MEET ATTENDANCE REPORTING

Monday--Declare meet eligibility and stroke preferences by Noon on Mondays

Tuesday & Wednesday--Coach populates meet entries

Saturday--Home meets report at 7am. Away meets report at 7:30am. 

***Text Clerk of Course for day-of absences

MEET ATTENDANCE REPORTING DETAILS

Anticipated absences, late arrivals and early departures (vacation, summer camp, etc.) MUST BE REPORTED TO THE CLERK OF COURSE. The clerks, computer staff and coaches have hundreds of entries to process and review, and it is essential that they have accurate information available. The coaches will decide on Tuesday which swimmers will participate in relays, etc. The final computer entry list is done on Wednesday and data exchange with the opposing team is done on Thursday.

MEET CHECK-IN PROCEDURE

All swimmers must be checked in by 7:00 at home meets and 7:30 at away meets. When a swimmer arrives at a meet, it is his/her responsibility to highlight his/her name on the check-in sheets. For HOME MEETS, these sheets will be on a table near the basketball courts. At AWAY MEETS, it will be located on a table as near to the team tarp area as possible. The Clerk(s) of Course will review the list at 7:45am.Anyone not checked in at that time will have their name circled in ink and will be considered absent and scratched from the Meet. You must see the Clerk of Course to see if you can be reentered.

What if My Child gets sick or needs to leave from the meet early??

We realize that it is impossible to anticipate illness, but please text the Clerk of Course, and identify your child and his/her age group as it becomes clear that a swimmer will be unable to attend a meet.

Do NOT only tell the coaches or the team reps as they may be to busy to find the Clerk of Course. Please CONTACT the Clerk of Course (281-723-6331) There are five dual meets and one Divisional Championship meet during the season.  All meets are held on Saturday mornings.  Swimmers must check in and then report to their age-group areas fifteen minutes before the scheduled warm-up for all meets.  Check in for HOME MEETS is 7am and check in for away meets is 7:30am.  Warm-up for HOME MEETS is at 7:15am, warm-up for AWAY MEETS is at 7:45am.  The meets should begin at 8:30am and be finished between 12:30 and 2:00, depending upon the size of the teams and the weather.

Each meet consists of eighty events. Swimmers compete only against their own age group and gender, or, at the request of the coach, may swim with the age group above them. There may be several heats for an event. Swimmers are seeded by their best time swum during the season, with the fastest swimmers in the last heat of each event. Each swimmer may be entered into as many as five events, but no more than three of these events may be individual events.  It is the coach’s exclusive decision as to which events, including relays, each swimmer will swim at each meet. Registration for the meet will close at NOON on the Monday before the meet. You must declare what events you are going to swim before deadline. Many factors influence this decision, including practice and meet attendance, ability, and participation of other swimmers.  While a swimmer may prefer certain strokes, it may be in the team’s best interest for him/her to participate in a different event.  The coaches make every effort to balance swimmer’s preferences with overall team performance.

All swimmers are encouraged to sit with their teammates according to age groups. For HOME MEETS the 6 & Under, and 7-8 age groups will have designated tents on the basketball court.  At AWAY MEETS, all Deerfield swimmers will have a designated area are encouraged to sit with their age group.  All swimmers are responsible for disposing their own trash and keeping the area around them clean.  This is an area in which we have experienced insufficient cooperation in years past.

Parent supervisors will be responsible for the 6 & Under, 7-8 and 9-10 age groups during the meet. We expect all swimmers to fully cooperate with these volunteers. These adults MUST know the whereabouts of all children assigned to them at all times so the swimmers can be escorted to the heating benches well in advance of their events. Swimmers must check with the parent supervisor before leaving the area for any reason, including trips to the rest room or snack bar. The 6 & Under parent supervisors are ONLY scheduled through the completion of the backstroke events (#39 and #40); there will not be a supervisor for those age groups later in the meet.  All 10 and under parents must notify the parent supervisor when removing their child for the day, even at the end of the meet.  PLEASE honor this procedure—it is in place to insure your child’s safety and the parent supervisor’s sanity!

Jr./Sr. High swimmers (11 and up) are responsible for getting themselves to the heating area at the appropriate time. The Clerk(s) of Course will not page or search for missing swimmers; those who fail to report on time will be scratched from the event. Jr./Sr. High swimmers must sign out with the Clerk(s) of Course if they need to leave prior to the end of a meet.

Due to insurance reasons, swimmers are not allowed to play on the playground equipment during the meet. Please advise your swimmers of this rule.

Swimmers should bring a blanket or bedroll to sit on during the course of a meet. Several dry towels and a jacket or sweatshirt are helpful as the water can be quite cool early in the morning. It is important that each child have some quiet games with which to play.  Please label everything your child brings as the swimmers often share games, books, etc.  In consideration of others, all radios must have earphones or be played softly. We discourage you from bringing valuables to a meet, as items are easily mixed up and lost.  Healthy snacks such as fruit, juice, nuts, bagels, etc. should be packed for munching.  Please—no Cola or Candy.  Swimmers are asked to wait until their events are completed before consuming ‘junk’ food from the concession stand.  These unhealthy foods can seriously hamper a swimmer’s performance. 

Once again, we remind you that all swimmers are responsible for cleaning up after themselves during and after a meet.

DIVISIONAL MEET

All six teams in the Division participate in this meet to culminate the season. This meet determines which team wins first place in the Division. The number of swimmers from each team that may participate in each event will be based on the total number of swimmers in the Division.

Each team is allowed only one relay team per age group. These restrictions are in place to limit the event to a reasonable length, not to reward or penalize individual swimmers. A swimmer must have participated in at least two dual meets to be eligible to swim in the Divisional Meet. It is the exclusive decision of the coach as to which swimmer swims each event and the relays.

POST-SEASON INVITATIONAL MEETS

There will be three invitational events: Ponderosa, Pentathlon, and FLEET’s Red, White & Blue meet. These meets have qualifying time requirements for each stroke. A swimmer must meet these times to participate. It is the swimmer’s and parent’s responsibility to determine eligibility.

This year’s qualifying times will be posted on the team website when we receive them. Once your child has swam FASTER than the listed time for these events, they will be eligible to swim at that event. The results pages (once posted on our website) will have the qualifying times at the top of each of the events to help you determine eligibility.

Registration forms will be made available later in the season; they will be due at the last meet or no later than the Divisional Meet. A small per-stroke fee will be required to register.

Qualified swimmers must be registered by the end of the Divisional Meet or they will not be allowed to compete.

Practice for invitational meets will be held for qualifying swimmers who plan to participate the week prior to the meets.

Qualifying for these meets is a real honor.