Because AK is a large team (larger than us) we need to make sure the meet runs as fast as possible. We have a hard deadline of 12:50 and although we don’t want to cut events, we will if we do not make the deadline. For that reason we are trying to make the meet move quickly by tweaking a few things. We spoke with swimmers at practice today, but I wanted to reiterate some suggestions for this weekend so parents can help reinforce them.
1. We are limiting relay entries. We will have one relay per gender per age group. That means we will have 8 swimmers in relays across the two relays. If your swimmer signs up but does not swim in a relay, it is for that reason. We will get as many kids as possible in relays.
2. If possible we would like kids to swim two individual events instead of three. If your swimmer wants to swim three events, that is ok, but if they are willing to drop one and save it for next week, that would help our timing a lot. Next week we have an intrasquad meet on Wednesday and a dual meet on Saturday.
3. We are working on “fly-over” starts. When a swimmer finishes their race at the starting block end they should stay in the water until the next heat starts (flies-over) them. Once the next heat starts then they can exit the water. If a swimmer starts exiting the water before the next heat starts, the starter has to wait for them to exit before starting the next heat. Fly-over starts make the meet run smoothly and faster. The exceptions to this are 8 & Unders finishing at the turn end of the pool after their 25 and the backstroke events because swimmers start in the water.
Thank you for helping the kids understand the expectations and suggestions for this meet. The entries are being pulled off the wall today, but if you want to make changes we will finish the entries tomorrow, so your kids can talk to the coaches at practice. Please let the coaches know if you have any questions. Thank you!
Green Mountain Swim Team 