About Meets |
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| This page will help you understand more about our U.S.swim meets, how to enter and prepare for them. |
| When attending U.S. / A.M.S. Swim Meets here are a few tips to help you be better prepared. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1.The night before - pack your bags > Always bring extra warm gear we never know if pool area or swimmers area will be warm or cool. Warm foot wear to walk around at meets is also a good idea. Make sure you have Team suit - goggles (it is a good idea to have two pair ready to go - can't tell you how many times swimmers snap a strap prior to events)- caps - warm up or sweat suits - extra t-shirts and towels. Also a good idea to know what events you are entered in - check meet results page. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2. Arrive at meets about 15-20 minutes prior to our warm up time. Swimmers use this time to stretch, loosen up, wake up, and get events written on hand by parents. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3. Prior to warm ups - write swimmers event # / heat / lane on their hand. This will help swimmers and coaches know what to do for warm ups. Coaches will not be writing events down for swimmers - we may have 60 swimmers at a meet and can not do it! Bring a marker! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 4. At least 5 minutes before our warm ups swimmers need to go on deck to Coach and rest of team. Coaches will tell them what we are doing for warm ups. If for some reason a coach is not there yet - keep stretching and be ready. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 5. A.M.S. / U.S. rules > NO PARENTS ARE ALLOWED ON POOL DECK AT ANYTIME !!! If there is a question or problem have your swimmer communicate with coaches. Some times there are disqualifications and parents want to know why - often coaches will know right after their swim. Even coaches are not allowed to approach officials except for the deck referee. If a swimmer misses there event at a regular meet (not championship format) they have missed it and will not be allowed to swim that event. If there is a rare circumstance and a timer or official caused the child to miss then coach can discuss with Deck referee to try to allow child to swim! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 6. Awards > usually there will be an awards table located near swimmer area. Parents or older swimmers may sign for and pick up awards. Once in a while teams do not hand out awards during meet - coaches or team rep may pick up awards at end of meet. Awards are usually top six overall times - not just from race / heat child was in. Sometimes there are silver & gold flights ? What teams do in this case is award top 6 times with gold flight awards and then about middle of the pack they will award top six silver flight awards. ie/ 40 swimmers compete overall / Annie finishes 23rd - she will probably receive 3rd place silver flight award. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 7. A swimmer is finished with events - may they leave - yes - but first check with coach especially if you checked off yes for relays. Coaches will deck enter relays at the meet - if we have enough swimmers in that age group who are willing to stay and swim relays. Generally relays are at end of sessions - although once in a while they may be first event. Coaches will decide who is in relays. Much depends on times they swam that day - who is available for what strokes - attitude - plus a variety of criteria. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 8.Food at meets > Swimmers may eat during meets and usually there are food sales at meets. Prior to sessions swimmers should eat 45 minutes before they swim, and food should be easy to digest food as well as good fuel. Water is the best thing for them to drink - sport drinks can give some people upset stomachs - don't try something new at a meet. During meet if swimmers are hungry - eat small portions of good - easy to digest food. 3 hot dogs and a can of pop is not good food. Carrots - Apples - high protein foods (meats) are NOT good during a meet or just before. Hard to digest! Eat soft - good carb foods in moderate proportions and drink water in small sips / portions. Should be well hydrated prior to meet. NOOOOOO Milk products with in four hours of meets - creates problems with airways when you are gasping for air at the end of a swim. Carrots - Apples - Meats - Milk are great foods and eat lots of them - but not right before or during a meet. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ We hope this answers some questions and better prepares you for meets, we don't want to train hard and then not do well because we are not mentally ready. Or have not fueled up well or we don't have the right gear for a meet. Coach Bob, Angela, Crystal |
A few changes for signing up, as always we are trying to make it easy as possible but we need your help on being timely and getting entries in early. This will help us double check entries and post early enough that if we have erred you may correct us. SO PLEASE UNDERSTAND - NO LATE ENTRIES ! First > I have schedule and guides to selecting meets on the schedule. I have indicated which meets are designed for which groups. And as always if you have questions ask the coaches. Please do not interrupt coaches during practice, sometimes though once we have them in for warm ups it is OK. Plan ahead look at meets you would like to attend and mark your calendars. Remember entries for U.S. Meets generally need to be in 3 to 4 weeks prior to meet date and we will have time posted for when entries close. Here is how to enter ; 1.Check on pool deck just inside main door - we have a table set up with folders for upcoming meets. Check meet folders and pull out event list for meet you plan to attend. (When balcony is completed we will move table up to balcony entrance.) 2.Take a form - remember put your name on it then circle correct event numbers you want to swim. Make certain you have correct gender events circled. Or you may email entries by clicking on address below # 4. (One other tip - write down events so you and your swimmers have a copy.) 3.Then place in mail box on opposite side of entrance marked U.S. Entries along with check for total amount due. Checks to WAAC ! Entry fee will generally be $3.25 per event this season. Checks are OK to leave in mail slot - please do not leave cash - get that to Dawn or Tara Race, or drop in slot on red file cabinet. Do not leave entry forms laying on Coaches table, or in coaches mail slot- most likely they will get lost in the shuffle!!! 4.Hopefully within a few days of entries closing I will post on website Meet Results page a list of our entries, along with a copy being posted on wall by entry table. Please check and if we missed someone or there is an error contact Dawn immediately so we have time to correct . waacentries@verizon.net 5.Please get entry money in on timely fashion also - it can be an accounting nightmare when we are not getting the money on time. Thank You. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Now some Q & A on entering meets > 1.My child is in ______ group should they swim in meets ? Yes Yes Yes and early in season - no matter what group a swimmer is in Copper - Bronze - Silver - Gold they need to enter meets. We explain to swimmers that meets are just a higher form of practice and it really helps coaches gauge what we need to work on, as well as showing us what swimmers have learned. The practice swimmer and meet swimmer are usually two different people !!! 2.How often should my child swim in meets ? A general answer is at least once a month, although it also depends on the months schedule and what type of meets are posted. I would also say a maximum for any month is 3 meets and that should not be every month. As always please talk with coaches when you have questions. 3.What events should they swim ? We want all swimmers to become well rounded swimmers. So we like to see them experiment with new events and various distances, many swimmers will have favorite events they want to swim. That is fine but when we see a swimmer falling into a pattern we will suggest they expand there event list. And we want all swimmers to give distance swimming a try during the season. 4.What if my child has problems with a particular stroke & get disqualified ? That is a big part of learning, and you can look at any of the top swimmers on our team and be assured they were DQd at one time or another! Even if a child has trouble with something we encourage them to do it so they can become better at it. Often times we tell swimmers we as coaches are much happier with a swimmer who tries something and gets DQd then we are with a swimmer who avoids it!!! 5.How do I know if they qualify for a particular meet ? 6. What are zones and how does my swimmer qualify ? For winter season / spring zones > a swimmer must compete in a minimum 3 AMS meets and no less than 18 total events. If they have one of the top two times in AMS swimming in an event than they qualify. Summer zones / times are posted - if they swim in a minimum of two AMS Meets and at least 12 events and meet the qualifying time they are in. If you have other questions please email me or talk to me at pool. coachmiller@zoominternet.net Hope this helps a little / Coach Bob |