Varsity Girls' Swimming
Coach: Mr. Russ Cutting and Mrs. Melanie May
Practice policy: It is understood that swimmers will have other commitments throughout the swim season; however, unless otherwise agreed upon, swimmers will be expected to attend at least 5 practices per week. It is expected that the coach will be notified verbally, by phone, or email if a swimmer is unable to attend.
Practice Schedule:
Practice will be held from 4:00pm – 6:00pm mon – fri. The expectation is that the swimmers are ready to swim at 4:00. There will be an optional practice on Saturdays. I prefer to run the Saturday practice either in the morning or later in the afternoon. The timing will be decided upon by the team during the first week of practice.
Practice Checklist:
Please bring a swimsuit, towel, goggles, and a water bottle to each practice. Some swimmers will also want to use a swim cap. The school will provide suits and caps for races. These should not be worn during practices.
Meet assistance:
At each home meet there is a need for assistance. All of this is volunteer work. This is a good opportunity for parents to help out with the team. Please see the coach if you are available to assist. Remember its much cooler down on the pool deck!
Swim Meets:
Most meets are considered “dual meets” (two teams). The dual meet “line up” (events each swimmer will be competing in) for each team will be posted just prior to the start of the meet. Each swimmer can participate in a maximum of either 2 individual events and 2 relay events or 1 individual event and 3 relay events. The coach makes all event and lane assignments. Additional types of meets that Sherburne – Earlville will compete in include the league relay meet, the league meet, and for those who qualify there is a sectional meet. The league relay meet includes all teams in the league, the format is all relay events. The league meet includes all teams in the league with traditional dual meet type format. The sectional meet is open to all that meet sectional qualifying times.
This is typically the last meet of the season.
Special Notes:
The pool area is usually very warm. If you wear a coat or a sweater, make sure you have something cooler on underneath. Its no fun being hot at a swim meet.
Swim meets typically run between 1 and 2 hours, depending on the size of the opposing team and how smoothly the meet is run. The more parents get involved, the greater the chances of having a well run, shorter swim meet.
Helpful Info:
As with every sport there is lingo specific to swimming. This is a partial list of some of the terms that you will hear and may not know.
DQ – Disqualification: Occasionally swimmers are DQ’d from their event. This may be for an improper start, turn, or stroke completion. This happens to every swimmer at some time. The penalty is that the swimmer does not get credit for the race and the team will not get any points.
Exhibition: At meets the team is allowed a certain number of individuals per event
(3 in a 6 lane pool. 2 in a 4 lane pool). Sometimes additional swimmers are entered by the coaches in the same event. The swimmers times will be official and can be used as qualifying times however they will not gain team points. Exhibition events are typically run either just prior or after the actual event. Don’t let your child get discouraged if they swim an exhibition event, remember it’s the time that is important.
Heats: In the league and sectional events there can be more swimmers than lanes in the pool. In this case the event is divided into groups. These groups are called heats. The swimmers are divided into heats based on their seed times. The slower swimmers swim in the first heats. The fastest swimmers in a heat swim in the middle lanes. The organizers of the meet provide a print out of the meet called a heat sheet. This allows parents to know which heat and event their child is swimming.
Seed times: Final times that were attained at a previous meet.
NT: Means no time. Used in the absence of a seed time to indicate that the swimmer has not swam this event prior.
Strokes: Backstroke, Breaststroke, Butterfly, Freestyle. Freestyle means literally any style, but most swimmers choose the front crawl as it is typically the fastest stroke.
Individual Medley: The swimmer swims a combination of the strokes in ÂĽ equal lengths of the total length of the event in the following order. Butterfly, Backstroke, Breaststroke, Freestyle.
Freestyle Relay: Four swimmers, each swimming freestyle for ÂĽ equal lengths of the total length of the event.
Medley Relay: Similar to the freestyle relay, except each swimmer swims a different stroke in the following order. Backstroke, Breaststroke, Butterfly, and Freestyle.
Meet:
| 
