What is a heat sheet?

A heat sheet is the "schedule" for the swim meet. It identifies each event, and specifies when and where each swimmer will race. The home team sells these schedules for $1 to $2 prior to each swim meet. Parents should bring a pen or highlighter so it’s easier to keep track of your swimmers’ events.They may also opt to write the event, heat, and lane on their child's arm so that the swimmer is less likely to miss a race.  

What is an event?

Each unique race is called an event. There are 82 events in a standard swim meet. These events are determined by the age group of swimmers, the type of stroke, and the distance of the race. For each event, there may be multiple heats.

What is a heat?

A heat represents a single group of swimmers competing at the same time in an event. It is a single race within an event. At the Bright Water pool, for example, we can enter seven swimmers within each heat. Should an event have a greater number of swimmers entered than can be accommodated in a single race, the swimmers are separated into more than one heat. Swimmers are grouped according to their seed times, with slower times in early heats, ending with fastest times swimming the last heat of the event.

What is a swimmer’s seed time?

A swimmer's seed time is their recorded personal-best time in that race. When a swimmer has no recorded time for an event, a coding of ‘NT’ is listed in place of a time.

How is an event winner determined?

The swimmer with the best overall time, from all heats in an event, will claim first place.

How many races will my child swim?

The head coach makes the entries for all regular season meets. All swimmers are limited by swim league rules to a total of five events for each meet –usually by swimming three individual events and two relay events. A maximum of three individual events is allowed per swimmer. Swimmers ages six and under only have backstroke and freestyle as individual events. Your swimmer may not swim in two relays as this will depend upon the number of swimmers available – four are needed per relay. Please keep in mind that fewer events may be swum due to any restrictions the head coach may be faced with on how many swimmers may be entered in each event.

Who runs the swim meet?

Parent volunteers from each team fill all roles needed to conduct a swim meet. The home team has a designated Head Official who is ultimately in charge of the meet. A Starting Official directs the flow and sets the pace of the swim meet. At the beginning of each race, the Starting Official identifies the event name and heat, and starts the race with a horn and strobe flash. This official is in communication with the Head Staging Official and Head Scoring Official throughout meet.

What and where is the Bullpen?

The Bullpen is a designated location where all swimmers on a team stay when they’re not participating in a race. At the Bright Water pool, for example, the home team Bullpen is around the shallow, baby pool. Instead of sitting with parents or having free reign of the pool deck during a swim meet,  Bright Water Swim Team members should be in the Bullpen when they are not participating in a race so that they can be easily found by staging volunteers.
 

Parents should bring their swimmer(s): two towels – one to sit upon, one for drying off; clothes to wear when not swimming (it does get cool at night); snacks/beverages and small games to make them virtually self sufficient during the swim meet. The swimmers LOVE the camaraderie of being with their teammates. The social aspect of swim meets, to some swimmers, is what they like most about swim team. The Bullpen parent volunteers and assistant coaches will get swimmers to the staging area for their respective races, as well as keep a watchful eye on the swimmers in the Bullpen area. At away meets, our Bullpen parent volunteers will designate a Bullpen location for swimmers to congregate.

What is Staging and where is it located?

Staging lines the swimmers up so they arrive at their designated lane for their scheduled event and heat. The Head Staging Official communicates with the Bullpen to call swimmers for their races (a key reason all swimmers need to be in the bullpen area). The Staging area has seats (chairs or benches) near the starting blocks. Parent Staging volunteers arrange the swimmers and seat them to ensure a continuous flow of traffic for the races.

To help swimmers keep track of their individual races, many parents use a Sharpie marker to write the event/heat/lane numbers on their swimmers’ hands. Example: Event 32, Heat 3, Lane 4 would be written 32/3/4. Some swimmers also have their names (first and last) written on their shoulder or back. This helps the Staging crew verify the swimmers as they arrive and helps the Timers identify swimmers before a race. Sharpie washes off with a good soapy scrub and/or baby oil.

What role do Stroke and Turn Judges play in a swim meet?

Distinguished by their white shirts and dark pants, Stroke and Turn Judges confirm swimmers meet all rules during their swims. The rules for swimming each stroke are set out in the United States Swimming Rules. Our league follows the start, finish, stroke and turn rules with one exception – Gwinnett County Swim League allows one false start before disqualifying someone for a false start. These volunteer officials are trained on the rules. If a stroke judge disqualifies a swimmer for a stroke infraction, the judge will tell the swimmer what rule was broken. Although the swimmer’s time will not count toward the team score, understanding the infraction and learning how to correct it is a learning experience for the swimmer.

What does a Timer do?

Timers use a stopwatch to record the duration of a swimmer’s race. Each lane will have a timer from both the home and visiting teams. One timer will record times from each timers' watches. All timers participate in a brief information meeting prior to each swim meet to confirm expectations and roles.

IMPORTANT: No parent or other swimmer can enter the pool or touch a swimmer during a race. If there is a false start, do not try to stop the swimmer.