SRA Swim Team Handbook. III Swim Meets

Please notify the coach (or assistant coach) as early as possible if your child is unable to swim in a particular meet.If you can't reach the coaches, call a parent volunteer so all spots for every event can be filled.The pool phone # is 272-0688.

Except for the Championship Meet, we have dual meets which involve two teams. The dual meets are held on Monday nights at 6:30 p.m. (except for the first meet, which is held on a Sunday afternoon because most schools are still in session).

Monday night meets begin at 6:30 p.m. and may last until 11:00 p.m. Your child should arrive at the pool early for warm-ups. The home team usually warms up from 5:45 to 6:00 p.m. and the visiting team from 6:00 to 6:15 p.m. Swimmers should not leave the meet until they have competed in all their events.

Please check the bulletin board on a regular basis for swim team news and the events your child will be swimming. The list of swimmers in each event will be posted the morning of the meet. Please notify a coach immediately if you find an error in the meet entry or if your child will not be able to compete in the events into which he has been entered.

In a dual meet, each swimmer may swim a maximum of three events, including a relay.A swimmer may compete in four events, including relays, in the Championship Meet. The process of deciding who swims in which events is called seeding, and involves a great deal of strategy to maximize our team's chances of winning the meet!

For each swimmer in each event, there is a separate entry card. These cards are filled out during the weekend before the meet by parent volunteers. The event cards are no longer color coded to indicate levels of competition!

During the meet, each swimmer is responsible for getting his or her own entry card for each event.

At home meets these cards are obtained from an adult volunteer located on the deck over the dressing rooms. At away meets, the adult volunteers will be seated in a central location.

The swimmer then waits until the event is called, and then proceeds to the check-in point, which is controlled by the Clerk of the Course. There should be no running or fighting at this point.

Parents are encouraged to monitor the behavior of their children while at the Clerk of Course.

The Clerk of the Course then arranges the swimmers in heats.This means seating the swimmers in rows, on benches set up on the concrete deck between the dressing rooms and the baby pools.

In novice events, there can be many heats. For example, we have had as many as nine novice heats in the Mite events! Please remember that your child may win his or her heat, and win a heat ribbon, but if more than six swimmers in other heats of the same event have faster times, your child may not place in that event.

Freestyle will always have a novice category.

Each meet will have one additional novice stroke. The order is:

Meet 1 (Back Stroke)

Meet 2 (Breast Stroke)

Each lane has three timers who represent both teams.All three timers in each lane will have a push-button timing mechanism which will be connected to the computerized timing system purchased in 1994. One of the three timers will still have the digital stopwatch as a back-up, and the stopwatch time will be written down on the swimmer's card.

A child may ask the timers for his or her time when he or she finishes the heat.

Meets begin with the Mite relays, then follow with individual medleys for all age groups but Mites. Then freestyle breaststroke, butterfly and backstroke for all age groups precede Midget, Junior, Intermediate and Senior relays.

Girls and boys are grouped together for relay teams, with no more than two boys allowed on a four-person team

Mites receive heat ribbons, awarded at the end of a race to the fastest swimmer in each heat. All Mites who successfully complete at least one event will receive a participation ribbon.

The top six swimmers in each event will receive ribbons.These are given out at the Mite parties or practice the day after the meet. After that they are stored on boxes filed by family name.

The computerized timing system will determine the order in which the swimmers finished in each heat and event.

Results (including all swimmers and their times) will be posted during the meet for each event at each level (Novice, Regular, X, and XX).

Well-rested swimmer (coaches suggest that swimmers leave the pool after morning practice the day of the meet and spend a quiet afternoon)

Nutritious snacks in a cooler, card games or quiet board games, money for snack bar (optional)

Parking is at a premium during home meets, especially if you arrive late. Please check the street signs, as some streets adjacent to SRA do not permit parking on both sides of the street. Please respect the rights of our neighbors. If you park in a no-parking area, the police will be called to tow your car.

If a meet is delayed due to the weather, the minimum delay for determining whether a meet shall be conducted is one hour from the scheduled start of the meet. When a meet has already started, the minimum delay in determining whether a meet shall continue is one hour from the stoppage of competition.

If a meet is rained out, it is usually rescheduled for the next night. No one may be in the water for a period of 20 minutes following any thunder or lightning.

Goggles are highly recommended for practice and for meets. A team suit and swim cap are optional but recommended.

The coaches strongly encourage their use during the Championship Meet.

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