Meet Director's Manual

Purpose:  This manual was developed to provide instructions to new Meet Directors and to serve as a review for returning Meet Directors.

Preseason Prep Work:

  • Officials' DQ Slips:  Make sure you have enough slips for the season. You will need four different colors for the officials. Printing may be done at the UPS Store.  Just keep the receipt and get reimbursed by the Boosters.
  • Awards:  Locate the awards that were ordered after the last season.
  • Find all the equipment - see the list below.
  • Give the Kick Off Coaches Meeting Meet Directors Expectations talk (See below for content)

Find All the Equipment:

1.  Lane watches – Check watch batteries before the season begins. Take home after every meet and store in someone's home over the winter.

2.  Starter – Goes home with someone (Meet Director or Official) after every meet and store in a home over the winter. Make sure to keep it charged.

3.  Paper and labels – Store in your home during the season and over the winter as the humidity will dampen the paper and jam the printer. Labels are Avery #5160.

4.  Clerk mats (stored in Swim Reps home over the winter because mice will make a home out of them), clamps, orange cones, and lane markers should be in he swim team shed.

5.  PA system (Swim & Dive Board Rep stores in their home over the winter).

6.  Team computer and printer. Insure that this goes home with the Head Scorer or the Swim & Dive Team Rep.

Friday Afternoon Preparation:  Team entries are due Friday at noon per All-City rules but our scorer would like the by Thursday night.

1.  After 12:00 pm on Friday, at an agreed upon time, meet with the Head Scorer and Head of Clerk of Course at the pool to work on the heat sheets. What do we do?

2.  Look for heat combinations: This is one way to shave time off of the meet.

3.  Guidelines for combining heats.

  • Girls swim down to boys because this decreases the risk of a swimmer missing their race.
  • Combine within the same age group event.  For example 9 -10 Girl and 9 – 10 Boys breast stroke heat combinations.
  • 8 & Unders combinations depend on the race and the individual swimmer(s).
  • Generally do not combine 8 & Under Relays unless we get the OK from Clerk of Course. 
  • In combined heats we try to keep a lane in between the boys and girls but we will fill all six lanes if needed.
  • Move two swimmers from heat 2 down to heat 1 if one swimmer is in heat 1

4.  Timers' sheets

  • Timers' sheets are printed off by the Head Scorer.
  • Cut and place in correct event order on the appropriate clipboards for lanes 1 – 6.
  • Make changes to the Timers’ sheet with the combo events.

​5.  Heat sheet to printer (UPS) or printer of choice by 3:00 pm and pick up by 6:00 pm.  You will need the following numbers:

  •  Six (6) single sided printed heat sheets for 3 meet directors, 2 announcers and 1 to post.
  • Back to front copies for 10 – 14 coaches, 6 timers, and 90 – 120 for sale (number for sale depends on the team size)
  • Four - Five (4 - 5) Officials heat sheets - double columns and single sided.
  • Clerk of Course:  9 – 11 single sided copies marked by Clerk. Print in color.
  • Pay for heat sheets and turn receipt in to the treasurer for reimbursement.
  • Heat Sheets need to be at the pool by 6:15 for Saturday Swim Meet. 
  • Very Important:  Pick up heat sheets before meet set up (6:00 pm) as UPS store closes at 7:00 pm.
  • Do Not leave heat sheets at the pool Friday night because they will disappear

6.  Set up Meet Director table in Guard office

  • On this table we organize the clip boards for the officials, meet directors, clerk of course  and timers.
  • Clean out event file box. This box is used by the scorer to place event results and DQ slips in it.  This may be delegated to the front desk personnel.

7.  Awards

  • Clean out award boxes and stuff each box with 3 ribbon packs of 1st, 2nd and 3rd place and 2 ribbon packs for 4th, 5th and 6th place. One box with Participation Ribbon roll and zigzag scissors and the other box with the Heat ribbons (2-3 packs)
  • Find the little award area dry erase boards
  • Begin clipboard prep for Timers and Officials.

Friday Night Set up: Meet Directors supervise the set up.

