If you find your child can not swim due to illness or another emergency please call Chris Basso IMMEDIATELY at (need info)

Swimmers Should Bring
Goggles, cap with last name clearly marked on the outside, towels (perhaps 2), blanket to sit on, dry clothes to put on between events and another set to go home in, healthy snacks and water and items to pass the time such as games, coloring books, or cards.

Spectators should bring
Lawn chairs, a pen or highlighter to use on line-up sheets, cash for concessions if you plan on utilizing it.

Warm Ups
Times can start as early as 7:15.  Please get a good night’s sleep. Warm-ups for away meets generally the coaches will call the entire team to the pool to get some laps and starts in. For home meets the older swimmers may warm up separate from the younger swimmers.

Arrival Time
Swimmers should be at the host pool fifteen minutes prior to warm up times. Swimmers need to check in with a coach who will then direct the parent or swimmer to a line up sheet posted on a wall that will identify all the events that the swimmer will be swimming.

Line Up Sheets
The sheets that you will receive are NOT the final sheet. Lanes and heats often change. Please use line-up sheets for event purposes only. Be sure to check the relay events as well. Notify a coach immediately if your swimmer cannot swim in a relay that he or she is assigned due to having to leave the meet before it is over.

Writing On Your Kid?
Some parents will write the event number and stroke on their kid’s hand or arm in ink to remind them of their events that they are swimming for that meet.  If you choose to do so, please only write the event number and event (ex. 19 25 free). Writing the heat and the lane would only confuse and even upset your swimmer as these items are likely to change.

Team Parents
A parent that has been assigned to a particular gender and age group to organize swimmers for their events and get them to their blocks. These parents have the official Line-Up sheets therefore the lane assignments and heats are the correct and final assignments.

Timers
Each team must supply a set of volunteers that will time each event in each lane. Usually 14-16 are required per meet. All parents should be expected to time during the season. Stop watches and instructions will be given prior to the start of the meet.

Heats
Some events have more swimmers than blocks. When that it the case another heat is added. These extra heats are exhibition only. In regular meets only the first heat of the event counts for points for the team and place for the individual.

How the meet works
The entire team shows up for the meet at the same time.  Events are scheduled in a specific order by age and stroke and/or length.  The event order is the same for the season however the summer season events differ from the winter season events.  Typically the youngest boys swim an event first (8&U boys) followed by the youngest girls (8&U girls).  Next would be the 10&U boys followed by the 10&U girls.  This would continue for a given stroke.  Once the 15&Over swim, the stroke will change and start again with the 8&U’s.  Not all age groups swim all events.  The line up sheet that you will get the day of the meet will let you know the order of events and when your child is swimming.  Please note that a child’s swim level for practice does not come into play for the day in the meet.  All levels will race each other within the same age group.  A swimmers age group is determined by their age as of December 1st for the winter season or June 1st for the summer season.

Awards
Place ribbons are given to the official heat for 1st-6th place or 1st -8th place depending on the pool. All other swimmers usually receive participatory ribbons depending on the host swim club. These ribbons will be given out at the awards banquet at the end of the season.

Leaving a Meet
Please be sure to double-check with a coach or team parent before leaving the swim meet early. It is possible that a swimmer may have been reassigned into an end-of-the-meet relay at the last minute due to a swimmer either not showing or leaving early unexpectedly.