Items to Bring
Aside from your swimmer and lots of enthusiasm, here is a list of recommended items to bring to the meets. This may vary depending on weather, but a general motto for meets is "more is better."
- Swim suit, cap, and goggles
- Towels
- Sunscreen
- Sweatpants, sweatshirts, and hooded jackets (to keep swimmers warm!)
- Warm shoes, socks, slippers
- Sleeping bag or blankets
- Small, healthy snacks to munch on between events
- Cash for the snack bar
When to Arrive
There's usually about 30 minutes of warm-up before each meet. It's a good idea to get there for warm-up so you can find out what you're swimming, meet other swimmers on your relay teams, and familiarize yourself with the pool. The coaches are usually pretty busy during warm-up, so it's best to find out ahead of time what sort of warm-up they want you to do.
What to do When You Arrive
- Check-in your swimmer. At summer meets, a parent volunteer hands out slips of paper that lists each swimmer's events, heat, and lane. Pick-up your slip to check-in your swimmer.
- Write your swimmer's events, including heat and lane, on their hands. This helps everyone know when the swimmer is competing and prevents missing events.
- Look for the rest of the team. We usually gather in one spot together.
- Get psyched up and have great swims!!
Events, Heats, and Lanes
The order of events in the summer league dual meets is always the same:
Medley Relays
Freestyle
Backstroke
Breaststroke
Butterfly
Freestyle Relays
There are six age groups - 6 and under, 7/8, 9/10, 11/12, 13/14 and 15 - 18, which are each separated by boys and girls. The youngest age groups swim first, boys first. So the first event is very young boys swimming Medley Relays, and the last is older girls swimming Freestyle Relays.
The easiest way to keep track of what's going on is to listen to the starter. He or she will always announce the event number for every race.
When there are more kids in a race than there are lanes in the pool, there are several heats. The first 6 kids are in the first heat; the second 6 kids are in the second heat, and so on.