1.  Four volunteers help with meet set up.

  • Dive Boards come off. Tools may be found in the guard office.
  • Pull the dive well ladders.
  • Four white chairs behind each starting block.
  • Backstroke flags up at start and turn end.
  • Coaches’ chairs along the side of the pool closest to Clerk.
  • All lawn chairs – except two – moved out from under the clerk tent
  • Move three round tables:
  • Announcers’ table: At the turn end on the right hand side.
  • Starter’s table: Place at the start end of the pool.
  • Awards table: Far right hand corner behind clerk of course next to the fence
  • Pull bleachers forward and set up second set 4 - 5 feet from the side of the pool.
  • Ask the guards to put out the meet lane lines.
  • Poles in and area roped off after lane lines are in the pool.
  • Areas roped off are the turn end and the clerk of course/coach area.
  • Starter area roped off
  • Heat sheet posted over the coach photo board.
  • Hang Oak Bank banner

2.  Meet Directors supervise the meet set up.

Saturday Morning Set Up:  Arrive at 6:15 - 6:30 am to get the ball rolling.  A Lifeguard will be there and the pool should be open for the meet.

1.  Signs in place for “Swimmers only beyond his point” on the rope into the Clerk of Course and “Reserved for 13 & Up Seminole Swimmers” on the Baby Pool gate.

2.  Pull the heat sheets for the Officials, Meet Directors, Clerk, Announcers, Timers and coaches.  Give the remaining heats sheets to the Heat Sheet Sales volunteer.  After 9:00 am the remaining heat sheets and the cash box will go to concessions and will be sold there. A separate cash box is kept for heat sheet sales. The treasurer will have the cash boxes for heat sheet sales and concessions. 

3.  Assist with Clerk of Course set up if time permits.

4.  Award boxes with small dry erase board go to Awards table.

5.  Prepare Timer and Official Clip boards. Officials get DQ slips – a different color for each Official and heat sheets that are single sided print. Timers clipboards have timers sheets, pen, watches, and front to back printed heat sheet.

Note: If we sell out of heat sheets we can pull the heat sheets off of the timers’ clipboards.

6.  Deck Seeds: Purpose to get someone into the meet who has not been entered. We do not change events for swimmers unless there was a mistake made by the coaches.

  • Assign one Meet Director to take deck seeds. This person may introduce self to the visiting coaches and ask if they have any deck seeds.
  • Inform the scorer that we have a deck seed.  The scorer will enter the swimmer in to open lanes only and entries close at 7:00 am ---in an ideal world they close at 7:00 am.  The scorer will need the full name, age and gender to deck seed the athlete.
  • Make changes to timers’ sheets, and heat sheets for the Announcers, Meet Directors, Officials and Clerk of Course if it’s a 10 & Under.

7.  Meetings

  • Timers’ Meeting for both shifts at 7:35 am
  • Clerk of Course Meeting at 7:35 am
  • Runners meeting with head scorer at 7:35.

8.  Volunteers:  Obtain a copy of the volunteer sign up from the volunteer coordinators.  This will come in handy when it's time for the timers meeting and when it's the timers shift change because you'll know who showed up.

9.  Severe weather:  The meet will go on during rain, cold, and heat.  It will be delayed for lightening and thunder.  The Meet Directors and Head Official will make a decision based on the best information available and will let the Head Coach know. We would prefer to delay the meet vs. canceling because it’s difficult to reschedule a meet.

10.  Bring the printer paper and labels (Avery #5160) to the scoring office as they are used for printing results and the labels are for the awards.

During the meet:

1.  Make sure swimmers are lined up for the 10 & under group.

2.  Inform timers and official when combined heats come up.

3.  If a swimmer misses a race try to place them in another race.

4.  Maintain communication with Head Official, Scorer and Clerk and make necessary changes.

5.  Manage anything that comes up.

FYI Awards: Placement and heat winner ribbons are awarded to 12 & Unders.  For individual events ribbons are awarded for 1st to 6th place and for relays 1st – 3rd.  If a 13 & up really wants a placement ribbon we will give them one.

Meet Clean Up: Return the pool back to its pre-meet state

  • The coaches, pool staff and volunteers will help get the pool back in order.
  • Meet Clean Up: Meet with volunteers in am as they sign in 
    • Ask the guards for a garbage bag and start picking up trash
    • Put dive boards back on - pool staff will do this
    • Dive well ladders returned to the dive well
    • Back stroke flags closest to the start blocks are taken down and tied to the fence behind the blocks
    • Coaches chairs and chairs behind the blocks are returned to concession area tent
    • Round tables are returned to the concessions tent
    • White poles and ropes are removed and placed in the shed in the front left hand corner
    • Lawn chairs that were moved to the baby pool are brought back and placed under the blue tent that Clerk of Course occupied during the meet
    • Bleachers are pulled back to the fence
    • Basketball hoop pulled back to edge of the pool
    • Help with taking down the PA system
    • Bring in meet lane lines and put out dive well line
    • Check in with Meet Directors before you leave
  • Seminole awards  that were not handed out during the meet may be placed in their folder by the front desk personnel.  If you ask the pool staff they will gladly do this small task because they're usually looking for something to do to keep busy.
  • Awards people will bag the visiting teams ribbons
  • Make sure the watches, starter, and paper goods go home with a meet director because the watches may disappear and the starter needs to be charged for the next meet.

