Swim meets are organized into sessions, which may last up to 4 hours each. There are often but not always two sessions (morning and afternoon) on Saturday and Sunday. Sessions are usually organized by gender and age groups. So, one session may have 11-12 boys and girls together or the boys in one session and the girls in another. Each meet does it differently and you should look at the meet and session information carefully to know when your child will be swimming. If you are a family with multiple swimmers, you may be in for a long day if you have swimmers in more than one session a day.
Swimmer warm ups are usually 60 minutes prior to the session start and are listed in the meet information. Your child must be on time for warm ups, as the coach will need this time to hand in any final scratches to the officials.
At the meet there will be a program or “heat sheet” available for purchase ($3-$5) at the meet concession stand. This provides a list of the events and swimmers in each event for the spectators. The swimmers in each event are listed fastest to slowest but the events will run the opposite way, slowest to fastest. If a child does not yet have an official time for an event they may be listed as NT or the coach may have estimated a time for them. Keep in mind that these programs are usually printed before final scratches, so your child may swim in an earlier heat than you imagine. Most facilities have a scoreboard to see the swimmer’s time after each race, but the times are also posted later at the venue when the results are finalized and are usually available online within several days on the CT Swim database.
All meets have a concession set up of some kind, sometimes run by the facility but more often as a fund raiser for the host team. The pricing and variety of items will vary. Metro swim shop will also set up as a vendor at most meets, and will have a variety of goggles, suits, T-shirts and other swim items available. Metro will not be at the Weston meet as they have a store right across the street from the pool facility.
At most meets, we are required to provide timers, in a number proportionate to our number of entries. All parents are expected to help with this requirement and should look for information on timing assistance/assignments for each meet in an e-mail.
Swimmers should always check with a coach before leaving the pool deck.
You may take your swimmer home if you choose when they are finished with their events but the swimmer may also stay to cheer on his teammates.
WHAT TO BRING TO A
The swimmers should have with them:
§ Aquaflyers racing suit (once available) and swim cap
§ Two towels
§ Goggles
§ Water bottle and healthy snacks
§ Sweatshirt or warm up jacket for between races
§ Flip flops or sandals for on deck and locker room
§ They may also prefer to have a folding chair if space allows
There is usually quite a bit of time between events for the swimmers. Swimmers may spend this time cheering for or socializing with their teammates, reading, or listening to music. Of course, keep in mind that there is not much security on the pool deck for expensive electronics and it is sometimes not easy to keep items dry.
The following are some suggestions for a parent’s swim meet survival bag:
§ Back up swim suit (yes, my swimmer has forgotten one)
§ Extra goggles/bungee straps (they seem to break at the most inconvenient times)
§ Dry t-shirts for swimmers (have had swimmers clothes packed up in error by other departing swimmers and have had clothes knocked off the bench onto wet pool deck or in locker room)
§ Snack and drink (or may plan to purchase from the concession stand)
§ Yellow highlighter to mark up heat sheets and a pen to record times
§ Book or magazine, crossword puzzles, etc to occupy time
§ Small binoculars for some venues (Wesleyan) to pick out your child in a sea of swimmers
§ Sandals and shorts in case you are needed to time. Not necessary but timers will often get splashed and I prefer not to go home wet
§ Folding chair
§ If you bring a younger sibling, snacks and activities. 5 hours is a LONG time in an often crowded space.
Spectators should expect limited bleacher seats in some
venues (
Be prepared for it to be hot and humid- also depends on venue. It is usually wise to dress in layers.
You should plan as well for lots of downtime when your child is not racing. Some parents bring laptops but available electrical outlets are often at a premium.