Bay Ridge Swim Team

A Parent Guide to Swim Meets!

POOL LOCATION: Home meets are at Bay Ridge Pool 2 Herndon Avenue

ARRIVAL TIME: Please arrive at the pool on time for all meets. The start time of the meets can be found in the Meet email sent out on Fridays, usually parents and swimmers will be required to arrive between 7:00am - 7:30am. 

COACHING: During the meet Coach Megan will be on deck observing each child. These observations will be used in upcoming practices to help swimmers improve. The assistant coaches will be helping swimmer get set up for starts, reminding swimmers of specifics for each race (stroke type, sequence, etc...). Please allow them to focus on these activities. No parents should be in the ready bench area, start or finish areas that are not working a volunteer shift.

What to Bring

• Team swimsuit, cap, goggles (an extra pair of goggles is a good idea!), towel, and sunscreen. Make sure all items are well labeled with your child's name.
• Folding camp chairs to sit on, and a canopy for shade if you have one.

Upon Arrival

• Be on Time! Warm-ups begin well before the meet start time.
• Ensure your swimmer has sunscreen on and is marked up with his/her event information. 
• VOLUNTEERS: If you have signed up to volunteer NO MATTER WHAT SHIFT, PLEASE check in with our volunteer coordinator as soon as you get to the pool. We LOVE our volunteers and like to know we have all our bases covered. 

During the meet

• WHAT YOUR SWIMMER SHOULD KNOW: First and foremost have fun! Do their best and enjoy the meet. PLEASE leave the coaching to our amazing coaches and just encourage your swimmers. If you are volunteering and leaving your swimmer especially our younger swimmers, please make sure they know where all their "stuff" is snacks, goggles, money and entertainment. Please remind your swimmers to stay with their age group friends and not wander off as this can create chaos when time comes to swim. Please lather your swimmers with sunscreen prior to arriving at the pool.
• FOOD AND REFRESHMENTS: 
• READY BENCH: Our assistant and junior coaches are responsible for getting our swimmers to the ready bench so please encourage your child to stick with their age group friends during a meet. Failure to get to the ready bench will mean your swimmer may miss the race.
• RELAYS: Please don't cancel on relays, especially last minute - if your swimmer is signed up to swim the relay and for some reason you cannot stay, or make it, PLEASE INFORM the coaches immediately. A relay is 4 swimmers and if one isn't there, the whole relay team has to forfeit. It makes everyone sad when this happens. When signing up for a meet, Swimtopia allows you to note your relay preference: Please indicate if your child won't be available for early or late relays. 
• HEAT RIBBONS: In an effort to have more kids have a chance we give out heat ribbons to first place swimmers in their heat. This is a reward for working hard in practice and improving their time to achieve first place in their heat. Please explain to your children the intention of heat ribbons and the importance of being a good sport. Heat ribbons are given to the first swimmer to touch the wall, they may still be DQ’d depending on stroke judge.
• DISQUALIFIED: Swimmers will be DQ'd (disqualified) for improper strokes. If your child is DQ'd please assure your swimmer that it is okay and how proud you are of them for trying. The coaches do get a list of what the swimmer was DQ'd for and they will go over with the swimmers in practice!
• SPORTSMANSHIP: Marlin swimmers stay in the water at the end of their races until all swimmers have touched the wall, it's respectful to other swimmers. Once all swimmers have finished the race swimmers may exit the pool.

Additional Thoughts

• Please MARK EVERYTHING with the swimmers name so we can avoid lost shirts, towels, caps, bathing suits, etc.
• Wear sunscreen!
• Have fun watching all the kids experience summer swim!
• Team Gear: We will have a link to the team store(separate from suit and cap)with lots of different Marlin gear. There will be a cutoff to order.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions. Our coaches and our parent leads will also be able to answer questions you might have at the meet. Most importantly HAVE FUN and ENJOY the day!

GO MARLINS!