Swim Meet 101
What to expect at a swim meet
There are two types of events during our meets, individual events and relay events. Individual events are when a swimmer swims in a lane by themselves. Relay events are when a swimmer swims along with 3 other swimmers in a lane together.
You should expect to arrive to the meet at least 30 minutes prior to the warmup time. If you fail to arrive before warmups, your swimmer may be scratched from their events and unable to participate.
You should expect your child to participate in 2 or 3 individual events and possibly a relay event. We try to put all swimmers in a relay at every meet, but depending on the number of available swimmers, we may not always be able to.
When you arrive to the meet, there will be at least 1 coach waiting at the entrance to check in. Please check your swimmer in with the coach so we know they are there. Once checked in, please head to the designated area for our team. It's important to stay in that area so when events are called swimmers don't miss them.
Once in our area, there will be heat sheets taped up. These sheets have your child's events(includes stroke), heats and lanes on them. Please take note of these and write them in a grid pattern on your child's hand in permanent marker. It should look like this:
_E_|_H_|_L_|_S_
_2_|_2_|_4_|_25 Bk_
_20__|_3_|_2_|_25 Fr_
During the meet there will be marshallers walking around yelling out for children in specific events. Please, both you and your child, pay attention to this to prevent them from missing their events.
Volunteer Requirements
It takes a village to run a swim meet!!
Parents are expected to volunteer at least once each season, for each child participating on the team. Below is the list of jobs available for volunteering during a meet. We’ll be using Swimtopia for signing up to volunteer.
In addition to the below, we’re looking for a couple parents who are willing to help coordinate our social events: Pasta Party, Ice Cream Social, End of Season Banquet.
Thank you for volunteering!
● Announcer/Referee: must be certified. (Home meets only.)
● Timer: Uses stop watch to record times.
● Stroke & Turn Judge: must be certified.
● Marshaller: Assists gathering young swimmers (10&U) and getting them lined up for event
● Recorder: tallies score during the meet(new volunteers will be matched with seasoned recorders)
● Lane Judge: helps determine the order swimmers finish official heats – helps to be certified.
● Runner: takes the cards from timers and lane judges after each official heat. (Home meets only.)
● Heat Ribbons: hands out heat ribbons after each heat to first place winner. (Home meets only.)
● Event Sign & Checkin: turn display sign to display event and heat. (Home meets only.)
● Floater: works wherever needed including distributing water to officials and timers at home meets.
● 50/50: raffle ticket sales (Home meets only.)
● Meet Setup: Must arrive at 4PM on Wednesdays and 7:30AM on Saturdays.
● Meet Clean-up: Must stay after the swim meet is over to put the club back in order.
Championships:
ALL parents of swimmers swimming at Championships will be assigned to volunteer.
