Meets for First Time

What you should bring :  

1.      Team suit, cap and goggles (an extra pair of goggles is a good idea!)

       Note: For outdoor meets dark goggles for backstroke are helpful.

2.      Chairs:  most pools do not have much seating on deck so bring your own chairs to set up on deck.

3.      Towels- more than one is a good idea.

4.      Flip-flops or deck shoes (especially for outdoor meets)

5.      Nutritious snacks

6.      Water bottle

7.      $$ for meet program.  Usually these are between $5.00 - $7.00 and will tell you when your child is swimming and what lanes.

8.      Highlighter: for marking your child’s races in the program.  (If you have more than one child it helps to bring a different color for each.)

9.      Sharpie: some of the kids like to write their events/lanes etc. on their arm.

10.     As a spectator keep in mind that the indoor pools can get very hot inside so dress accordingly!!

11.      Outdoor meets: sunscreen and a hat!

  Your meet entry form will tell you what time warm-up begins.  Please try to be on time for warm-up.

When you arrive at the pool :

1.      When you arrive look for other GJD swimmers.  The coaches would like the kids to sit together as a team.

2.      Buy a program (usually at the concession table) so you will know when your child is swimming and what lanes they are in.  Sometimes the programs do not have the heat/lane information.  In these instances, heat sheets are posted.

3.      During warm up you can highlight your child’s events.  Notify the coaches when they are not busy if your child is missing from a race they were entered into.

a.      Most meets we attend will be swum slowest to fastest.  Kids with no times (NT) will usually swim in heat one.

b.      The kids usually write their races on their arms:

Example:

E= EVENT

H= HEAT

L= LANE

W= WHAT DISTANCE/STROKE

Reading the Heat Sheet :

A.      The very first time your child swims a race they will be listed as ‘NT’ meaning they do not have an official time in that event.  Once they have an official time, their time will be recorded as their ‘seed time’ at the next swim meet, and their heat will be based on this time.

B.      The Events are listed in order usually alternating girls and boys events.

  Sample Heat Sheet:  

* UNA -CO indicates a swimmer is not attached to a team.  One reason could be that they are transferring teams and it takes 120 days past the last participation in a swim meet to attach to a new team.

4.      Encourage your child to cheer for their team mates when they are not swimming.

5.      Your child should talk to their coach before and after their races.

6.      Make sure your child gets to their lane, behind their block on time.  Coaches will be watching swimmers and talking to swimmers about their races and cannot be looking for swimmers.

Meet Results :

Encourage your swimmer to do their best and have fun.  Results are usually posted on a wall at the meet as they become available.  These will show their official time and place for each event.  The coaches also get all results after the meet and the results are available on the csi.org website.  If your child places in an event, ribbons are given to the coaches and are given out as a team at the next practice.  How the meet is scored and awarded is usually on the meet information or the meet program and can vary from meet to meet.  Encourage your child to go out and have fun and not worry about placing or getting ribbons.    

Disqualifications: If your child is disqualified ( DQ’ed ) in an event an official will talk to them after the race and explain why.  The coaches are also notified of the reason and will talk to your child.  This helps them learn the rules and helps the coaches know what they need to work on in practice.  Try to keep your child from getting discouraged when this happens.  The most important thing to remind your child it to go out and have fun!!

Team dinners :

The team will usually organize a team dinner at an out of town meet.  Listen for announcements of this during the meet for the time and place.  This is a great way to for you and your child to meet other swim families and is a great team building activity.