MEET EXPECTATIONS
Others need to note the time of day they swim and be sure to plan meals appropriately. Remember that you will need FUEL to power your races during competition. And don’t forget to HYDRATE!
For newcomers to year round swimming, here are a few pointers about meet protocol that should help you and your swimmer have a more successful experience. First, be sure that you arrive at the competition pool 15 minutes prior to the start of warm ups. This will allow your swimmer to put on their suit, lose their goggles and buy another set, find a place for you to sit, realize you forgot to bring any towels, buy a heat sheet, and still be behind the blocks ready to get in the water as soon as warm ups begin. Meet warm ups can be overwhelming for swimmers who have never done them and we will practice meet warm up before the first meet so that everyone understands how they work. Being at the pool on time so that you can begin warming up with the group is the first key to success!
The heat sheet you purchase will let you know when your swimmer is going to swim. Swimmers will need to speak to their coach before they swim their race to review race strategy. Immediately following a race, swimmers need to warm down in the warm down area. Then they need to return to their coach to discuss their success and how they might improve. After all of this, THEN swimmers can return to their parents to be heaped with praise and love and snacks. Parents are not allowed behind the blocks at meets unless they are serving as timers, so be sure to send your swimmer to the coach BEFORE their race so that the coach can be sure they get to the block.
Meet hosts invariably need help at meets with timing. This is a GREAT PLACE for our parents to see and be seen. We encourage everyone to time at meets. It helps the time go by faster and will also help curtail any nervousness that parents feel watching their child perform. Timers get the best view, free drinks during the meet, and they get to meet all the swimmers. It truly is a rewarding job. Additionally, if any of our parents are interested in becoming officials, please let us know. LY has an outstanding group of officials and we need to keep this group strong in order to maintain the ability to host meets.
MEET PERSPECTIVE
Some kids love to compete and others do not. One personality is not better than the other. As coaches, we like to see our swimmers at meets because it allows us to look at their skills and see how well they are developing. We can see things that we need to be working on in practice. Meets serve the same purpose as tests at school. We don’t expect everyone to get an "A" on every test, we just want to be able to see how well swimmers are learning and how effectively we are teaching.
Parents (and swimmers) tend to judge a meet’s success on the times that a swimmer posts or the number of ribbons that a swimmer brings home. That is not at all what coaches are looking at, especially at the first meets of the season. LY coaches are looking at how well a swimmer is incorporating skills they have learned into their racing form. While you may be on the sidelines yelling for your swimmer to go faster, we may have told them we want them to slow down and really concentrate on breathing every third stroke or to remember to stay on their back on backstroke all the way to the wall. We will concentrate on technique so that your swimmer will develop into a fast swimmer who has proper mechanics. In younger age groups you may notice that the biggest kid gets to the wall first because they are stronger and more physically developed. As swimmers mature and slow growers begin to catch up with early bloomers in terms of size, swimmers who have proper mechanics will experience more success in the pool.
These first weeks of practice we will be teaching swimmers lots of drills and working slowly to instill good habits before we start picking up the pace to build endurance. Please be aware that at the meets, we may be asking your swimmer to concentrate on technique rather than going fast. Please support your swimmer by being proud of their efforts, their willingness to participate, and don’t focus on the speed with which they swim. Our goal at LY is long term success in the water. As the season develops, so will your swimmer and hopefully their progress will continue over many years.