PENGUINS SWIM TEAM FAQ
1. When is the best time to talk to my child's coach? Please for safety reasons, do not interrupt the coach during class. Please email any questions to [email protected], or request a phone meeting, or meet with the coach in person before or after classes.
2. How often are Swim Meets & is my swimmer required to go?
Summer Season: Meets are typically once a week. In order to qualify for the Championship meets, a swimmer must compete in 2 summer meets. There are no additional charges for summer swim meets. If you cannot attend a meet you must inform the coaching staff at least 48 hours prior to swim meet and 1 week prior to Championship Meet.
3. Who chooses the races my child swims? The coaches choose. The coaches try to expose the swimmers to all of the events that they're capable of swimming, balanced with the team's need to score points.
4. What are the age groups?
Summer Season: 6 & Under, 7-8, 9-10, 11-12, 13-14, 15-18
5. How do I make sure that my child doesn't miss their race? Before warm ups, either buy a heat sheet or find one hanging on the wall for the athletes, then write down their events on their arm or leg with a Sharpie (see below). Many meets will often organize the 10 & under swimmers in the "bullpen" to help make sure they get to the blocks when they are supposed to. For older swimmers it's up to the swimmer and parents to keep up with the action and know when to report to the blocks. It is not the coach's job to get the swimmer to their event.
6. How long does a swim meet last? Summer meets last 2 1/2- 4 hours.
7. How are relay teams chosen? The "A" relay team is comprised of the 4 fastest swimmers in an age group. If there are enough members in an age group, the next 4 fastest swimmers would make up the "B" team, and so on. Freestyle Relay teams are easy to determine. However, the Medley Relay is more complicated. The coaches use a software program to determine the fastest combination of four swimmers. It doesn't always work out like you'd think it would! Coaches do have leeway to remove a swimmer who is either injured or has demonstrated a poor attitude in practice or poor attendance, but this is rarely an issue.
8. What does "swimming up" mean? Sometimes at a meet we will have a shortage of swimmers in an age group to form a relay team. The coaches can take a swimmer from a younger age group and swim him/her up (example: 8 year old boy will swim on the 9-10 boy relay team). Swimmer can only go up in an age group and not down. The swimmers get a kick out of swimming with the big kids.
9. What should I bring to a meet? Portable chairs to sit in, something for swimmers to sit/lay on, extra towels, swim parkas (if they have one), and change of clothes. Make sure that your swimmer's swim bag is packed with an extra cap and set of goggles, and an extra suit. Just in case. There are usually equipment vendors at the winter meets, but not at the dual meets during the summer. Sunblock, sunglasses and hats can be useful in the summer. Bring money for concessions, and to purchase a heat sheet and t-shirt at the bigger meets. Healthy snacks for the swimmers are a plus. Before the meet, make sure to review the team's warm-up time, and make sure that you're comfortable with directions to the pool if it's an away meet. Bring a Sharpie marker or something similar to write your child's races on their arm or leg in the E-H-L format (event, heat, lane). Highlighters and pens come in handy to track results. Games help occupy your swimmer during their downtime, and to occupy your younger non-swimmers too. Electronic games and MP3 players are popular with the team for example.
10. Do we have an official uniform?
Summer Season: Yes. New Suit for 2025 season can be purchased online. Link: swimoutlet.com/collections/wst?groupid=26283
11. What exactly is a Heat Sheet? This is the meet program, which lists all the events in order and all of the heats comprising them.
12. Should I be volunteering? Yes, in order to have a successful season, we require parents to voluteer TWICE during the season. Please check out the Meet Job Roles page for more information on how you can help!
13. How do I become an official? By volunteering to learn and then going through an apprenticeship process. Official positions include Referee, Starter and Stroke & Turn Judge. We can always use more volunteers in this capacity. Becoming a registered official is a great way to learn more about the sport and give something back to the team, and it's also an unbeatable way to get the best seat in the house during a meet- on the pool deck!
14. Is transportation provided? No. You are responsible for getting your child to/from practice, and Penguins meets. Many parents carpool and leave as a group from the Swimplex.
15. What equipment is my swimmer required to have? Swimmers will need a practice swimsuit (1 piece for girls) and goggles. Girls with long hair should wear a swim cap or pull hair back. All other equipment may be borrowed from the team, however; it must be returned in the proper place after each workout. Most of our flippers are donated from past swimmers and are limited in availability. You may want to purchase your own pair. Please write your name on all personal equipment, otherwise; it will end up in the community pile!
