Hi Swim Families,

Tomorrow is our Mock Meet, and our first official swim meet is right around the corner on May 29! We know many families are new to swim team life and may be wondering exactly how a swim meet works- so we've put together some quick FAQs to help everything make more sense heading into tomorrow evening.

You may notice a few modifications during the Mock Meet to help keep things running smoothly. As mentioned in previous emails, we will only be swimming freestyle at the Mock Meet to keep it timely and manageable. Please remember you must declare "attending" or "not attending" by 12 pm, today (5/20) for the Mock Meet. If you do not declare you will not be able to swim!

Please take a moment to review the information below, and as always, don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions. We're here to help make your swim season a great one!

Nicole Brien

Frequently Asked Questions 

How long will the meets last?

Four hours is the approximate length of a meet. Warm-ups start at 4 pm for the home team and 4:30 pm for the visiting team. Barring any delays, the meet is scheduled to start at 5:00 pm and run until about 9:00 pm. Note: The 6 and under age group swim early in the meet and are usually finished by 7:00, so parents, choose your volunteer assignments accordingly.

How will my swimmer know when to report for his/her race?

Each age-group will have a ‘bullpen,’ and the bullpen parent will help line up the swimmers before each race. The kids will need to stay in their age group bullpens for the duration of the meet! It is imperative that swimmers stay in the bullpen area so that the bullpen parents can easily and efficiently find your child. It is unfortunate when a swimmer misses his event because he was not in the right place to be lined up. Age Group Bullpen Parents are not babysitters. Parents need to supervise their younger children at the swim meets. The bullpen parent position is a challenging job; let’s make every effort to make it as easy as we can for our parent volunteers. At home swim meets, the Hammerheads will sit in the grassy area above the pool deck. If your child is not going to sit in the bullpen area, then you are responsible for having your child to the bullpen parent in plenty of time for each of his/her events.

How Does a Swim Meet work?

• An "event" at a swim meet consists of a gender, stroke and a distance. For example, the girls 6&U 25-yard freestyle, boys 6&U 25-yard freestyle, 11&12 boys 50-yard freestyle, and 11&12 girls 50-yard butterfly are four separate events.

• A 25-yard race is one length of the pool, and a 50-yard race is 2 lengths.
• Since there are usually more swimmers entered in each event than there are lanes, there may be several "heats"in each event.

What is a Freestyle relay?

Four swimmers each swim freestyle. However, the distance swum per relay participant differs by age group.

What is a Medley relay?

Four swimmers participate, each of whom swims a different stroke. The first swimmer swims Backstroke (BA), the second Breaststroke (BR), the third Butterfly (FL), and the fourth Freestyle (FR). An easy way to remember this is: BA, BR, FL, FR are in alphabetical order.100 IM (individual medley) is an event in which ONE swimmer swims four different strokes: 25 yards of butterfly, 25 yards of backstroke, 25 yards of breaststroke and 25 yards of freestyle, in this order.

What is an IM relay?

IM stands for Individual Medley. It is always swum in the following order: butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle.

How are finishing results determined?

All finishes are judged finishes, which means that the order of finish is determined by judges, NOT by times. Times for each event are used to help the swimmer and coach chart the progress of the swimmer.

What are the volunteer requirements?

Every family, new and returning is expected to volunteer for 5 job positions during the season. We can not run the swim meet without every volunteer position filled.

What time should I be at the swim meets with my swimmer?

Please arrive 15-30 minutes early to get set up and allow time for parking. 

•  Home Meet in pool warm-up is at 4:00. 
• Away Meets in pool warm-up is at 4:30.

What should I bring to the meet, other than my swimmer?

• Swim suit
• Goggles (good idea to bring a back-up pair as well)
• Swim cap
• 2 Towels (one for use during the meet and one for after the meet)
• Water bottle- It’s important to stay hydrated!

• Snacks – although most pools will have concession stands, it is a good idea to bring healthier options (apples, oranges, granola bars etc.) for your kids as well. PEANUT FREE PRODUCTS!
• Dry clothes to change into after the meet 
•  Sunscreen
• Chairs for Mom and/or Dad

How do I make sense of the heat sheet?

To locate your swimmer in the heat sheet, start by looking for their age group and event. Then find their name. You will get a better understanding of the time frame of the meet by how many heats are in each event. This should assist you with making sure that your swimmer is in the bullpen area on time.

What is a Heat Sheet? What Does it say?

The Heat Sheet is a program that shows all the participating swimmers and what events they will participate in as well as the heat number and lane number. The announcer will say the event and heat number. Please pay attention when it gets close to the time your swimmer's event! Your swimmer will line up in the Bull-Pen holding area for their race at least 6 to 8 races prior to them actually swimming their race!

Changes to the Heat Sheet can be made as late as the right before the meet starts!

Based on swimmers who don't arrive on time or do not attend. We will also "combine" races to speed up the meet. For example, if we have 3 girls swimming Fly in the 15-17 age group and 3 boys -- we will combine them into one heat to save time.

Event Number: There are 86 events in each meet. We swim the Individual Medley, Freestyle Relay, Backstroke, Freestyle, Medley Relay, Breaststroke and Butterfly.

Heat Number: In each of the 86 events, there are HEATS. Each heat has 5-8 swimmers - depending on the size of the pool. At Home, each heat has 5 swimmers because we have 5 lanes.

Lane Number: This will tell you which lane your swimmer is scheduled to be in.

Seed Time: Once a swimmer participates legally in an event, they will have a "seed time" in that event for the next meet. Swimmers are placed in heats and relays according to their seed times*.

Seed Time: The swimmer's fastest time prior to this meet.

Finals Time: The time they swam at this meet.

Heat Winner: First child to touch the wall, even if DQ'd later, will be given a ribbon. At Home meets, we will award ribbons 1st -5th place per each HEAT.

In-Season Meets Points and Scoring: During in-season meets, each team may only score three (3) swimmers per individual event and one (1) relay team per relay event. Again, ribbons will be awarded to all swimmers, in each heat no matter if they scored points or not.

Why do swimmers write stuff on their arm?

Coaches will mark arms at the end of the morning practice, the day of the meet. If your swimmer misses the morning practice, please mark your child’s name and age group on their back using a dark-colored Sharpie pen. (Sharpie DOES come off if rubbed with rubbing alcohol or acetone! Your swimmer won’t be tattooed, don’t worry!) IT IS BETTER TO USE SUNSCREEN LOTION OVER AEROSOL SUNSCREEN. AEROSOL SUNSCREEN will also rub off Sharpie! Also, please write your child’s events/heats/lanes on his/her arm.

• The first column is “E” for EVENT.
• The second column is “H” for HEAT (if there are 24 kids swimming the 50 Free in an 8-lane pool, then there will be 3 heats).
• The third column is “L” for LANE.
• In a Medley relay, the order of the strokes are (1) Back, (2) Breast, (3) Fly, (4) Free. So, in this above example, “#3 Girls 8&U 100 Medley Relay (2) 1/2", the (2) indicates that this swimmer will swim BREASTSTROKE in the SECOND leg of the relay.
• In a Free relay, all legs of the relay are freestyle, so in the above example, #67 Girls 8&U 100 Free Relay (1) 1/7, the (1) indicates that this swimmer will freestyle in the FIRST leg of the relay.

When will my child get their ribbons?

Ribbons are distributed during the Fun Friday practice, if your child misses Friday practice or ribbons aren’t ready on that day, they are placed in the family's vertical file folder. You can ask the Coaches or Team Reps to locate your swimmers ribbons