Swim Meet FAQ's
Swim meets are an exciting time for both spectators & swimmers. At the same time, however, we know we know your first swim meet can be an intimidating event to prepare for! Linked here you can find a handy meet guide to get you through your first few meets.
CHOOSING MEET EVENTS: Choosing meet events feels incredibly difficult- how do you know when your swimmer should compete in what event? Here is a list of factors to take into consideration when signing your swimmer up for meets & entering them into events;
- For a YMCA dual/invitational meet or USA invitational meet, families may choose events for swimmers with the understanding that events requested can (and usually will!) be changed depending on a number of factors by the coaching staff.
- For YMCA or USA Championships, coaches will choose events for swimmers. Swimmers must have competed in at least two meets preior to championships to be eligible to compete.
- Swimmers are strongly encouraged to swim every event that is offered to them at least once per season (if they have a legal stroke & are deemed physically able to compete in that event by the coaching staff).
- For first-time Dolphins, the coaching staff typically limits the swimmer to two events & one relay event in an effort to slowly introduce each swimmer into the world of competition, and so as not to totally exhaust them their first meet! The events are usually some kind of freestyle or backstroke, then a freestyle relay.
- Sprint vs. Endurace events: As swimmers get older, their number of event choices goes up significantly. Coaches recommend holding off on swimming the longer events (200 yards & up) until about 8 weeks into the season (think about the endurance it takes to swim those long events).
- If you aren't sure.... leave it blank! The best resource you have for choosing events are your coaches. After all, we're on deck every single day encouraging your swimmers to be the best they can be, so we know where they're at with all strokes & distances. We can absolutely input events if you'd like!
If you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to ask other veteran families or shoot an email to [email protected]