16. What does DQed mean? When a swimmer does not follow all stroke rules, including the start, finish and/ or turns during a race, they are "disqualified" or a. k. a. DQed.
17. Can my swimmer wear the team suit during practice? Yes, swimmers may wear their team suit to practice in.
18. How do I care for my swim suit? Your swim suits should NEVER be washed or dried in a machine-NEVER< NEVER< NEVER! The suits should be rinsed out EVERY TIME it is worn in the pool. Rinse in warm water with a little mild soap is fine. Manufactures recommend laying flat to dry. Before you remove tags, read the manufacture's care instructions and follow. Also, do not sit on concert decking. It will pull the bottom of your suit. Sit on a towel
Swim Meet Glossary
Some commonly used swim meet terms
Meets
Championship Meet - The Championship meet is the last meet of the season and involves all or nearly all teams in our league (the RACE league). The organization Championship meet is similar to that of the normal season dual meets. The main difference is that the Championship meet is divided into a morning session (for swimmers 10 and under) and an afternoon session (for swimmers 11 and above). Within each of these sessions, the events are organized in the same way as for the dual meets. Because of the number of teams and swimmers involved, this meet involves more heats for each event.
Dual Meet - A dual meet is a meet between two teams. This is the most common type of meet we will participate in. It consists of both individual events and relays. Swimmers compete in their events by age group and gender. All age groups of one event take place before the next event, so across age groups are there to support each other throughout the meet. The order of events is the same across all dual meets.
Double-Dual Meet - A double-dual meet is a meet between three teams. For each of the three teams, the meet is two dual meets, hence the term double-dual: e.g., Team A vs. Team B and Team A vs. Team C). Otherwise, in terms of events and organization, a double-dual meet is essentially the same as a dual meet.
Relay Meet - A relay meet is a meet in which the events are all relays.
DQ - You will often hear swimmers and coaches refer to a “DQ” or disqualification. A disqualification only occurs when a swimmer has broken a rule in a stroke, or their stroke is not “legal” by RACE League standards.The result of this is that any points a swimmer has gained for their team from that particular event being cancelled.There is no need for parents to worry about the specific rules of each stroke, we will make sure your swimmer is prepared and knows every rule there is for each stroke!
Event - An event is a larger category than a heat. The name of an event typically describes the stroke and age group, as well as distance of the race in meters or yards. (Note that our home pool is a 25 meter pool.) Example: Eight & Under Girls 25m Breaststroke.
Heat -There are often multiple heats within an event. In larger meets such as Championships, there may be as many as eight or nine heats, but in a dual meet, there will be two to three heats. Heats help to group swimmers by seed time and various qualifying times, especially if there are more swimmers than the number of lanes in the pool.
Heat Sheet - This is the event “program.” Allows swimmers and parents to see the order of events, and lists each swimmer in an individual event, as well as their lane.
Legal - If you hear a coach or swimmer mention that a swimmer has a “legal” kick, or stroke, this means that they should be able to swim the stroke in a meet without being disqualified, or “DQ’d”.
Psych Sheet - Much like a heat sheet, but geared more towards swimmers. This allows swimmers to compare their previous times to other swimmers in their event. If a swimmer has not previously swum in an event before, this will appear as NT (no time).
Relay - A relay involves multiple swimmers from a given team swimming in sequence as a relay team. In a dual meet, there is both a medley relay and a freestyle relay for each age group. A medley relay is co-ed, and divided between two boys and two girls. Each swimmer will swim 25m of either backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, or freestyle. (All of our relays in regular meets are 100m total!)
There are typically two freestyle relays per age group, a boys and a girls relay, each consisting of four swimmers total. Each swimmer on the relay team swims a 25m freestyle. Swimmers will be placed in relays depending on individual seed times, stroke preference, as well as participation in practice.
In a relay meet, there will be other sorts of relays in addition to the above (e.g., relays for other strokes such as breaststroke and butterfly, relays in which individual swimmers swim different distances, and relays that involve swimmers across age groups).
Seed Time - A seed time exists if a swimmer has previously swum in a particular event. The seed time is the swimmer’s most fastest time in a particular event, as it appears on the Psych Sheet. The seed time can influence the heat and the lane that a swimmer is assigned to. If there is no previous time for an event, it will appear as NT, or “NoTime”.
