Swim Meet 101
Practices
Official Schedule is attached. 10U swimmers… parents are permitted to stay during practice sessions but please choose a spot off of the pool deck. Your presence will detract from attention to the coaches, which is imperative! Parents of older swimmers: You can choose to drop your swimmers off and pick them up at the swim club doors. They will be in good hands :-)
Swim Meets
Please arrive on time! Saturday meets arrival time is 7:15AM. Wednesday Evening meets arrival time is 4:15PM. The check in process may take a bit of time... especially in the beginning... so PLEASE make every effort to arrive on time. Upon arrival, your swimmer should speak to a coach and get checked in. If your swimmer does not have his/her name and event/heat numbers written on his/her arm HE/SHE IS NOT CHECKED IN. Please send him/her BACK to a coach :-)
**a few notes on meet etiquette-
1. PLEASE do not approach the coaches during a meet. If there is an issue or you have a question, speak with one of your parent reps. If it is not something we can address ourselves we will find the answer or send a coach to you as soon as possible!
2. You MAY NOT be on the pool deck unless you are a volunteer and your duty includes the pool deck area. Please be respectful of that boundary as it is for safety reasons.
3. Recording of any kind from behind the blocks is STRICTLY FORBIDDEN. This is a Safe Sport issue and is taken very seriously.
4. Please encourage your child to stay with the team during swim meets. This helps coaches to locate swimmers quickly so they won't miss races and also promotes bonding and friendship!
5. ALWAYS CHEER FOR.... NEVER CHEER AGAINST!!! Good sportsmanship is PARAMOUNT to our program. Little eyes are watching you and little ears are listening :-)
REMIND APP
If you have not signed up for our team's Remind app, please do so ASAP. Remind is used for practice cancellations and other important announcements. We will also be using the Remind app to send out the Heat Sheets when they become available(the list of event/heat/lane in which your swimmer is entered). Sign up for Sharks Remind messages by texting the word @fhsharks25 to 81010 OR downloading the app in the appstore on your device and joining the class @fhsharks25
Team Suit, Cap, Equipment
Sport Spot will have a table set up in the Swim Club during all practice on Thursday, June 12th from 4:30-7:00. You can purchase your team suit and any swim accessories (extra cap, goggles, bungee, towel pants) your swimmer might need. If you cannot be at practice on Wednesday or Thursday, you could visit the store yourself! It is located in on Route 35 in Shrewsbury... near The Grove shopping plaza. You can, also, place your order over the phone with a credit card. I can always make a trip down there and pickup for anyone who can't make the drive. FINS ARE STRONGLY RECOMMENDED! 10 and unders should have the Finis z2 zoomers and the 11 and overs to have the Arena powerfin pro. If there is an 11-12 with very small feet and the powerfin doesn’t come in their size then the Z2 zoomers are fine.
Spiritwear
Spiritwear will be available
Volunteering
WE NEED YOU!! Please offer your time. The best place to see the meet is from the deck and the only way to get on the deck is to VOLUNTEER! Here is a quick description of the volunteer opportunities waiting for you:
Timer: Assigned 1 lane. Time every race that occurs in your lane. Record these times on a sheet . There are always at least 2 timers in each lane.
Backup Timer: Time every race, but only needed if someone calls for backup timer. You are a safety net timer :-)
Ribbons: Hand a coveted "Heat Winner" ribbon to the winner of each heat. This is whomever you see touch the wall first. If it is "too close to call" you can give a ribbon to both :-) I know you said something about ribbons for 1-6th place but I can't remember exactly what... when we are home team we have to do this for the away team? For every heat?
Across the Board: Tell in what order swimmers finish, heat 1 only. Write down the finish order on sheets provided. There are always 2 Across the Board people. 1 FROM OUR TEAM AND 1 FROM THE OTHER TEAM.
Runner: Collect the 2 Across the Board sheets and 6 time cards (one from each lane) for the HEAT 1 RACE of every event and bring them to the recording table. There are 2 runners.
Data Entry: Enter times into the computer system (Meet Maestro) to keep track and score the meet.
Hospitality: Hand out bottles of water to volunteers and officials
Marshaller: Help bring the younger swimmers from the team area to the lanes for their events.
Swimmer Management: Help to keep our swimmers together with the team.
Event Writer: Write the current event and heat number on our dry erase Board to help parents can keep track of the meet and don't miss their kiddos swims!
League Website
Here is the link to our MCSC (Monmouth County Swimming Conference) website. On it, you will find all of the clubs against which we will be swimming. There is a lot of good information on this site including addresses to all of the clubs, calendars, league rules, and other league info. https://mcsc.swimtopia.com/
A Few Extra Tips
Lingo:
"Events" are the different strokes/age divisions/gender divisions (ex. Girls 8 and Under 25 Backstroke)
"Heats" are the individual races within each event.
"Lane" is the actual lane (or row) of the pool in which your swimmer will be swimming.
Tips:
**swimoutlet.com (bungee cords, goggle, suits, caps... great prices and free shipping over $49. Sometimes it's even lower).
**Consider swapping out the elastic on your swimmer's goggles for a more durable (and less painful) bungee cord.
**TOWEL PANTS!!! Through Sport Spot or try ETSY for custom pants.
**SHARPIES!!
**DID WE MENTION SHARPIES???
