| How to Survive (And Enjoy!) Short and Long Course Swim Meets Swim meets can be bewildering to families new to the sport. These tips will help you get prepared for the big day: The night before the meet: Your swimmer (and you) will probably be a little nervous, but it’s always best for everyone to get a good night of solid rest before a meet. Please spend a few minutes the night before making sure you have clear directions to the facility hosting the meet (the address and, perhaps, directions will be in the meet information). Arrival time: Yes, you really are required to be there in time for warm-up….even if warm-ups begin two hours before the meet! Reread the meet information to reacquaint yourself with the time you must be there. Please do not miss warm-up; many important things happen during this time. At really large meets, there may be an early warm-up session and a late warm-up session. Coaches will remind their team members what time they are expected to be at the meet for warm-up, but it is ultimately your responsibility. Pack gear the night before: Swimmers should wear team suits and caps to a meets. Bring extra towels, goggles and caps. While indoor pools are air conditioned for the comfort of the spectators, swimmers can get chilled while they’re waiting. For this reason, bring extra sweat pants and sweatshirts to wear between events. Bring another set of completely dry clothes to change into after the meet. In the summer, if they are swimming outside, don’t forget to pack the sunscreen! Optional: Not all swim facilities have adequate seating for the number of people attending the meet, so it’s a good idea to keep portable seats in your car, just in case. Snacks for the meet: Although the team hosting the meet almost always sells concessions, most swimmers and their parents like to bring their own healthy snacks. Generally, the rule is “no eating on the pool deck”, but there is usually an area outside where the swimmers can eat. Don’t forget water! Each facility sets its own rules with regard to allowing coolers or lawn chairs around the pool; check before you drag them in. The morning of the meet - what to feed them? If you have the first morning warm up session, you’ll be leaving your house so early there’s often no time to think about eating at home. Please resist the temptation to drive through the fast food restaurant for breakfast for your swimmer. Milk and other dairy products can be hard to digest and might be a good food group to avoid on swim meet days. A light breakfast (toast/jam and fruit) will take them through warm up and they will have plenty of time between their events to nibble the nutritious snacks you’ve brought for the day. Arriving at the host pool: Families are given a lot of freedom to set up an area at swim meets. Some parents like to find their friends and sit together in a group. While we encourage everyone to sit together it can be impossible sometimes so others like to wander off and find areas that aren’t quite so crowded so they can spread out a bit. You’ll find what works for you. Heat sheet: The heat sheet is the meet program, which contains all kinds of helpful information. Heat sheets list the order of all events and their respective swimmers. Entries for each event (not including deck entries) will be grouped by age and gender, and seeded by their current best times in that event. “NT” means that a swimmer has entered an event with “No Time”, meaning the swimmer does not yet have a legal time in that event. The 50 yard and longer events will usually list the age group time standards for the event. While waiting for the meet to begin, highlight your swimmer’s name and events on the heat sheet, and record your swimmer’s time at the completion of each event. Always keep track of your swimmer’s best times, you’ll use this information to decide which events to enter at future meets. Event start: Meets begin with the playing of the National Anthem and some preliminary announcements. The first events are often the relay events. Once relays are concluded, the meet progresses to individual events. Swimmers are placed in a heat based upon current best times for the event. Slower and NT swimmers compete in the early heats. The faster swimmers are in the later heats, and the fastest of those swimmers earns the middle lane assignment. Event etiquette: Beginners swimming 25 yard events may not start their races from the starting blocks, and often leave from the opposite end of the pool. Someone on deck will make sure all swimmers are where they are supposed to be; unless you are working in that capacity, you DO NOT need to be on deck to help them! •The starter will announce the event by saying something like, “this is the women’s 25 yard freestyle. Heat 1. They will then blow a loud whistle to signify swimmers to be at the blocks. Another long whistle means to get up on the block.” •S/he will then position the swimmers for the start of the race by saying “Swimmers, take your mark”, and the swimmers will go off at the sound of the horn. •If the official sees a false start, the race will be stopped, and the swimmers will return to the starting blocks for another start. Disqualification: At the meet official’s discretion, swimmers can be disqualified for false starts. During the race, judges watch the swimmers to insure they are swimming with a legal stroke, kick and proper turn. If they see something done incorrectly, they will raise their hand. At the end of the race the swimmer will be told by the official why s/he has been disqualified. The coach will be given a sheet of paper on which the judge has written the infraction. All swimmers (even those who have been disqualified) must report back to their coach immediately following their swims for feedback on their performance. TIP: Being disqualified is no fun for any swimmer, but it can be devastating to the beginners. This is a time when parents must be at their most supportive and compassionate. It is important that swimmers understand why they were disqualified and learn from the experience. Times: There is usually an electronic timing board located at one end of the pool or on a wall where you can pick up your swimmer’s times as each event is completed. Most of the boards will flash the order of finish, the lane, and time. It goes by quickly, so be ready. If you miss it, you can pick up all this information when the event results are posted. There is a lag time between the end of an event and the posting of the results, so be patient. Occasionally, the times that flash on the board at the end of an event are incorrect. This is usually due to the swimmer failing to hit the touchpad at the end of the race or not hitting it hard enough to stop the clock. Each lane has two volunteer “timers”, and each of those timers is carefully timing your swimmer’s race with a stopwatch. When they see your swimmer touch the wall at the end of his/her race, they also push a button on a cable under the blocks that is part of the meet timing system. Their stopwatch times are recorded on paper and turned in to the meet officials at the end of every heat. Generally, the meet officials and coaches know immediately when there is a problem with the scoreboard times and they are already working to correct the results in the computer. Awards – All awards will be given to the team coaches and distributed either during practice or at the awards banquet in March. |
