Swim Meet 101
Fins Meet Instructions:
ARRIVAL TIME: Please arrive at the pool by 5:00 pm. The meet starts at 6:05 pm. Warm-ups start at 5:15 for home team, followed by the visiting teams determined by distance to the host pool. The swimmers are all a little nervous, so arriving on time helps calm everyone.
WHAT TO BRING: At the meets, the team generally sits together in an area on the grass. Families bring towels (one towel per race is always good) and folding chairs to sit on. It’s good to bring books and games (card games, for example) for the kids to play while they wait between races. Also bring money to buy concessions stand dinner and goodies! There are usually chairs around the pool for people that want ringside seats. Swimmers need to bring goggles, and most swimmers use swim caps at the meets. Fair Valley swim caps will be for sale all season at meets. See Janelle or Stephanie to purchase one. It can get COLD as the evening progresses. Most swimmers like to have sweatshirts, pants, and towels for after the meet or for when they're done swimming. Young kids in particular get cold as the evening progresses. At the meets, parents should keep an eye on their younger aged swimmers and family members because there are big crowds. Some meets have vendors available who sell swimming items.
FOOD AND REFRESHMENTS: The host team for the meet offers concessions – usually hot dogs, hamburgers, “walking tacos”, drinks, fruit, veggies with dip, and candy. Prices are generally very reasonable. Cashiers appreciate $1s and $5s -- you can only make change for so many $20s!!
Especially at FV home meets, please plan to feed your family dinner from the concessions stand grill! We have fantastic dinner food, and all of the proceeds fund our coaching budget.
WHAT YOUR SWIMMER SHOULD KNOW: First and foremost, have fun! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE leave the coaching to our amazing coaches and just encourage your swimmers. If you are volunteering and leaving your swimmer, especially our younger swimmers, please make sure they know where all their "stuff" is: snacks, goggles, money and entertainment. Please remind your swimmers to stay with the age group parents and not wander off as this can create chaos when time comes to swim.
EVENTS: The coaches will email and post the line up the day before (usually) and the day of the meet. If there are any changes to the line up, you will find out via email and/or remind. The maximum is 5 events per swimmer, but most swimmers will not swim 5 events per meet.
CHECK IN: Upon arrival at the meet, swimmers MUST check in with coaches for attendance and to verify events. Many swimmers use sharpie marker on their hand or forearm to remember which races and lanes they will be in (and heat number if needed). Parents are responsible for writing their swimmers events/heat/lane on their swimmer.
Parents are able to see their swimmers' events through our website or Swimtopia mobile app!
The events are numbered 1-74. The odd numbered races are girls, and the even numbered races are boys.
The races are organized by swim stroke. Within each category of swim stroke, the races start with the youngest age group and alternate girls and boys up through the ages to the oldest.
Generally, the meets last approximately 3 hours.
EVENT AGE GROUPS - The age groups for racing are: “6 and under”, 7-8, 9-10, 11-12, 13-14, and 15-18.
EVENT DESCRIPTIONS Most races are one swimmer performing a single stroke the whole distance, but the exceptions are:
- Medley Relay: 4 team members each swim a leg of the relay - each swimmer does a different stroke – Back, Breast, Fly, Free, in that order.
- Individual Medley (IM): One swimmer performs 4 strokes – Fly, Back, Breast, Free – in that order.
- Freestyle Relay: 4 team members each swim a leg of the relay - each swims the freestyle stroke.
- Events 1-10 Medley Relay
- Events 11-12 42 Feet 6-year olds and under - freestyle 1/2 pool length to “catcher” in the pool with them (2 Heats Plus Exhibition Heats)
- Events 13-20 Individual Medley
- Events 21-30 Breast (2 Heats)
- Events 31-40 Fly (2 Heats)
- Events 41-52 Free (2 Heats)
- Events 53-64 Back(2 Heats)
- Events 65-74 Freestyle Relay
WHERE TO STAND FOR RELAYS -The length of the relay race determines if all the relay members lineup together at the “blocks” (the boards they dive off of) or if some of the relay members have to be at the other end of the pool.
The 11 and up kids are in relays that require the swimmers to swim to one end and swim back, so everyone lines up at the blocks. The 10 and under relay teams split up with racers 1 and 3 at the starting blocks, and racers 2 and 4 on the opposite end of the pool. That’s because the younger swimmers only swim across the pool (25 m) before the next swimmer jumps in to continue.
LANES - There are usually three teams at a regular season meet. There are six lanes in the pool, and each team gets two lanes that they use for the entire meet. For home meets, we'll have lanes 2 and 5. For some away meets we'll have lanes 1 and 4, and for other away meets, we'll have lanes 3 and 6.
EVENT BOARD - During the meet, the home team will run an event board - showing the current event and the events that are "on deck" (lined up behind the blocks waiting their turn).
Usually the “on deck” is about 3 races ahead. IMPORTANT - The first medley relay teams (Events 1-3) need to be behind the diving blocks before the "Star Spangled Banner" is played at the start of the meet.
Arm Marking
Use the Heat Sheet or Swimtopia app to find your child's events. Mark the arm as illustrated below in the picture in the order of Event/Heat/Lane.
Write Clearly and Legibly on your child's LEFT arm as illustrated in the picture.
Stroke: If you'd like to note the stroke, do so after the lane designation.
- FR = Freestyle
- BA = Back Stroke
- BR = Breast Stroke
- FLY = Butterfly
- IM = Individual Medley
- FRR = Free Relay (All swimmers swim freestyle)
- MR = Medley Relay (Each swimmer swims a different stroke: 1st = back, 2nd=breast, 3rd=fly, 4th=free)
Relay Marking: This will designate the relay leg the child is swimming.
- 1/1 = Lane 1, first relay leg
- 4/2 = Lane 4, 2nd relay leg **If the Medley Relay this will be Breast Stroke
DISQUALIFIED: Swimmers will be DQ'd (disqualified) for improper strokes. If your child is DQ'd, please assure your swimmer that it is okay and how proud you are of him/her for trying. The coaches will receive a list of what the swimmer was DQ'd for, and they will review with the swimmers in practice!.
AFTER-MEET : Once the meet is over, EVERYONE needs to help clean up. This includes all swimmers and adults. At a home meet, we will serve all of the swimmers a team treat after clean up.
If Fair Valley wins the meet, we will have donuts at practice the next day!
Please feel free to contact coaches or swim team managers if you have any questions. We will also be able to answer questions you might have at the meets. Most importantly, HAVE FUN!
