
conversation. (Usually.)
D)
Let the child
have the experience. Don’t hold their hand. If they need help, ask a TEAMMATE,
(not you) to help them. That’s what teammates are for.
E)
Parent comforts –
bring a lawn chair. Something to read or do. Swim meets are pretty boring all
the time your child isn’t swimming. Keep yourself hydrated. Passed out parents
do worry their children.
2)
Coaches
A)
Hydrate and take
care of yourself.
B)
Don’t lose your
voice. You can’t coach without it.
C)
Control your
emotions as much as possible.
D)
Careful with your
comments.
E)
You know all the
coaching duties you have at meets. Focus. Politely ask parents to ask you
meaningful questions in another environment.
F)
Smile and have
fun. No one meet is “that important”. Chill.
3)
Swimmers
A)
Take personal
responsibility for everything. Your warmup, your swims, your cooldowns, drinking
water, eating, keeping track of your goggles and clothes..the whole deal. Learn
to be “adult”.
B)
No drama queens
or kings. Its not all about you. Focus on taking care of yourself and then 2nd,
helping others. Lots of people are more nervous than you are and need your cool
help.
C)
Pay attention.
Get to the blocks on time. Organize your relay. Know your events. Don’t miss
any. Coaches don’t like it and parents don’t like paying for events you don’t
bother to swim.
D)
Strive to RACE,
Strive for Best Times, Strive to be swimming technically correctly. And Enjoy It
All.
E)
If it’s a good
result, act like you’ve been there before. If it’s a poor result, learn from it
while demonstrating maturity and good sportsmanship.
Swim meets are wonderful life-lesson teaching
events. Enjoy them!
JL