FAQ
What Kind of Team is the Montrose Marlins and who can join?
Do team members have to compete?
What costs are involved with joining the team?
How do I sign up for the team?
Who operates the team?
Who manages the team?
Who governs the team and sanctions swim meets?
What kind of events do the swimmers compete in?
Who are the other teams that the Marlins compete against?
Does the team swim year around?
When are practices held?
When are meets held?
Are there any Championship Meets?
Who are the Officials at meets?
Do parents have to work at swim meets?
Do parents have to do any other work for the team?
What kind of swim team is the Montrose Marlins and who can join?
The Montrose Marlins is a competitive swim team.
Any swimmers interested in joining should have a desire to improve their basic strokes and skills, look forward to making new friends (at Montrose and at away swim meets) and want to HAVE FUN. If you are interested in trying out please contact the team manager. For more information on the training groups please read about our Swim Groups here.
Do team members have to compete?
It is not required that team members compete in every competition; but swimmers are encouraged to compete. In addition, it is required that a team member compete in at least one competition per season in order to rejoin the team in the following season. While the team is meant to be fun and good exercise, it is not fair to those swimmers who are there to practice for competition to have swim time and lane time taken up by swimmers who are only there for fun.
What costs are involved with joining the team?
Every swimmer will need to register and pay a monthly fee to the Marlins, an annual fee to USA Swimming and CSI, and swimmers must pay to swim at the pool. For more information please visit the page Team Costs.
Who operates the team?
The Montrose Marlins is a membership-elected board run team. We are a non-profit organization.
How do I sign up for the team?
You can contact our Team Manager through this email: [email protected].
Who manages the team?
Management of the team is a collective effort of Coaches, the Board of Directors, the volunteer parents of swimmers, and the Team Manager.
What governs the team and sanctions swim meets?
The Montrose Marlins operates under regulations and standards set by Colorado Swimming, Inc. (CSI), which is a Local Swimming Committee (LSC) of USA Swimming. USA Swimming is the national organization that sanctions national competition and sets the standards by which most competitive swimming takes place.
What kind of events do the swimmers compete in?
Nearly all meets and events that the swimmers compete in are structured as "Age Group" categories. This means that swimmers compete in age brackets and male/female categories; e.g. 8 & Under Girls, 9-10 Boys, 11-12 Girls, 15 & Over Boys, etc. There are also many stroke/distance combinations in each age group; such as 50 yard Butterfly, 100 yard backstroke, 200 yard freestyle, etc.
At meets, events are typically divided into 2 sessions (morning and afternoon), although some may have more sessions. The sessions are usually age specific; e.g. all the 9-10 and 13-14 year old events are in the morning session, while 11-12 and 15 & Over events are in the afternoon. For a typical meet event listing, visit the team home page and check out the Swim Meets under Marlins Events.
Who are the other teams that the Marlins compete against?
The Marlins are part of Western Slope League of Colorado Swimming, Inc. and is typically referred to as a Western Slope Team. Western Slope League is designated as those teams in Colorado west of the Continental Divide, although there are a couple exceptions to this. You can visit the Colorado Swimming site at ColoradoSwimming.org for more information on area boundaries. Do not confuse Western Slope Zone of Colorado Swimming with Western Zone of USA Swimming. Western Zone is a designation by USA Swimming for the western portion of the U.S. Note that information on the website may list "Zones" in meet information, qualifiers or results. This is for Zone competitions related to national USA Swimming competitions. The championship competition for Western Slope (Zone 4 of CSI) is called Western Slope Championship.
There are 18 teams that are considered part of the Western Slope teams. For a listing of these teams, visit westernslopeleague.org
Does the team swim year around?
The Montrose Marlins is registered as a year round team. The Western Slope teams are comprised of both Seasonal and Year-around teams.
When are practices held?
The practice schedule can be found here.
When are meets held?
For a listing of a typical meet schedule, click on the link Events. Most regular season meets are non-qualifying, which means there are no minimum time requirements for entry in events. The only requirement is that you are a registered CSI swimmer.
Meets are usually 2-3 days (weekends), but some can be as many as 5 or as few as 1. Typically, Friday sessions are for the younger swimmers and long distance older swimmers. Warm-up for the morning session usually starts between 6:30 - 7:30 AM, with the meet beginning immediately after warm-up. Some warm-up sessions are split into 2 time slots in order to accommodate the number of swimmers. When this occurs, teams are assigned to a specific time slot.
Are there any Championship meets?
At the end of each regular season, there are several Championship Meets. The first of these for the Marlins is the Western Slope Championship. This meet is held after the last meet of the regular season and is hosted at various locations on the western slope. Championship meets are qualifying meets. This means that in order to compete in an event, a swimmer must have previously made a minimum time in that particular event.
After the Western Slope Championships are other championship meets. These consist of JO’s, a State Championship for the best swimmers in the state; Silver State, a State Championship for those swimmers not quite making JO’s; and the 8 & Under Fest, a State Championship for swimmers who are 8 years old and under. Following these meets are Sectionals, Regionals and Nationals.
All of these Championship meets are qualifying meets (minimum time requirements). Qualifying times are determined at the beginning of the season and can be found on the CSI site, Zone 4 site and the Swimmers section of the Montrose Marlins site.
The Marlins typically sends some swimmers to the Sectionals, Regionals and Nationals.
Who are the officials at meets?
Officials are volunteers who have taken the necessary tests and trained to become certified as a swim official. Any one interested in officiating is encouraged to become certified. Officials are a necessary part of a swim meet. Without enough officials, a swim meet cannot be Certified, so results cannot be used in determining eligibility for championship meets. Information on becoming an official can be obtained from the Colorado Swimming website (ColoradoSwimming.org) or by just asking any official. The more officials there are, the easier it is on everyone.
Do parents have to work at swim meets?
Parents are expected to provide help at swim meets. It takes many people to hold a meet, and some host teams do not have enough people to cover it by themselves; so volunteers from visiting teams are needed. Typically, volunteering as a lane timer is all that is required. However, at Championship Meets, teams are assigned duties; such as specific sessions for lane timers, event board updating, clean up, hospitality, etc. Job descriptions can be found here.
Do parents have to do any other work for the team?
The Marlins are a parent run team and operate because of the parents. It takes everyone's effort to make the team and the swimmers successful. The team relies on its parents and swimmers for support. There are many tasks involved to make the team function; such as fundraising, publicity, social event planning, helping at home meets, etc. There are many things that must be done for the team to operate and EVERYONE'S HELP is needed! If you are interested in volunteering please contact any board member.
