Meet Info / Entry Procedures / Declaration Process

Hello Barracudas families,

Here are important details on our meets, meet entry seelction, and declaration process.  We have summarized upcoming tasks at the top of the email; more information about each can be found below in this email, and this information can also be located on the NEWS tab of the website or via the NEWS button on the homepage for future reference.

Current Actions Required

• If you haven't already, please declare your swimmer(s) for the upcoming Time Trial meets.  On the meet you will attend, please also be sure to select the strokes your swimmer(s) would like to swim. Deadline for both Time Trial options is June 1.
• Please review the dates for all A Meets (Saturdays), Divisionals, and All Stars and declare whether your swimmer(s) would be available for that meet.  Note: you will be able to update this as the season progresses.

Weekly Actions Required Throughout Season

• Review your availability against your declaration status for A Meets going forward and update if needed.
• Keep an eye out for A Meet signups once Coach Meghan has made her lineup for that week.  There is a quick turnaround so your prompt response is appreciated.
• Keep an eye out for B Meet signups, which will usually come out on Saturday afternoons, and sign your swimmer(s) up for desired strokes.

Individual Event Options by Age Groups:

8 & Under: 25m of each stroke (free, back, breast, fly), 100m IM if capable

9-10s: 50m (free, back breast), 25m (fly), 100m IM if capable

11-12, 13-14, 15-18s: 50m of each stroke (free, back, breast, fly), 100m IM if capable

A-Meet Description:

A-Meets are scored meets between our team and one of the other five teams in our Division (currently White Division). Swimmers are selected by the coaches and may swim up to three individual and two relay events, depending on what they qualify for. 

We swim all four strokes, freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly, plus three types of relays, the age group medley, the mixed age freestyle, and the mixed age/mixed gender medley.  They medley relay will have four swimmers from an age group, each swimming one leg of the relay using a different stroke. The order is Back, Breast, Fly, Free.  The mixed age freestyle relay consists of a swimmer from the following age groups, 9/10, 11/12, 13/14, 15-18, and has them each swim a leg of the relay.  The mixed age/gender medley will include both male and female swimmers from age groups 9/10, 11/12, 13/14 and 15-18, each swimming one of the four strokes (same order as the age group medley).  

These events are all scored and a meet winner is declared. These wins and losses are used to determine several Divisional awards, to include overall team Division winner, as well as team age group and team overall male/female winners. 

Time permitting, we will generally swim the Individual Medley (IM) event at the end of the meet.  These are un-scored and open to any swimmer that would like to swim them, with Head Coach approval. These do not count against the three individual/2 relay event limit.  

We do sometimes swim exhibitions events as well, which are un-scored, but allow additional swimmers the opportunity to attend an A-Meet.  These are usually 6 and under or 8 and under Free and Back events, but both teams must be in agreement on the events, so this is not always the case from week to week.

Selection process for A-Meets:

Each week, starting with Time Trials, we compile a list of all the swimmers' fastest times for the current season, from Time Trials moving forward. We call this a Team Ladder. We compile the first ladder using the Time Trial times, and update it again after every Wednesday meet, to include the previous Saturday and Wednesday times, so it always takes into account the most recent times as well as all previous times for the season. 

The ladder will show the top 10 swimmers per event (time-wise) based on the season best times to date. This ladder is what the coaches use to determine the swimmers for the upcoming scored Saturday A-Meet. Coaches have the discretion to select the swimmer that they think will best benefit the team, taking into account the ladder, as well as availability declarations, attendance, and other factors as they see fit, but a large portion of the selection decision is based off of the ladder. The ladder will be posted on the Meet Files tab as it is completed.

A-Meet Declaration and confirmation procedures:

****It is IMPERATIVE that EVERYONE declares their availability for these meets.**** The deadline is listed on each meet, but I would suggest that you complete them all now, and update your swimmer’s availability as the season progresses, if it should change later. The coaches have a small window of time to compile the lineup and get confirmation of attendance, so we need to know availability at the time they make the lineup so that they can make the most accurate lineup the first time around. 

Having to change a lineup because someone backs out after it is made can affect the entire team, and most especially the relays. Please be considerate and make sure you declare your availability, and if you say that your swimmer is available, please make sure they are able to attend if selected (barring illness or injury, of course). Changing after a swimmer is selected causes much extra work on many fronts, so please help us avoid this.  

If you have not declared your swimmer as available by the deadline, or change from No to Yes after the lineup has been completed, the swimmer will not be considered for the meet. The only changes that will be made after the lineup is posted is to replace a swimmer for a last minute emergency cancelation.

You may think that your swimmer will never make an A-Meet, but many parents have been surprised to find their swimmer listed on the entries. With vacation and camp absences, illness, and adding exhibition heats to some A-Meets, it is not unusual to have swimmers further down the ladder be selected for an A-Meet. Please complete the declaration for ALL swimmers for ALL A-MEETS. :-)

Once the lineup is completed, we will post it on the Meet Files page and send email that it is available. We then ask that anyone with a swimmer listed on the lineup to email [email protected] to acknowledge that you saw their name listed and that they will indeed attend (if you marked them as available, then this should be a YES response). :-)

The league compiles all A-Meet results and a league-wide ladder each week, which you can locate at http://csl.nvblu.com/.