Ordering Ribbons:

  • After the last home meet count the remaining ribbons and then calculate how many you need to order for the next season. The ribbons are for 1st - 6th place, heat winner and participation.
  • Give the ribbon order to the Seminole All-City Representative as soon as you have the count as they are ordered through the All-City league. 

 

 

 

 

 

2018 Meet Director Expectations for the Coaches

History: Seminole has a great reputation for running a great meet. We’re able to do this because we have a great team of volunteers and coaches that work together to make it happen.

Meet Directors prepare, set up and run the meet in collaboration with the Head Official, Head Scorer, Clerk of Course, Volunteer Coordinators and great parent volunteers. Coaches also play a key role in running a safe and efficient meet.

What can the coaches do to help with this process?  Please continue reading to learn what’s included in our expectations.

Meet Entries are due Friday at 12:00 pm for home and away meets per All-City rules.  For home meets please send the entries to Kathy Larson at [email protected]. Kathy would like the entries by Thursday night.

  • Important because we need the team entries in order to do our job.
    • Generate Heat & Timers Sheets, Heat Sheets to the printer, etc.
    • Heat Combinations: One way to shave time off of the meet.
      • Girls swim down to boys within the same age group
      • 8 & Unders combinations depend on the race and the individual swimmer(s).
  • We would like a coach available if we have questions regarding the entries.

Deck Seeds:  The swimmers have worked hard all week and we’re more that happy to get them in to the meet.

  • Deck seeds are due by 7:00 am on the day of the meet. As you know we’re flexible on this expectation, however, do your best to get the deck seeds to us as soon as possible.
  • We enter swimmers in to open lanes only.  We will not create a new heat to accommodate swimmers.
  • Required information:  Full name, gender, age, and preferred events. Please note that the swimmers may not have a lot of choices for events.
  • Missed races:  If a swimmer misses a race we will try to get them in to the next heat.
  • Deck seeds vs. changing event.  If a mistake is made, such as a parent signing their 8 & Under up for the 100 IM because they thought it was the medley relay, we will make the change. However, if a HS swimmer isn’t feeling the backstroke and wants to swim the breaststroke instead, they will need to swim the breaststroke at the next meet.

Clerk of Course:  Please note that several of these expectations will be All-City expectations.

  • Please start bringing the 8 & Under relays to the Clerk of Course at 7:40 – 7:45 so that Ann can start bringing the relays to the blocks by 7:55.
  • The Clerk of Course will only accept full relays, same expectation as All-City. If a coach is swimming on the relay please let Ann know and she’ll place a cone in your spot.
  • Please instruct the parents to write the event #, heat & lane on their swimmer’s arm as this is very helpful.
  • Please inform the swimmers that it’s important to hold hands when they go to the blocks.  This is especially important when they are going to the turn end for the relays.

Fly over starts: will be utilized for all events except for the backstroke and 8 & under 25 meter + races. 

Severe Weather:  The Meet Directors and Head Official will make a decision based on the best information available and will let the Head Coach know. We would prefer to delay the meet vs. cancelling because it’s difficult to reschedule a meet.

Information to visiting team:

  • Please send meet entries to Kathy Larsen at [email protected]
  • Warm up times –
  • The visiting team may set up in the grassy area between the tennis courts and pool.
  • Tennis courts are for Seminole members only and the baby pool is reserved for Seminole swimmers 13 & Up.
  • Fly over starts will be utilized for all events except for the back stroke and 8 & under 25 meter + races
  • Only complete relays will be accepted in the Clerk of Course. If a coach is swimming the relay please let the Clerk know.  Please start bringing the 8 & Under relays to the Clerk of Course at 7:40 – 7:45.

Questions?  Please feel free to contact any of the Meet Directors if you have any questions or concerns.