Swim Meets - Shepherd's Vineyard Killer Whales Swim Team

Meets

Red & White Meet

The Red & White Meet is scheduled for Tuesday, June 7 at 6:00 PM at the pool. This is an intrasquad meet. Times will be recorded and used to determine line-ups for the first dual meet. Team photo lineup will begin at 4:30 PM. Warm-ups will begin when the team photo is completed.

In the event of rain, the meet will be held on Sunday, June 12 at 5:00 PM. Team photo lineup will begin at 3:30 PM. Warm-ups will begin when the team photo is completed.

Individual pictures will be held at several morning and evening practices. Dates will be posted at the pool and published in the weekly newsletters.

It is imperative that you sign the absentee board if you are unable to attend this meet.

Meet Schedule


June 7	Home	Red/White Meet
June 14	Away	Springdale
June 21	Away	Wellsley
June 28	Home	Preston
July 5	Home	Sunset Ridge
July 10	Away	SWIM Meet (Southern Wake Invitational)
July 12	Away	Abbington
July 19	Home	Lochmere

Postponed meets are typically made up the following day (i.e. Wednesday for a Tuesday meet). Dates are chosen by TSA representatives based on several factors, including the weather forecast and coach/staff/swimmer availability.

Meet Concessions
This year (2011) the pool snack bar will be open during home meets! We also plan to offer hot food (such as pizza and Chick-fil-A) for our hungry swimmers and fans. There will also be ice cream and smoothies at every home meet!

We have four home meets and we are asking each family to donate ONE item to each meet for the swim team to sell to raise money for the team. Please bring either a 12-pack can of soda, a 24-pack of water or an 8-pack of sports drinks (Gatorade or PowerAde). Thank you and we appreciate your willingness to help out. If you prefer to donate $20 to the swim team instead of bringing beverages to each home meet please make your check out to SVST and turn it in to Jessica Matthews or Carly Perin before the Red/White meet.

Meet Officials

Swimmer Qualifications
For safety reasons, TSA takes a strong stance on swimmer qualifications, especially in the 6-and-under age group. Therefore, the board has asked our coaching staff to more stringently follow these guidelines:
• Swimmers will only be able to swim a stroke in a meet if they show some proficiency during practice.
• A stroke must be “legal” to participate in a main event.
• To allow for scheduled practices to be focused on improving technique and times, coaches will ask those who are not proficient in any stroke to participate in the new Pre-swim Developmental Team, a new offering with the Killer Whales. Details are provided on the PreSwim page.

It is highly recommended that your child has completed formal swimming lessons before joining the swim team at any level. Children that are comfortable being in the water as a result of lessons will be safer and more adept to succeed in a group environment. If your child is under the age of 4, please consider their ability level and comfort in the water. Swim lessons at this age are advised instead of joining the swim team. Please discuss with the coaching staff before signing up if you have questions.

Entrance and Safety Guidelines
• 6&U must be able to swim 15 yards without holding the ropes
• 7-10 must be able to swim 25 yards
• 11-18 must be able to swim 50 yards
In order to participate in a dual meet, each swimmer must be able to swim the minimum distance stated above without assistance. Holding onto the ropes repeatedly and exhibiting inability to swim unassisted is not acceptable for safety reasons. The swimmer’s progress in practice is taken into consideration. It is the coaches’ discretion to decide a swimmer’s eligibility to participate in a dual meet.

If you have any questions or concerns about your child’s status then talk with the coaches. They will make every reasonable effort to help your child be ready for competition. These guidelines are established for the safety of the swimmers. Please let the coaches know about any special circumstances that may make meeting the above standard difficult.

Registration Day is April 25. Fees are $75 for the first swimmer and $50 for each additional swimmer from the same family. Parents must complete registration and volunteer forms before swimmers may begin practice with the team. You may be able to register AFTER April 25.

Suits may be purchased at registration through Caroline Silver (you’ll save shipping charges from Augusta Swim). As in the past, a “suit swap” will be available, with details available at registration. Registration fees are refundable for first time swimmers through June 15th, but will incur a $10 processing fee. A late registration fee of $10 will be assessed after May 19th (new swimmers excluded). Returned checks will be charged $10. Because the team has to absorb a number of fixed costs regardless of enrollment, no refunds will be honored after June 15th.

Invitational Meet

The SVST board and coaches are planning on attending the Southern Wake Invitational Meet (SWIM) on July 10, 2011. We encourage everyone to participate in this fun and rewarding event. Shepherd’s Vineyard expects to continue our great tradition of strong attendance and fantastic spirit at invitational meets.

