TARNSFIELD SWIM TEAM 101
Many families are involved in our summer swim program with a variety of goals in mind. Almost every summer team is a mix of new families, casual families, and year-round diehards. All children swim in their age groups. They are broken down as follows: 8 and under, 9-10, 11-12, 13-14, and 15-18.
Practice schedules
Tarnsfield’s practice schedule can be found HERE.
All swimmers should bring their swimsuit, a towel, a water bottle, googles, a swim cap, and a positive attitude to all practices.
Meets
Our meet schedule is listed HERE.(TBD)
In addition to items needed for practice, swimmers should bring a chair and sunscreen to all meets.
Approx length of dual meet
The meets are generally 3 to 3 ½ hours long and move along very quickly. There is rarely a lull in the action.
How to notify coaches if a swimmer will be absent
Before each meet, make sure to tell the coaches if you won't be in attendance. Our coaches put a lot of effort into the making of the "meet sheets", so last minute no shows can be stressful on meet mornings and may cause other swimmers to miss out on relay events. With 150+ swimmers on the team, there is a lot of preparation involved, with every decision tethered to another.
The best way to communicate with our coaches is through email. Our coach contact information can be found HERE.
What the heck is a Meet Sheet!?!
The meet sheets will, typically, be sent out the day before the meet and will tell you these three things:
- What Event your Child is Swimming
- Their Heat and Lane
- Event Number
Getting index cards and lining up
Before the swim meet, the coaches make up the meet sheets that tell us who is swimming what events and in what lane. An index card is made up for each child with his/her name, event number, event name, and in what lane the child is swimming. These cards are handed out during the meet by a parent volunteer, just prior to the time for the child to go “line up” behind the starting blocks to get ready to swim. The card is then handed to a timer who is at the swimmer’s block. The timers use this card to record the children’s times.
The order of events
All Suburban Swim Association meets during the summer have the same events taking place in the same order each meet. Each meet is called a “dual meets” in the summer, which simply means it’s between two teams.
HERE is an example Event Sheet.
At home, we always swim in the even numbered lanes, 2, 4, & 6
The visiting team swims in lanes 1, 3, & 5.
Scoring
The winner of the meet is determined by the team scoring the highest number of points. Scoring will only occur in the first heat of events. Even if a swimmer in a later heat swims a faster time, the points can only be awarded if they were in the first heat.
For individual races:
- 1st Place = 5 points
- 2nd Place = 3 points
- 3rd Place = 1 point
A team can only receive a maximum of 8 points in a race. So if they sweep (1st, 2nd, 3rd) they would only receive 8 points and the other team would receive 1
For relays:
- 1st Place = 7 points
- No other points allotted for relays, the first place winner takes all 7 points.
Ribbons
Suburban League Ribbons are awarded for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th & 6th place finishes (first heat only). Ribbons will be written during the meet by a parent volunteer and distributed by the coaches after the meet. After away meets, we regroup later in the day for ribbon distribution. If a swimmer is not there for distribution, the ribbons will be place in the family’s folder in the team document box.
Parent Participation Required
Volunteers are essential to the successful operation of our swim meets. If your child is participating in a meet, your support is needed to ensure the event runs smoothly. All families are expected to volunteer at a minimum of three meets during the season.
After the third regular-season meet, any family that has not fulfilled its volunteer requirement will be assigned a role by the Volunteer Coordinator. Families that do not volunteer, even after an assigned role, may have their swimmer(s) deemed ineligible to participate in meets. This determination is made at the discretion of the Team Parent Committee.
Each meet requires volunteers to serve as timers, scorekeepers, ribbon writers, and parents to help organize swimmers for their events. Home meets require additional support, as we are the host club. A typical home meet requires a minimum of 50 volunteers.
Families with kickboard-only swimmers are asked to ensure their child is behind the starting blocks during the National Anthem. You are welcome to assist with the scored meet as well; however, priority for volunteer roles is given to families with swimmers participating in the meet.
