General Information
This booklet is intended to make our swim team parents’ lives a little easier during this busy swim season. Please look it over carefully and keep it in a safe location for the duration of the season. It contains vital information, which you will need from week to week.
The second purpose of this handbook is to inform new members and parents of the rules and operation of the team. All families should read the handbook so that they will become familiar with these important facts.
Swim meets require many people working to make them happen. As a result, all families who participate have work assignments scattered throughout the season. Only the home team performs some jobs, such as runner and ribbons, while both the home and away teams perform other jobs. Thanks for helping to make this season a success!
This booklet does not contain WORK ROSTERS for the season. We will be filling out work rosters online. An email will be sent to everyone notifying you when volunteer sign up will be available. You will receive an email reminding you of your assignment for the upcoming week. Please look through the work rosters and note the times and dates you have signed up to work. If you have a conflict with any of your assignments, it is YOUR responsibility to find a replacement. If the job you have been assigned is unfamiliar to you, please read the job description in this book or contact the Volunteer Coordinator or any of the managers for assistance.
Parents, please remember that all swimmers should remain in the bullpen area throughout the course of the swim meet; please encourage your children to do so. We anticipate having over 200 swimmers on the pool deck during many swim meets. Write your child’s name on their back and their event, heat and lane on their arm. If a swimmer does not hear their event called, the bullpen workers will not search for him/her. Failure to swim in an assigned event will cost the team valuable points and the swimmer their opportunity to compete. Parents, please help us with this especially if you have a young swimmer who may be unfamiliar with the routine. Again, encourage your child to sit with the team. At home meets, please tell your child to stay off the tennis courts and to be careful of the lake adjacent to the pool. The lake is neither lit nor fenced.
HEAT SHEETS
Home meet heat sheets will be emailed out prior to the meet as well as for most away meets. You are encouraged to check the heat sheets and note the events your child will be swimming to avoid missing their events. We plan to also display swimmers’ events during the practice sessions on the day of the meet and will also try to email the swimmers’ event prior to the meet. You may find it easier to review this at home with your swimmer before coming to the pool. A highlighter works well to mark your child’s events at a meet.
MEET ATTENDANCE
All swimmers are expected to attend home and away meets, and swim their events as scheduled. Failing to appear at a scheduled meet without prior notice, or scratching at a meet (dropping an event), is not acceptable behavior unless the child is sick or the coaches feel that for some reason he should not swim. Obviously, it is summer and an occasional meet absence for family vacation will occur. It is important that you notify the coaches if you will miss a meet. We have the ability to RSVP for meets online at the website.
Please remember we need to fill all of our available lanes with kids who will be at the meet. To do this, we must seed them in the meet by the seeding deadline – we cannot just put them in empty lanes at the meet. Planned absences allow other swimmers to participate, while unplanned absences leave unfilled gaps in our team.
MEET CHECK-IN
All swimmers and volunteers must sign in at the check-in table upon arrival. This assures the coaches and the volunteer coordinator that all swimmers and volunteers are at the meet.
MEET CHECK-OUT
All swimmers must check out with the head coach prior to leaving the meet if they leave before the end of the meet. This is essential to the safety of our children. It is also a team matter because they may be needed to swim a relay in which they were not originally scheduled to swim. The coach will know if your child is through for the evening and will release him/her if he/she is finished.
INCLEMENT WEATHER
Swim meets are NEVER cancelled prior to the start of the meet. The assumption is that the meet will be held but possibly delayed. Please show up on time, ready to work your assignment, with your child prepared to swim. If the meet is postponed, this will happen on the pool deck and the make-up time will be announced at that time. Every attempt will be made to swim the meet as planned, before postponement.
Should threatening weather start during the meet, an announcement will be made to clear the deck. At home meets, PLEASE GO TO YOU CAR BUT DO NOT LEAVE UNTIL AN ANNOUNCEMENT IS MADE BY THE MEET OFFICIALS; EVERY ATTEMPT WILL BE MADE TO FINISH THE MEET. SHOULD THE MEET BE CANCELLED, CHECK YOUR EMAIL FOR THE MAKEUP TIME (typically Monday or Tuesday of the following week). At away meets, go to your car or to a location announced by the head official.
