Swim Meets: A Parent’s Perspective

 

Every swim parent  has experienced the craziness of the first few meets. Believe it or not, it does get better and here are a few tips to help.

 

  1. Check the Team Unify website a few days before the meet to make sure you know where we are swimming and how to get there. Allow ample time to get there, especially for pools in West County. Make commitment changes in TeamUnify if you know several days before that you will not be at a meet.

 

  1. Check the meet entry sheet at practice in the morning of the meet to ensure that your swimmer is entered if you are planning to attend that meet. Notify a coach right away if you think there is an error. Please let the coaches know ahead of time if your swimmer will not be able to swim in a meet due to illness or unexpected changes. 

 

  1. Feed your swimmer a light dinner at 4:00 or 4:30 or eat on the way. Don’t eat too much or when you’re arriving for warm ups. Bring: water/something to stay hydrated, a towel for using throughout the meet, a separate towel for the end of the meet, game/book to stay occupied between races, blanket/chairs are sometimes allowed for sitting around pool decks, snacks are usually for sale. 

 

  1. Arrive at the pool by 5:00. Warm-up starts at 5:30 and this allows time to check in and get set up beforehand.

 

  1. Set up volunteers at home meets need to arrive by 4:30. Other volunteers (home and away) usually check in by 5:30–check your assignment. You will not be able to watch younger siblings while volunteering so please make other arrangements. Clean up volunteers should meet up near the hospitality area at home meets during the last few events to get things moving so people can get home.

 

  1. Check your swimmers in at the bullpen table. Look for the sheets that just have names listed and highlight/check off  your swimmer’s name. This sheet will be used later by the bullpen to determine who is actually at the meet. 

 

  1. Bring a Sharpie to write your swimmer’s event information  on their forearm or leg. If you have someone younger or quiet, write their name on their back shoulder. This helps the bullpen and lane workers. Take a pic or write down the info and move away from the table. The events are listed in a heat sheet that will be taped down to a table near our bullpen. The event #, heat #, lane #, and stroke as shown below (example for an 8yo boy):

    E     H    L    S

__________________________________

         11     2    4     25 FR

         22     1    6     FR Rel 

         43     1    5     25 BR

        53     1    2     25 FL

        63     1    6     Med Rel (BR)

 

  1. It is every parents’ (and swimmers’) responsibility to make sure swimmers report to the bullpen workers for each of their events. If your child is younger or new, you likely need to help more with this–even sitting near the bullpen area and walking to the pool to watch after checking them in. The bullpen is lining up events 3-5 numbers ahead of what the announcer is calling. Look for the flip chart to see which event the bullpen is lining up. If the swimmers don’t pay attention and miss checking in for an event, they will likely miss their race. Once the swimmers have been taken from the bullpen to the lanes, they cannot leave to go to the restroom or retrieve goggles. Make sure they have those before going to the bullpen. 

 

  1. Check with the bullpen or a coach before you leave the meet to make sure that your swimmer is not swimming in the relay. If one swimmer is missing, three others who waited around may not get to swim. Normally the computer will automatically pick relay teams based on times. However, the coaches do change the makeup of those teams fairly often. 

 

  1. Please pick up all of your trash in and around the bullpen and your seating area before you leave. This is a tremendous help to those people who are assigned to clean up. Any lost items will be placed in a cardboard box and available at swim practices. 

 

Our goal is for everyone to enjoy being on the swim team. We want the kids to have fun and become better swimmers in the process with as little stress as possible. Each of us has to do what we can to help our swimmers. If you have more questions, please don’t hesitate to ask one of the Parent Reps or any other parent who appears to know what is going on for help. 

 

Thanks so much for being on the team! Go Waves!