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Swim Meets

Frequently Asked Questions about a Swim Meet 

What is a dual meet?

A dual meet is held between two swim teams. One swim club from our SCSC league is the host team and the other is the visiting team. The schedule is posted on the events page here.

What strokes do the swimmers use in competition?

Freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly. Relay and Finals are by invitation; the coaches make this decision based on dips, times and abilities. 

What is a relay? And what stroke(s) do the swimmers use?

Relays consist of four "legs" with a different child swimming each leg. The distance varies with the age group from 100 meters (four lengths of the pool) for the younger age groups to 200 meters for the older age groups.

There are two types of relays: medley and free. The medley relay has four different legs: backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, freestyle. The free relay has four legs of freestyle.

What is the order of races at a meet?

All events begin with the youngest age group swimming a stroke heat and proceed age-wise from there.

  1. Medley Relay
  2. Freestyle
  3. Breaststroke
  4. Butterfly
  5. Backstroke
  6. 50 Free/IMS
  7. Free Relay

I see that there are different age groups for the swimmers. How does that work?

The age groups are 5/6, 7/8, 9/10, 11/12, 13/14, 15 and up. Every other year your child will have an "up" year when they are the oldest in their age group and a "down" year when they are the youngest in their age group. 

When are the meets?

HVST in the summer has nine total meets including: our intrasquad meet, Aquaman; six meets versus other teams in our league; Relays (invitation only); and Finals (invitation only). Click here for our calendar of meets.

What does it mean to declare for a meet?

The week of the meet, you will receive a reminder to declare your child for a meet. It's imperative that you go online and accept/decline. If your swimmer can only do a portion of the meet, please include this in your comments when declaring since the coaches make the heat line-ups a few days prior to the meet. Please make every attempt to attend all meets.

What should swimmers bring to meets?

In addition to our Team Gear suggestions here, we recommend beach chairs, an easy-up canopy, snacks (or money for the concession stand) and boredom busters like a book or game to pass the time between events are also good to have in your swim bag.

What is a swimmer identification?

BEFORE you arrive at the pool for check-in and AFTER applying sunscreen, please write your swimmer’s last name, first initial on their right arm and upper back. We double-y want to make sure the correct swimmer is in the correct event, heat and lane for timing data accuracy. Please bring a black Sharpie to write your swimmer’s name should it wash off during the event.

I just want my child to learn how to swim better. Do they have to swim in competition?

We are a competitive swim team, and swimming at meets is part of what we do. We like to use competition as a way to evaluate a swimmer’s progress using many different criteria, not just technique. For those who have never competed before, we do our best to make it fun. Most kids find that what at first seems scary, is actually a lot of fun!

We need as many swimmers as we can to represent HVST at swim meets as they can be highly contested events but we understand conflicts happen. Let the coaches know as soon as possible if your swimmer will not be able to attend a meet by submitting the attend/decline option in Swimtopia. 

What does DQ mean?

Disqualification - this can happen for a variety of reasons including starting early (false start), leaving the diving block early in a relay, performing an illegal stroke, performing an illegal turn, not touching the wall with two hands during a breaststroke turn, etc.

Are kids disqualified a lot?

No, but the younger swimmers, especially the 5/6 group, tend to have more problems early in the season so you might see a DQ but don't get discouraged, our coaches are here to make our swimmers "legal" in all four strokes but that doesn't happen right away, sometimes it takes time.

Where can I find out how my swimmer did?

Log into your Swimtopia account or download the app and purchase the yearly membership for real time results, heat times, and personal bests. Placement ribbons will be placed in each family's communication folder for pick up on the pool deck during the following week's practice times.

How can I best help the team?

Support your child by bringing them to practice, preparing them for the meet and cheering for them and HVST at the meets.

Volunteer to help out at a swim meet or with other swim team duties. It's an all-volunteer effort and there is always something more that can be done.

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