Harper's Choice Challenge: Meet Information
What Happens Before the Meet
PRACTICE
The coaches prepare the swimmers during the scheduled practices. Stroke correction, starts, finishes, and endurance is worked on. Swimmers should try to make a minimum of 3 practices per week. The morning practices, once school ends, are less crowded.
LET COACH KNOW IF NOT COMING TO A MEET (USE FORM)
The coaches begin to prepare the line-up for the meet on Wednesdays. It is extremely important that they know when a swimmer will miss a meet, be late arriving, or have to leave early. The relays could be canceled if swimmers are surprise no-shows. Also, the coaches try to put swimmers in events to give the team the best chance of winning the meet. No-shows mean that a particular strategy may have to be abandoned and we risk losing points. The coaches have a supply of meet absence forms in the Team Mailbox (also for late arrivals and early leavings) that you must turn in by Wednesday prior to the meet. Please be considerate of the team and let us know of your plans. We depend on every swimmer.
COACHES AND CLERK OF COURSE DO LINEUPS
The coaches prepare the lineups by assigning each swimmer to 2 events and possibly 1 relay. They use the best strategy to try to win the meet. It takes hours to complete a line-up.
CARDS ARE PREPARED
From the coaches' master line-up, the event cards are prepared. Changes to the line-up are only made by the coaches. Every effort is made to spot errors, but we need the swimmers to check their cards against the master line-up that will be posted.
LINE-UP POSTED AT PEP RALLY FRIDAY NIGHT OR AT THE MEET
Weather permitting and at coaches' discretion, there will be a Pep Rally on Friday evenings before all meets at the Longfellow Pool. Please check to see that each swimmer is entered in 2 events and possibly a relay and is in the correct age and sex group. Call attention to any errors to the coaches, team managers or clerk of course. It is also important to check to see if you are designated to be an alternate for a relay. If so, please do not leave the meet until after the relays are over, as you may be needed at the last minute. Recheck the line-ups on Saturday morning to note any changes that have been made due to missing swimmers.
Saturday, June 3
What Happens During the Meet
ARRIVAL
Swimmers are expected to arrive on time to the meet. The coaches want all swimmers to be at the Longfellow pool by 7:00 a.m. for home meets since we will have the first warm-up session. They will announce the time to meet at Longfellow pool parking lot to caravan over to away meets or to arrive at the host pool if you cannot caravan.
CHECK-IN WITH CLERK OF COURSE
As soon as swimmers arrive at the pool (home or away), they need to check in at our clerk of course table. Failure to do so may result in the swimmer being replaced in the relays or reassigned to other events, since we need to be sure that we have every event covered to the best of our ability. Parents and siblings should not check in for someone else. EACH SWIMMER MUST CHECK-IN WITH THE CLERK OF COURSE IN PERSON. We are teaching self-responsibility.
WARM-UP
Each team is given a warm-up period, with the home team swimming first. The coaches will direct the swimmers into lanes and announce the drills. This time is very important--don't be late. Proper warm-ups and stretches will prevent injuries.
ORDER OF EVENTS
Events are swum in a particular order: Medley Relays, Individual Medley, Freestyle, Backstroke, Masters Relays (for parents, coaches, etc.), Breaststroke, Butterfly and Free Relays. The 15-18 year olds swim first, followed by the 6 and unders, 7-8's, etc. in each stroke. Boys swim before the girls in each age group.
PICKING UP EVENT CARDS--WATCH SIGN
The clerk of course table will have a flip chart that tells swimmers when to pick up cards for a particular event. No cards will be given out for later events. Swimmers should wait for the sign to be flipped in order to pick up their cards. Also, only the swimmer may pick up his/her card. Six and Under swimmers will be given their cards by the Pied Piper and helpers.
LINING UP ON DECK
After a swimmer has picked up an event card, he/she should proceed to the deck and let the Deck Assistants place you in line to await your event. Once you have been placed, please do not wander away. Sometimes swimmers will be rearranged to fill up the heats and if you are missing, you will be overlooked and could miss your event. Missed events cannot be made up.
RELAYS
Relays begin and end the meet. They are very important in determining which team wins. If you are not swimming in a particular relay, please come and cheer for your team. This is a very exciting time of the meet. The coaches try to rotate swimmers in the relays so that everyone can be in a relay at least once during the season.
MASTERS RELAYS
This is an event after the Backstroke is finished that parents, coaches and other non-team members can enter. Each team is allowed 3 or 4 masters relay teams, depending on the number of lanes. Each relay consists of 4 swimmers whose combined age must be at least 130 years. If you are interested in swimming this event, please sign up at the pep rally or during the early events on the day of the meet. This is a non-scored event.
CHEERS
The coaches will lead the team in cheers before the meet, during the relays, at breaks, after the meet and at other times. The cheers will be taught at the Pep Rallies. Please do not use any derogatory cheers--we want everyone to have fun. We do not want to lose sight of friendly competition.
SCORING
The meet is scored according to the CNSL rules. Individual events: 5 points for first, 3 points for second, 2 points for third, and 1 point for fourth; however, if a team receives more than 2 places only the highest 2 places can be scored for that team. Relays: 5 points for first and 2 points for second; however, relays from the same team that finish first and second only score 5 points for their team and the other team receives zero.
RIBBONS
The CNSL provides ribbons for 1st-8th place for all swimmers. Eight and under swimmers receive 8th place ribbons for all swimmers finishing 8th or lower. Every swimmer who swims a personal best time in an event will also receive a BEST TIME ribbon. This is what the CNSL is all about--improving your own swim times. Ribbons will be distributed after the meet as announced by the coaches. If a swimmer does not pick up his/her ribbons, they will be available in the Team Mailbox. Please do not try to pick up ribbons during the meet at the Ribbon Writing table. This is a very hectic job and distractions could cause errors or ribbons to be missed entirely. The Best Time ribbons are produced after all the times from the meet are keyed into our computer database and will be placed in your Team Mailbox folder on Mondays after the meet.
CONCESSION SALES DURING MEETS
This is our major form of fund-raising for the swim team. Income from the concession stand provides us with the money to purchase trophies and awards, food for the Awards Picnic, supplies for the team, some large team expenditures for items such as tables, a grill, etc., treats for the swimmers, and other items. We ask that each family bring a case (24 count) of canned name brand soda or bottled water (0.5L) to Time Trials so that we can maximize our profits.
SALES OF SWIM GEAR
The Team Managers or Spirit Wear Sales Chairperson will have swim caps and goggles for sale during all the meets and at many of the practices. Be sure to support the team through these convenient purchases. Team suits can be purchased from Cys of Catonsville at the Splashdown party or directly from the store located at 719 Frederick Road in Catonsville (410-747-8760). The team suit is not required, but most of the swimmers like to proclaim their team allegiance.