What is an invitational meet?
Invitational meets are an opportunity to gather several Triangle-area swim clubs at one pool. For all swim clubs invited, registration is open to all team members. Typically these events are structured as follows:
• Each swimmer may swim in up to 3 individual events and 2 relays (6- and-unders may only swim 2 individual events)
• Six-and-unders have to swim the entire 25 yards.
• The day is split into halves; 10-and-unders typically swim in the morning while 11-and-ups swim in the afternoon.

The team rents a large tent and a good time will be had by all. Bring all the things you would typically bring to a regular dual meet. There will be poster-making sessions during the week leading up to the meet to get everyone pumped and ready to race.

As with all meets, relays will be chosen by the coaching staff. The composition and order of relays are subject to change by the coaching staff during the course of the meet as situations may necessitate doing so. Any special circumstances which call for partial participation in the invitational meet should be discussed in writing with the coaching staff well in advance. Those who attend their entire session will be given preference for relays in situations when warranted.

Please plan on signing up! These meets are a great opportunity to get best times and engage in friendly competition with a wide-range of swimmers. Let’s work together to continue strong involvement in this communitybuilding endeavor.

Meet Rules

Swimmers may participate in individual main events for their own age group only. A swimmer's age is determined by his or her age on June 1 of the current TSA swim season. Swimmers do not change age groups during the TSA swim season. The age groups, distances, and strokes for individual main events shall be as follows, separately for boys and girls:

6 and under	15 yards - free, back, breast
7 & 8	1 length of pool - free, back, breast, and fly
9 & 10	1 length of pool - free, back, breast, and fly
11 & 12	2 lengths of pool - free, back, breast, and fly
13 & 14	2 lengths of pool - free, back, breast, and fly
15 to 18	2 lengths of pool - free, back, breast, and fly

Rope finish lines shall be established for 6 and under events. All other age groups shall swim from wall to wall, regardless of pool length.
Swimmers in the 6 and under age group may swim in up to 2 individual main events. Swimmers in all other age groups may swim in up to 3 individual main events.
There shall be a medley relay event and a free style relay main event separately for boys and girls in each age group, except for 6 and under. Participation in relay shall not be included in the number of individual main events a swimmer may enter. A swimmer may participate in one medley relay event and one freestyle relay main event. Each swimmer in a relay will swim the same distance as swimmers in the individual main events for the age group.
Events shall be swum, alternating between boys and girls and starting with the youngest boys' age group swimming in the event, in the following order:
1. Medley Relay
2. Free Stroke
3. Backstroke
4. Breast Stroke
5. Butterfly
6. Free Style Relay
Meets will start at 6:00pm on Tuesday evenings. The inclement weather date will be the immediate following Wednesday, starting at 6:00pm, unless an alternate day can be mutually agreed upon by the two TSA representatives.

Meets Not Attended

A very important sheet that is located on the bulletin board at the pool is the meet absences list. Please place you child's name under the designated dates that your child is unable to attend. The coaches need this information by the Sunday prior to the scheduled meet. In the past we have struggled with meet attendance. The scoring system of competitive swimming is based on individual events. Each swimmer is entered in the events prior to the actual start of the meet. Numerous forms are completed, copied, and distributed to meet officials of both involved teams. The coach's line-ups are building blocks. So, if your child is a no show, it affects not only the individual events that the swimmer was placed in, but also can put relays, which other children are part of, in jeopardy. Thus, failure to sign up on this sheet may result in disqualification in the next meet.

Dual Meets

Dual meets are a lot of fun, but can be confusing to a new swimmer. Here are some things that might be helpful to a newcomer or an experienced team member.

Warm-ups are as follows:
5:00pm for home meets
5:30pm for away meets

When you get to the pool, the first thing you want to do is look for the "number lady" by the pool entrance. She will put a number in marker on your arms. After that is accomplished, see one of the coaches to let them know you are there and report to your age group area. The coaches will let you know when you can enter the pool and when warm-ups will begin.

Parents: be sure to bring lawn chairs to sit on. Our pool chairs go fast! Other optional items to bring include: towels, caps, T-shirts, drinks, snacks, sweats (it can get chilly when the sun goes down), games, cards and/or other small items to keep your swimmer occupied in between their events. Also, our meets can be lengthy due to the large number of swimmers on our team and the other teams that we swim. Our main objective is to let every swimmer have the opportunity to swim an event. Please be patient and try to understand that our first and primary goal this swim season is to let the swimmers have fun and allow them to participate in each meet.

