A Meet Weekly Timeline
The weekly timeline for A Meet signups is:
- Midnight Wednesday night/Thursday morning: Deadline for indicating availability for the upcoming Saturday A Meet
- Thursday evening: A Meet Event assignments posted to the web site. This will typically be done by 8:00 PM. An email notification will be sent to all A Meet participants
- Friday morning 9:00 AM: Deadline to confirm swimmer's participation via email by choosing one of the following links. This will open an email message with some information filled in. Be sure to replace in the subject line with your swimmer's Last name. This allows the coaches to easily see who will be swimming without opening all the emails.
If you do not confirm your swimmer's participation in the A Meet by the deadline, your swimmer may be replaced in the lineup if we cannot confirm their availability. There are a limited number (3) of meet day scratches, or lineup changes, allowed by MCSL rules and the team cannot afford to have uncertainty in swimmer availability.
As always, if there are extenuation circumstances, please email a board member or coach, use the Contact Us info on the Board contact page.
Indicating Availability
Signing up for A Meets is done through the team web site. The sign up allows you to indicate a swimmer's availability (yes/no) for an A Meet. It is as important to note when your swimmer is NOT available as it is to indicate when they are.
Indicating that your swimmer is available for an A Meet does NOT guarantee they will swim in an event only that they are available. The Coaches are solely responsible for determining the A Meet lineups and do so to provide the Otters swim team the best chance to win the meet. If you have specific questions with regard to your swimmer, you may contact the coach - if you are contacting the coaches, please respect their team time and contact them outside of practice or meet times.
To indicate your availability for an A Meet:
- Log into your family account.
- Find the A-Meet either on the Event list or in the calendar
- Click on the Attend This Event button
- Click on your child's name.
- Select either "Yes, please sign (name) up for this event" or "No thanks, (name) will NOT attend this event" in the "Declaration" drop down. You may add any meet related information in the "Notes" field.
- Click on "Save Changes".
- Repeat for any additional swimmers.
You can indicate availability for meets happening later in the season at any time up until the deadline for that event.
For detailed instructions, click here for the A Meet Sign Up Procedure.
Parents of Freestyle Swimmers:
Please, check with the coaches before you leave a Saturday morning meet. The 175m graduated freestyle relays are the last two events (boys and girls) of all meets. Each event requires 2 relay teams, each with a 9-10, 11-12, 13-14 and an 8 and under swimmer.
About A-Meets
It takes the coach three to four hours each week to seed the MCSL meet. The Division record keeper has a full set of meet results from all of the dual meets in our Division. After the first dual meet, we obtain copies of these meet results and maintain a complete list of the times of all the swimmers in our division. Our Head Coach records all the times of all QO swimmers listed by age group and gender. The dual meet is seeded and pre-scored simultaneously. We generally use the following procedure.
- We try to guess our opponent's line up.
- We list the opponent's line-up and times divided by age group and gender.
- Using the seeding rules in the MCSL Handbook, we place the QO swimmer into the appropriate events. Each swimmer may compete in no more than five events. They may swim three of the following
- freestyle
- backstroke
- breaststroke
- butterfly.
- graduated relay
- medley relay
- individual medley
- In general, the top three swimmers in each event will swim in the dual meet on Saturday. Six swimmers will compete in all free-style events.
- A swimmer may own one of the three fastest times in more than one event within their age group. When this happens, our first objective is to place that swimmer in the events for which the team will earn the most points against our opponent's likely line-up. This process is repeated with each swimmer within an age group until all events have three participants. So, a swimmer may not swim their fastest event and instead swim an event in which they are likely to earn more points for the team.
- Event assignments will be posted prior to the Saturday meet (see the timeline below). The lineups are at the sole discretion of the Head Coach.
- A QO Swimmer's most recent times are used for seeding the "A" meets. Our Head Coach has the option of going back to any meet in the current season including time trials to select a time. The lineups are at the sole discretion of the Head Coach.
- If a swimmer competing in a Wednesday night meet beats a time from a previous Saturday meet, that swimmer may be eligible to swim that event on following Saturday. The lineups are at the sole discretion of the Head Coach.
If you have questions about the process, see the Team Handbook, read the FAQ, ask a board member or email the team at [email protected] with your questions.
It is the responsibility of both the swimmer and the parent TO INFORM THE COACH IF HE OR SHE WILL BE UNAVAILABLE FOR A SATURDAY MEET. This should be done via the team web site using the Attend This Event button associated with the appropriate meet. Not only do we want to give as many swimmers as possible a chance to swim, but also we do not want to lose points because of empty lanes.
The Head Coach of the QO Otter Swim Club has the right and the responsibility to take any action necessary to protect the safety of our children and to preserve team discipline. Therefore, the Head Coach may prevent a swimmer from practicing with the team, competing in any meet, or in a worst case situation, expel a swimmer from the team. Parents will notified if any such situation exists.
