This email will be an in-depth look at how a meet is run so you know what to expect upon arrival and throughout the evening. 

What to do before the meet:

-Write your child's name and age in sharpie on their right shoulder blade

-Print the heat sheet if you would like to have a hard copy at the meet.

-Write your child's events on their arm in this format:

Event/Heat/Lane

It will look kind of like a tic tac toe board. This can be done Thursday morning after practice. Each swimmer's events will be posted at the pool on Thursday morning and are available on the Swimtopia app. There will be help provided on Thursday morning if needed.

Please seek assistance from a junior coach or veteran parent. 

-Download the Swimtopia App on your phone   

What to Bring:

For Swimmer: Team suit (Should be on body already), Team cap, Team T-shirt, Two towels, water bottle, goggles, bag to keep up with all of your items.

For Parent: Copy of heat sheet if desired, folding/tailgate chairs, sharpie marker, money/card for concessions, small cooler with drinks/snacks if desired, cool clothing/spirit wear-it is typically very hot, look up your volunteer sessions beforehand and be ready to report to the correct station

Upon Arrival:

-Please arrive by 5:00-volunteers and swimmers need to check-in before entering the gate.

-Set-up your chairs and get your swimmer to the designated location for that pool.

-Swimmer should have cap and goggles on and ready to get in the pool at 5:25. We warm-up in two sessions-10&under and 11&up-listen to Coach Caitlin's instructions. This will be fairly chaotic so it is important that the swimmers pay attention. Warm-up is followed by a team cheer!

-Volunteer Timers typically report and meet at 5:40 at the starter table, stroke and turn officials at 5:30ish, all other volunteers report around 5:40 to their assigned station unless told otherwise.

Meet Time:

-Meet will start at 6:00pm.  At other pools, the home team may run a "bubble heat" right at 6:00 and these are their own swimmers that need assistance to cross the pool. At Evergreen, we have chosen to hold a separate "race" for our swimmers on Friday mornings at Fun Friday. The "Bubble Heat" does not have an event number and does not count in the meet.

Around 5:50pm, swimmers in the first few events need to head to the staging area and they are set behind the blocks prior to the start of the meet. Bull Pen and Staging volunteers will help with this.

General overview of a swimmer getting to their race:

-Swimmer is sitting with their age group in the team area-not with parents.

-Bull Pen volunteer yells out event number and usually the names of the swimmers in that event. Swimmers please listen for your event number to be called and watch all the number boards around the pool to keep up with what event is swimming and how soon until your race. Parents please help with this the first few times until they learn the process.

-Swimmers will be gathered by Bull Pen Volunteers and taken to staging (near the blocks). The staging volunteers will get each swimmer behind the correct block. 

-Swimmers listen and watch for the starter to announce their event and heat. The starter will then say-Swimmer step up (or swimmers in the water, for backstroke), then will say "take your marks", then a beep will sound and the swimmer will GO!

-During the race, WE ALL CHEER! Also, the stroke and turn officials will be watching to ensure the swimmers do the strokes correctly and finish, turn, start correctly. The timers will be timing the race and writing down final times, which then get taken to the computer room and entered. Once the time is entered, you can see if on the Swimtopia app.  If the swimmer wins their heat, they are typically given a "heat winner" prize-typically candy or beads.

-After the race, the swimmer needs to cheer for other swimmers as able, but also return to their towel to rest and regroup for the next race.

-The swimmer may also come ask for snack money:)

-For relays: This is a cat herding event. The junior coaches will be assisting the bull pen volunteers to get the swimmers together with their relay and to the correct side of the pool and in the correct lane. Because 10&under swimmers only swim 25yds, two swimmers will be at the starting side and two swimmers will be at the other end. 11&older swimmers are all at the starting end of the pool. 

When you are finished:

When your swimmer has completed all of their events and you are finished with your volunteer shifts for that meet, you may leave. Please have your swimmer check one last time with Coach Caitlin or Coach Andrea prior to leaving to ensure that they have not been added to a relay. This is allowed and happens often if we have a no-show, someone becomes ill, etc. 

The meets typically finish around 10:30pm.

Please clean up your area! We do not want to leave trash at our own pool or the pools we visit!

Results and Fun Friday:

A text is typically sent out immediately following the meet with the team results. An email will follow with full meet results. They are also viewable on the Swimtopia App. Fun Friday will begin at 9am each Friday after a meet. At this time, our Elvers (swimmers who are unable to compete on Thursdays yet as they are working on making it the entire length without assistance) will race and the entire team will cheer them on. We will also have donuts and orange juice, hear announcements, pick up ribbons from the ribbon box, and play in the pool. This ends at 10:30am.

County Championship:

In July, the Gwinnett County Championship meet is held at Georgia Tech. The participants include the top 50 swimmers in each age group and each event. Each week on Saturday, we will post the Top 100 list on the Eels website so that you can see where your swimmer stands and plan accordingly to participate. If your swimmer is in the top 70(ish) toward the end of the season, it is likely they will get into the meet. This is a big deal and lots of fun. Gwinnett summer swim has over 5,000 swimmers and the county meet is a fun experience for those that qualify. More info on this will follow as we progress through the season.

Please don't hesitate to ask questions of our coaches or respond to this email with meet related questions. Volunteer related questions can be sent to: [email protected]

GO EELS!