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A meet explained
All summer leagues compete under the rules set forth by Tarheel Swimming Association (TSA). This body works year-long to keep competition among teams fair, fun and balanced.
As the summer season approaches, your children have joined the team, have been coming to practice, have participated in time trials, and made new friends. What happens next?
Well, now the real fun begins!
The nuts and bolts
The coaches will create line-ups based on the best times of each swimmer. These line-ups are done the Monday prior each meet and incorporate any scratches from the bulletin board at the pool. The events will be swum from fastest to slowest heat.
The first heat for each event is also called the main event and is the heat that is scored. After every event has been swum, the meet is complete, the score is announced and we get ready for the next competition
When creating the line-ups for main events, the coaches must also consider the ability of a swimmer to consistently swim a stroke legally. While Susie may swim a stroke faster, she may not be consistently legal in the stroke. In this case Polly, who is not as fast Susie, but is consistently legal, may swim in a main event even though Susie is faster.
The framework
The management of every team starts with the co-chairs, the meet director, the volunteer coordinator and the TSA reps. Their work starts long before the temperatures go above 60 and the pool is still closed.
The co-chairs are working with pool and club management to have a successful season.
The meet director is working to make sure that everything runs smoothly at the meet operationally.
The volunteer coordinator is working to recruit all of us to pitch-in.
The TSA reps are working to ensure that meets are run fairly and honestly. They also resolve any discrepancies during the course of a meet.
The structure
The operation of every team lies with the members of that team. Each person who has a swimmer will be needed at some point to fulfill a volunteer role. As you read the next section it will become clear why.
Building a Team
The coaches are responsible for instructing the swimmers. The meet committee is responsible for providing a structure for the season. It is up to the rest of us to build the team that supports our swimmers. The largest role in building a team is running the meets.
When you and your swimmer have arrived at the meet you will find signage for the age groups and line-up sheets that have been posted. Your swimmer should find their spot, drop their bags, and proceed to the volunteers who are writing numbers on the swimmers arms. It is important that these numbers be visible and legible so that the timers can accurately record race times for the right person.
While your swimmer is doing all of this and preparing for warm-ups, all volunteers need to check-in at the volunteer table. If you have not yet volunteered, your help may still be needed, please check at the volunteer table. Once checked in, volunteers will receive any special instructions on meetings or changes.
After warm-ups for both teams are complete, the meet will begin (6:00pm). The traditional start of the meet is with the medley relay events. Beginning with the 2007 season, with the agreement of both competing teams, the meet has started with all 6 and under events either directly before or directly after the medley relays. You will be informed who is starting first prior to the start of the meet.
- The Announcer opens the meet.
- The swimmers report to the clerk of course (with their kid pusher for the younger groups) as the announcer calls for them.
- The clerk of course checks to be sure the main event is in order (according to event slips) and maximizes lane space by filling in empty lanes or emptying a lane so no one swims alone.
- The first runner picks up the event slip from the clerk of course and delivers it to the Recorder.
- The starter begins the first and all consecutive races.
- The Timers start their watches with the starter. The timers stop their watches when the swimmer in their lane touches the wall and records the number on the arm along with the time on the stopwatch (no rounding up or down please!) on the timer sheets.
- Ribbon distributors give a heat winner ribbon to swimmer finishing first in heats 2 and up. Participation ribbons are distributed to all swimmers. (Place ribbons are distributed to the 1st heat in the days following the meet.).
- For the first heat only, the stroke and turn judges watch the swimmers to be sure that each start, stroke, turn and finish is being done legally. If it is not, the swimmer is disqualified in that swim and the judges write a disqualification (DQ) slip.
- If there are any DQs, the second runner delivers these to the scorer at the scoring table.
- For the first heat only the place judges watch the finish of each race to determine which lane finished in the place they are representing. (i.e., the first place judge watches only to see which LANE finishes first. The first and second place judges time their positions to assist in the determination of pool and team records only. These times are not used to determine the order of finishes.
- The recorder records the place finishes on the event sheets, along with the time captured by the first and second place judges.
- The first runner takes the completed event sheets to the Scorer at the scoring table
- The scorer takes the event sheets with the heat results, adjusts for any DQ’s and scores the races. At no time other than DQ’s are the results –as determined by place judges — changed. Once the event has been scored, the results are given to the ribbon writers.
- The ribbon writers transfer the results to the appropriate place ribbons to be given to the representatives of each team for distribution n the days following the meet.
- The scorer also determines if any pool or team records have been set. This information, along with periodic score updates are given to the announcer.
- The announcer periodically reports the score of the meet and any pool or team records broken.
- This process repeats for the entire meet.
- At the conclusion of the meet, after the swimming is finished, and the score has been tallied, the TSA reps of both teams sign off and the score is announced.
Finishing Touches
During the course of our home meets there will be a few individuals responsible for pizza sales and hospitality. For pizza sales, the individuals take money and distribute pizza. For hospitality, drink trays are taken periodically to the people who cannot leave their volunteer positions around the pool deck. Hospitality is not distributed to the swimmers or spectators. Hospitality also offers assistance to the meet volunteers.
So the meet is over. The stopwatches and timers sheets have been turned in. The meet vests have all been returned. The TSA reps have signed of the results. The work is not over.
The host team’s TSA rep is responsible for posting the results on the TSA website (www.tsanc.org). The results include the score, double winners in 6 & under events, triple winners in 7 & older events, team records achieved, and pool records achieved.
he host team is also responsible for reporting the results to the News & Observer (www.newsoberver.com).
The times as recorded by the timers are entered in the computer. For each swimmer who achieved a new personal best, a small reward is distributed in the days following the meet.
For each swimmer who placed in a main event, ribbons are distributed.
The swimmers hit the water and participate in team events everything starts again the following week.