Thanks!

Meet Scoring

Six dual meets are scheduled during the season - divisional and 3 non-divisional. Three of the six meets will be held at Shepherd's Vineyard, and three of the meets will be held at other pools. In addition to the six regular season meets, individual swimmers have the opportunity to participate in the Cary Invitational, our area championship meet.

A dual meet consists of the following components:

	Relays	Medley, Free, & Individual Strokes
1st place	5 points	5 points
2nd place	0 points	3 points
3rd place	0 points	1 point

Any tie finishes - split the points
Scoring is done for main events only

Ribbons for 1st through 6th place are distributed for main event swimmers after the meet at practice. On the evening of the swim meets, heat winner ribbons are given to the first place swimmer for every heat. "Participation" ribbons are given to all swimmers for every event the participant is in during the swim meet. Our team philosophy is to encourage our swimmers to have fun, make individual improvements, and we do not emphasize ribbons and scoring.

Rules for Practices and Meets

It is important that our children as swim team members are aware that the pool rules apply to all swimmers at all time. Pool rules are in effect to maintain our safety. Only scheduled practicing swimmers will be allowed inside the fenced area before the pool is opened at 10:30am. Swimmers waiting for the next scheduled practice should remain outside the gate until their practice time starts. All swimmers must leave the fenced area after their scheduled practice time is over. There will be no exceptions made. Also, swimming of any kind, either in the baby pool or main pool is not permitted prior to the official opening time of 10:30am. NOTE: before the official opening of the pool, no guard is on duty; therefore it is a matter of safety and liability. If you have any questions concerning basic pool safety rules, please contact a lifeguard or the pool manager.

All swimmers must be on time for their scheduled practice and meet warm-ups.

Disruptive conduct of any kind (profanity, un-sportsmanlike conduct, refusing to participate, lack of cooperation, etc) will result in dismissal from practice or a swim meet.

The coaches base their "swimmer entries" on an overall team strategy. If you end up swimming an event that you normally don't swim, there is a viable reason for the coaching staff's decision.

During any actual swim meet, swimmers are responsible for staying in their designated age group areas at all times. If a swimmer needs to leave this area for any reason, they must inform an assistant to the clerk of course before doing so. Failure to comply with this rule may results in missing your event.

Volunteer Policy

Competitive swimming is an involved sport that requires a tremendous amount of parental support. It requires 50+ parent volunteers to operate a home meet, less for an away meet. You are asked to number, in order of preference, those positions you are willing to fill, such as timers, lane judges, setup/cleanup. By broadening our base of volunteers, we hope to ask each family to serve only twice throughout the season. These positions require little, if any swim team experience.

Main Event Swimmers

Which swimmers participate in the main events? We, as coaches, have decided that the swimmers in the main events will be chosen at the "coach's discretion". Our decision will be based mostly on the swimmers' times. Consistency of times and performance will also be taken into consideration both at meets and at practices.

Attendance - although there will not be a specific policy, practice attitude, and stroke legality will play a major role in our main event decision. Our main goal is to encourage teamwork, participation, and improvement. The coaches and the swim team value swimmers in every heat.

Weather Policy

Rain alone is not grounds for delaying or rescheduling a meet. Please show up at the meet at the proper time even if it seems that weather may in some way impact the event. If at all possible, a meet will be run on the scheduled night for these reasons:

Inconvenience to the host club and staff to reschedule the following night.

Difficulty getting swimmers and workers back due to conflict with other activities. (This results in massive changes in the lineup and a possible change in the outcomes of the meet.)

Lightening and/or thunder results in at least 20 minute delays from the last occurrence. Decisions made by the two TSA reps concerning delays or rescheduling depends on the following:

When, during the meet, the storms occur, and
Current weather information available for the remainder of the evening.

TEAMS WILL FOLLOW THE POOL POLICY ON VACATING THE POOL AREA WHEN DANGEROUS WEATHER OCCURS. BE AWARE THAT SHEPHERD’S VINEYARD SWIM CLUB IS EVALUATING STRONGER POLICIES THIS YEAR, INCLUDING VACATING THE POOL COMPLETELY (RETURNING TO YOUR CAR) UNTIL DANGER HAS PASSED. THE ACTIVE POLICY WILL BE POSTED ON THIS WEB SITE.

Let's Go Killer Whales!