FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT SUMMER SWIM

In what age group will my child swim?  The age of your child on June 1^st is the age that your child will compete at for the entire season. Thus, even though your child may turn 11 on June 2^nd, he/she will compete in the 9-10 age group for the season.


What distances will my child have to swim?  The distance your child will swim varies by your child's age:  8-unders swim 25s (one length) of a stroke and a 100 (four lengths) Individual Medley (all four strokes combined).  9-10s and 11-12s swim a 50 of each stroke plus a 100 Individual Medley.  13-14s swim a 50 butterfly, 100s of the other three strokes, and a 100 Individual Medley.  15-18s swim 100s of each stroke and a 200 Individual Medley.


If the weather is bad, do we have practice?  Swimmers generally practice in light rain if the temperatures are warm. We do not practice when there is thunder or lightening or strong storms. Generally, we practice even if it seems cold. The water temperature is always the same, and active swimmers stay warm during their practice time.


Is there a certain time when I can talk to a coach regarding my child or can I approach a coach whenever I see one on deck?  Only approach a coach on deck if it is clear that he/she is not coaching.  The best time to reach a coach is after practices are over for the morning.


How many practices must my child attend during the week in order to attend the Saturday meet?  Your child does not have to swim in any practices in order to attend a meet, but every child is strongly urged to swim as many practices as he/she is able. Children who regularly attend practice will find themselves on more relays, swimming faster and an integral part of the team.


Where do I get my team swimsuit?  The team suit has been selected from Simply Swimming and there is information about how, where and when to order the suit on the team website. For your convenience, sample suits are available to try on at Simply Swimming.


How long does a meet last?  This will be determined by the size of the team(s) participating which determines the number of swimmers entered in the meet. Nakoma is a small team and often swims against other smaller teams. These meets may last only a couple of hours. Meets against larger teams or against more than one team will last longer, typically closer to 3.5 hours.  An Invitational, such as the Nakoma trophy meet can last 4-5 hours, while the All-City Meet takes three days.


How do I sign up for meets?  All meet sign up is done on the team website. Click on the Button on the front page that says "MEET SIGN UP". This will take you to a list of meets available for sign up. Click on the button for each that says "sign up" and you will be taken to a page which asks you to declare whether you will be swimming in this meet or not. You will select 2 events by clicking in the the box in front of the event you wish to swim. The is a box for comments to be used to let your coach know if you will not be able to swim relays.


How do I know what  to sign my child up to swim in a meet?  Your swimmer is allowed to swim up to two individual events and two relays at a dual meet. You and your child may pick the individual events they would like to swim. The coach makes up the relays using the swimmers that are entered in the meet (unless you let your coach know that you aren't available to participate in relays). Your swimmer likely has strokes that they like to swim, and they are free to swim that event at every meet if they choose. However, it is strongly encouraged that swimmers try all of the different events offered for their age group over the course of the season. Summer swimmers are learning new skills and improving in their skills all summer long and swimming new events gives them a chance to see their improvements.


If we miss the sign up deadline, can my child still swim in the meet?  For home meets, the answer is generally yes. The coaches have less lattitude to add late entries once our entries have been sent to another hosting pool. If you miss an entry deadline, contact the coach as soon as possible. IMPORTANT TO NOTE: It is likely that your swimmer may not be put on a relay if relays have already been entered into the computer. It is also possible that your child may be put on a slower relay than they might otherwise qualify for. This would happen if there were extra swimmers in an age group leftover after the first relay has been made, and your late entry means there are now enough swimmers to form a second relay. Finally, if your entry comes in after the meet program has been made, then your swimmer will only be able to swim events in which there is an empty lane, meaning that if all heats of freestyle are full, they will not be able to swim freestyle and will have to pick another event.


Do I really need to volunteer to work at the meets?  Swim meets require many volunteers to conduct. We need timers for each lane, officials, runners, announcers, scorers, and clerk of course (people who help get swimmers to the right lane at the right time--especially the young ones). Typically, it takes about 32 people to run a meet. We are a small team that only has about 35-45 families that participate on a given weekend. People who know the skilled positions (officiating, scoring) will need to work every home meet. In order to fairly divide up the work that needs to be done, we hope that every family will plan to help with at least 2 of the 3 home meets that we typically host in a season. At times, we also host a fun invitational each summer that is a much bigger meet than a dual meet, and we do need every one's help with that in order to make it a success.


My child is not swimming until later in the meet, does he/she have to be there for warm-ups?  Warm-ups are not optional!!  It is important that your child is at the meet from the very beginning so that he/she can participate in cheers and can get a feel for the water before swimming.


