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

HERE is an example.

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

During our meets, volunteers are needed to run them. If you have a child that is swimming in the meet, they're going to need your help for the meet to run smoothly. All families are expected to volunteer at a minimum of 3 meets during the season. After the third regular season meet, families who have not yet volunteered will have roles assigned to them by the Volunteer Coordinator.

For all meets we need timers, a score keeper, ribbon writers, and parents helping to get swimmers organized for the events. At home meets, we need more volunteers as the host club. At a normal home meet, we will need 50+ volunteers at the minimum.

For families that only have kickboarders on the team, we ask that you make sure your child is behind the starting blocks during the national anthem. You're welcome to help with the scored meet as well, however, volunteers should have a swimmer in the meet itself.