Mountville Black Marlins

What is an event? The age group, the length and stroke being swum.

What is a heat? The placement a swimmer is given in an event. This is usually assigned based on times. This allows the swimmer to compete against swimmers of comparable skill level. Fastest swimmers are in the first heat at Dual meets and the last heat at Invitationals.

What is a heat sheet? A packet listing swimmers' names, events, heat, lane assignments, and seed times for an invitational or championship meet.

What is a seed time? The fastest time in which a swimmer has swum an event prior to the submission of the entries for the meet. This is the time entered for the swimmer for the event. It is a good goal to try to beat this time at a meet.

What is a live heat? The heat that counts for points. Only 2-4 swimmers per event, depending on the size of the pool.

What is an exhibition heat? A heat being swam for the time and not the score. Having exhibition heats lets every swimmer have a chance to participate in the meet. If your swimmer is an exhibition swimmer, please don't downplay the importance of their swim. Every swim is an important one! There is always opportunity for personal best times and a chance to make a time that will put them in to a "live" event.

What are warmups? A short period of swimming prior to the meet that lets the swimmer get their muscles loosened up.

Does my child need to be at warmups? YES! It helps the swimmer get a feel for the pool, the walls and the starting blocks. Equally important, it gets the swimmer to the meet early enough for the coach to verify the swimmer's attendance. League rules dictate when changes may be made to the line-up during a meet so it is very important that we make changes, if necessary, at the appropriate time.

What is a line-up? A line-up is a listing of what events the swimmers are swimming in the meet.

How do coaches do the dual meet line-up? After the first meet, the coaches can look at times and swimmers from opposing teams. They look at the opposing team's times in relationship to our times. They use strategy to play with different swimmers in different events to see which line-up yields the best score.

What is my child cannot swim in a meet? If your swimmer cannot attend a meet please make sure their availability is marked on the website. If you have already signed up for the meet and can no longer attend please let the coaches know ASAP. It is very difficult to move swimmers around after the meet line-up has already been completed. It takes several hours to do the line-up and it is very frustrating and time consuming to make changes at the last minute.

What is my child gets sick the day of the meet? As soon as you know your swimmer won't be attending the met, let the head coach know so he can make the necessary changes.

What is my child swimming in the upcoming meet? Dual meet line-ups will be posted on the bulletin board as soon as they are ready. ALWAYS BE PREPARED FOR CHANGES! If we find out that someone is sick an hour before the meet, it may involve quite a few changes to fill all the live lanes. Invitational meet entries will be posted a few days before the meet.

What does DQ mean? DQ stands for disqualification. Swimmers disqualify themselves when they are not swimming a stroke according to league rules. This is not something bad instead it is a way to help swimmers know what to improve. The official or stroke and turn judge will usually tell the swimmer what they did wrong. Points are not awarded to swimmers who DQ. 

How can my child stay warm on chilly evenings? It is helpful to bring several bathing suits to meets. That way, swimmers' can change out of wet suits after events and stay warm until the next event. They should also have enough of towels with them to use to dry off after each event.

How do I know if my child is swimming in the meet? The coaches expect swimmers to participate in all dual meets and Divisionals, therefore they will be entered unless the coaches are told otherwise OR you have marked your swimmer as unavailable for a meet on the website. Check the bulletin board for Invitational meets.

Can my child choose the events they swim? The coaches make the final decision about what events the swimmers will swim. They are empathetic about strokes swimmers prefer and place swimmers in the desired strokes when possible. However, they will put swimmers where the team needs them most.

How many events can my child swim? The coaches will swim the swimmers as many times as they can per meet. The maximum number of swims per swimmer per meet is 3 and we really try our best to get all swimmers into 3 events. In some age groups with a lot of kids, its not always possible. The fastest 3 swimmers will swim the LIVE events. In order for all swimmers to get a chance to swim and improve their time, we will swim them in exhibition events.

Are meets canceled for inclement weather? All meets are held rain or shine, except for thunderstorms, but always SHOW UP ANYWAY. In many cases, we will wait out the storm and try to proceed with the meet. You will be notified through email if a meet is canceled.

What should my child do during a meet? During meets, we expect all swimmers to sit with the team and cheer each other on. They should bring books and/or relaxing games to keep themselves occupied until their event.

What is a staging area? A designated area swimmers report to prior to their heat of competition. This helps avoid "missed swims".

Our team is not built on ability alone. Our reputation is built on sportsmanship, respectfulness, team spirit and self-development. We’re all here for different reasons and we vary widely in ability levels, yet we all have something to contribute to the team.

BE A GOOD SPORT!

• Use appropriate language at all times
• Have a positive attitude
• Encourage other swimmers
• Respect parents, coaches and other swimmers

Ways to show good sportsmanship

• Wait in the pool until the last person in the heat finishes the race
• Congratulate other swimmers on their swims
• Wish other swimmers good luck before their races
• For relays, wait until all swimmers have completed their leg of the relay before walking away from the pool
• Don’t boast about winning
• Lose gracefully and with dignity

Examples of poor sportsmanship

*It is perfectly normal to think these things, but keep these kinds of comments to yourself.

• Yelling “woohoo, I won”
• “I beat you, take that!”
• “I’m going to beat you!”
• “Oooh, I beat you by a whole second!”
• “You’re slow.”
• “You’re in the slow lane.”
• “You stink.”
• Asking other swimmers their time or asking how many breaths they took, etc.

SPORTSMANSHIP REMINDERS FOR PARENTS

• Please cheer for your swimmers in a positive, supportive manner, refraining at all times from making hostile, negative or abusive remarks directed to coaches, swimmers, the opposing team or officials.
• This statement will be read at the start of every swim meet:

“LCSSL requires all sports Officials to enforce the sportsmanship rules for Coaches, Contestants and Spectators. Actions meant to demean opposing players, teams, spectators and officials are not in the highest ideals of summer swimming and will not be tolerated. Let today’s contest reflect mutual respect.”