What to expect at a swim meet

Attending your first swim meet is fun and exciting but can also cause a little nervousness and anxiety.  Understanding how swim meets work can help to ease these feelings.  Please read the following information and feel free to ask if you have any questions or concerns.

  • Meets will always be on the Saturday but there are a few meets that run events on the Friday evening before... Stony Plain and St. Albert. These are usually the distance events, 1500s and 800s. There are 2 pools that are outdoor, Devon and Stony Plain so have a tent and lawn chairs. Drayton Valley is an indoor pool but everyone is outside since there isn't any deck space. 
  • After the long weekend in August Regionals is held which is the qualifying meet for the Provincials held the following weekend. These meets run both Saturday and Sunday. 
  • Pool locations are listed on this site in a tab, and the dates of the meets are also found on this site on the team calendar.

Meet Sign up

  • Swimmers are required to be signed up by the deadline date ( typically 1 week before the meet) You must sign your swimmer up through the event page on this website. The individual events swimmers are signed up for are at the discretion of the coach and the swimmer. Sometimes they pick and sometimes the coach!! 
  • Once registrations are submitted, they will show up on the ASSA website. You can view the entries there and see what events they are registered in. 
  • When you sign up for a meet please plan to stay until the end of the day, after the relays. These are great team building events. However, if you know you can't stay and have to take your swimmer please let the coach know in advance. 

Swim Meet Day

  • It's an early day. Warm ups will start according the meet package around 7:00 am and  the meet will go until about 4:00pm. Coach usually wants them there 15 minutes before to get ready. Some families will camp or hotel stay it and sometimes the host club will post information about where to camp or stay.
  • There is usually 2 heats of warm ups. The coach will inform the swimmer a time and which lanes they are to warm up in. Warm up is usually 30 minutes. 
  • Buy a heat sheet: These cost from $3.00 - $5.00. Bring a highlighter and 2 sharpies. The highlighter will mark the events your swimmer is in. Highlight the event # as well. The sharpies are to write the events on your child so they know what event they are in. For example: for short fly your write the event number and abbreviate the name. "17 s.fl, short free = sfr, short back = s.ba, short breast = s.br, "
    • Heat sheets are organized into the order how the events are swum for the day.
    • They are also organized into age groups. 6 and under, 7-8, 9-10, 11-12, 13-14 and so on. 
  • There is a morning session and afternoon session. With a lunch break. Everything is announced and written on the white board
  • Get your swimmer on deck: There are spots organized by the host for each team to sit. This is where you bring your sleeping bag, mat or chair, cooler with snacks and swim bag too.  Set up and get a spot with the team. Kids should all be there before warm up so the coach can find them and get them going for warm ups. Parents: sometimes there is room for us and sometimes not. Your child does not have to stay there all day. They can come and go. Just keep an eye on the event #'s they are Marshalling..next.
  • Marshalling.  After warm up the meet will start with the singing of "O Canada" On deck there will be a white board or board with printed #'s indicating which event number needs to head over to them. This means they are being "marshalled".
    • The "marshaller" will organize the kids into their heats where they will sit on a bench and be given a number which correlates to the lane they need to be in for their race. There is ususally about 5 or more benches allowing the meet to run quick. Kids get seated. Move up the benches as the races proceed.
  • Be Ready to Listen: There is an announcer at each meet and they will announce the event #'s being marshalled. This is where the #'s written in Sharpie on the swimmers hand or arm come in handy. They can check too!! They also announce disqualifications which is not to discourage swimmers. It ensure all swimmers have an equal chance and fair swims. This will be followed up by the coach with the swimmer and technique will be looked at in practice. This is why attendance at practice is important. 
  • Officials: They are on deck and usually dressed in Navy and White. There are the timers, stroke and turn judges that walk along the deck as well as those at the ends of the lanes checking for turns and touches. If you were never a swimmer ask your swimmer what these are! Parents are always needed as volunteers for these roles. Training is porivided even if your a non swimmer!