We have another event to go to on Saturday. Can my child just swim part of the meet?  A swimmer may swim just part of the meet. In order for the meet to count, the swimmer must swim 1 individual event. The order of the events is always the same. If a swimmer is only available for the first hour or so of a meet, they may chose to swim an event(s) that takes place near the beginning of the meet only. PLEASE let your coach know in the comment section of the on-line sign up if you will not be able to stay for the relays that occur at the end of the meet.


What should I bring to a swim meet?  The essentials: suit, goggles, cap. A backup of each is also a great idea but, in a pinch, your teammates will likely have you covered. Snacks and hydration are important though there are often concessions for sale. A sharpie and a few dollars for a Heat Sheet. Swimmers are encouraged to wear Nakoma apparel to all meets. Ideally, the team suit and cap are worn for races. Water-friendly footwear can be helpful. Sweats, parkas and large towels are good to have at a meet when the weather turns cool (and it will).  Maybe a fold-up chair for each adult and a shade awning or tent can be handy to hide from the sun. 


What is the best way for my child to remember what he/she is swimming?  Use a pen or marker to write your child’s event number, heat and lane on their hand. The event number, heat, and lane assignment will be on the Heat Sheet / Meet Program.  A Sharpie works best.


What is clerk of course?  Clerk of Course is the area where young swimmers check in before their events and volunteers there help get the swimmers organized and to the starting blocks in time for their events. This helps keep young, nervous swimmers and parents calm and helps the meet flow quickly and smoothly.


When should my child report to the Clerk of Course?  As dual meets move along quickly, your child should report to the Clerk of Course at least two events prior to the event he/she is swimming. Usually an announcer will announce what events are being staged. Listen carefully.


What is the All-City Meet and who is it for?  The All City Meet is the Championship meet at the end of the season. The meet is for every swimmer participating in the summer league regardless of their skill level. Because all swimmers from all pools are invited to participate, it is a a much bigger meet than a dual meet. 1700+ swimmers will participate over 3 days. The events on the first 2 days of the meet are divided by age group, so a swimmer will only participate on one of those days. The top 16-20 swimmers (depending upon the host pool/configuration) in each event will go on to compete in the finals on the 3rd day. In addition to individual finals, the 3rd day is also reserved for relays for each age group except 8-unders.


How many meets must my child swim in order to be eligible for the All-City Meet?  Your child must swim in at least three All-City Conference dual meets in order to be eligible for the All-City Meet.


How are relays decided?  Primarily, relays are put together by the computer. It calculates the fastest possible combination of swimmers from the list of swimmers entered in the meet. The computer has all of swimmers' times. With that said, the computer can only make relays if all the swimmers have times. To illustrate, the computer cannot make a medley relay if none of the registered swimmers have a time for butterfly. In this case, the coaches will make the best possible relay by figuring out who is likely to be the best butterflier. Likewise, the computer can only figure out relays using the information that it has. Swimmer A might be faster that Swimmer B in a given stroke in practice, but if Swimmer A doesn't have an official time from a meet in the data base, the computer cannot select Swimmer A for a relay. It's always a good idea for every swimmer to try swimming all the events available to them.


My child swims in the 9-10 age group, but often gets put on an 11-12 or 13-14 relay. Why is this?  After the computer makes the first 1 or 2 fastest relays, there are sometimes swimmers left in that age group, but not enough to make a complete relay. All-City rules state that these swimmers may join in an older age group relay that has an empty spot. This is called swimming up. Younger swimmers may legally join older relays, but older swimmers cannot join younger relays. This rule allows for more kids to participate in relays and practice more racing.


What is the diference between a "yards" pool and a "meters" pool?  Most of our All-City League pools are 25 meters long. A few are only 25 yards long (Nakoma, Hawks, Maple Bluff, Shorewood). Because yards are shorter than meters, times in a yards pool will be faster because the distance raced is shorter. To compensate for this, we use a conversion factor to compare times. There are different conversion factors commonly used, but our computer program uses the conversion factor of 1.11. In other words, to figure out how your swimmer's yards time compares to another swimmers meters time, you must take the yards time and multiply it by 1.11. If you need to figure out what your meters time is in yards, you would divide by 1.11. This is done automatically by the computer for every meet. The computer takes all your swimmer's times, converts them, and picks the best time to enter your swimmer in the meet with.


What are the officials watching for?  There are rules that govern the swimming competition in order to ensure a safe and fair meet for all swimmers. The All City league uses the guidelines established by USA Swimming, the body that governs competitive swimming in the United States. Officials take special training and do apprenticeships to learn how to judge fairly. Each stroke has its own set of rules for what is permitted and what is not permitted. Most rules are intended to make sure no swimmer gets an unfair advantage over another swimmer. The officials job is to observe the swimmers as they race and report swimmers who violate those rules, so that everyone can be assured the competition is fair.