B-Meets:

B-Meets, also known as Developmental Meets, are open to ALL swimmers on the team. Swimmers can select their own events, that they are legal or very close to being legal in, subject to approval by the coaches. These meets are not scored meets, but we do swim against other teams in the Colonial Swim League. 

Due to the larger number of swimmers attending these meets, we usually need to limit entries in order to complete the meet before midnight ;-)….just kidding, we are normally done by 9:30ish. Some pools have earlier completion deadlines, so depending on the team and location, we will notify everyone of the entry limits for each meet as they approach. We try to limit to strokes that swimmers are legal in, or very close to legal, so that we can get through the events that everyone signed up for before the deadlines. 

If you have questions about signing a swimmer up for a particular stroke, please ask the Head and Assistant Coaches. Coaches will approve the entries and may make adjustments as they see fit. You can log back into your account and go back to the Events tab, and click edit commitment for the meet and your swimmer’s name, to see what events the coaches have approved.

Swimmers that placed 1st - 3rd in the previous Saturday meet ARE NOT allowed to swim the events that they placed in at the following B-Meet. This allows other swimmers the opportunity to compete and place in these strokes at the B-Meets. This is a league rule and must be enforced. Please be sure to select something other than these events if your swimmer is in this position.

B-Meet Declaration procedures:

You will receive an email each week, usually on Saturday evening or Sunday morning, once the meet file is uploaded to Team Unify. Once you see this email, you will log into Team Unify and proceed to the Events tab. Find the meet, and click the Attend/Decline button. If you have already declared Yes or No for the meet, but just need to select the actual events, you will see Edit Commitment instead of Attend/Decline. Click on your swimmer’s name, and you will select Yes or No for attending the meet. 

If you select No that they are not attending, save your changes and you can continue the procedure for other swimmers, if need be. 

If you select Yes, you will need to scroll down to the bottom and will see the actual events (strokes) listed for this swimmer’s age group. Select the strokes they would like to swim, following the entry limit and legality guidelines listed in the meet description, and be sure to SAVE the changes you have made. Continue for additional swimmers, if need be.

If you are not attending, please take a minute to declare this so that we know you will not be there, and have not just missed selecting the entries. 

Entry deadlines will be listed in the Events descriptions and will be FIRM. No late entries will be accepted. There is still much work to be done once the entry window closes and we will not be able to redo everything for those that do not make the deadline. Please be mindful of these deadlines.

Divisional Meet and All Star Meet:

The Divisional Meet is similar to the A-Meet, but all six teams in the division compete together at one meet. It is a more individual-based meet, where swimmers are trying to earn a spot in the All Star meet, versus swimming as a scored, team event. The selection process is similar to the A-Meet process, with the top three available ladder swimmers being selected for each event. The IM does become a competitive event for the swimmers and they can choose up to three events, including the IM, depending on what they qualify for. If a swimmer is top three on the ladder for more than three events, they will choose the three that they want to compete in and the coaches move down the ladder filling in the remaining spots. We need to have availability declared in advance just like the A-Meets.  If you know your swimmer’s availability early in the season, please declare it. You can go back and edit it later if their status changes.

After the four divisions complete their Divisional Meet, the league compiles a league-wide ladder from the Divisional results and they use this ladder to select the All Star Meet swimmers. The top 18 swimmers in the league will be selected to swim, then they choose 3 alternate swimmers and a few more that are “on the bubble”. They will hold a ‘scratch’ meeting where they will remove any swimmers that are unavailable to attend, and move alternate and ‘bubble’ swimmers up accordingly. We will send out additional details on these meets closer to the events, but we do need you to declare availability for these once you have that information as well. Only those swimmers attending the Divisional meet are eligible for the All Star meet, and only Divisional meet times are used to determine selection, rather than their season best times.

Ribbons:

Ribbons are distributed for all legal swims at A and B-meets, and the Divisional Meet.

A-Meets provide place ribbons for 1st - 3rd place for scored events, using merged results of both teams.  Other places (4th-6th), IM swims, and exhibition swims will receive participation ribbons. 

B-Meet place ribbons are distributed for 1st - 6th places in all events. Other legal swims outside of this place range will receive participation ribbons. We also distribute heat winner ribbons at home meets for any swimmer that wins their individual heat. We distribute B-Meet ribbons using just our team for results, so even though a swimmer may finish 4th overall, for instance, they may get a 1st place ribbon if they were the fastest Barracuda swimmer in the event. We don’t consider the other team’s swimmers in determining B-Meet results.

For both A and B meets, we also distribute personal best ribbons to any swimmer that beats their season best time in an event, after establishing a starting time (usually their time trial time, or first legal swim for an event). 

There are record breaker ribbons for anyone breaking a team record as well.

We know this is a lot to take in, but thought it would be useful to break down the meets and procedures for everyone. 

****For now, please declare availability for all A-Meets, Divisionals, and All Stars with a Yes or No. You will only need to adjust these meets if you swimmer's status changes.

For the Time Trial and B-Meets, keep an eye out for the weekly email (most likely on Saturday evenings) and go in and declare your swimmer’s events for that specific meet, being mindful of the Monday night event selection deadlines. You MUST CHOOSE specific events for these meets. Don’t forget to SAVE your selections for each swimmer.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions at all.

Thanks for your time and for making it to the bottom of this message! :-)

See you at the pool!