Welcome and thank you for swimming with Jones Valley! Jones Valley Pool is a member of the Rocket City Swim League (RCSL). RCSL is known as the “summer swim league” because the season runs from the end of May through mid-July when the entire city comes together for City Meet. RCSL is divided into A league, B league and C league. There are 6 teams in each league, with “A” league being the highest scoring teams, then B, then C. The overall points earned per team at the City Championship Meet places each team in the appropriate division for the following year.
Here are a few things you need to know:
- Swim practices – Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday in the mornings, and are divided into age groups. Refer to the swim team schedule page for swim practice times by age.
- Stroke and Turn practices – take place on Sunday and Tuesday evenings, and focus specifically on technique, starts, and turns. Times are located on the swim team schedule page.
- Dual Swim Meets – are organized swim meets between two teams. There are 5 dual meets scheduled for Wednesday nights during the season. The meets last for 4 ½ hours from warm ups to finish. Swimmer are welcome to leave after they complete their event(s). Younger swimmers (6 & under) may leave before the meet ends, but you must make sure you DO NOT LEAVE without checking to make sure your child is not entered into more events.
- Time Trials – are held before the first dual meet to record a time for every swimmer in each of the four strokes: freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly. Coaches are required to enter swimmer times in order to enter them in a meet event. If your swimmer cannot attend the time trials, please contact the swim rep and we will schedule an alternative time trial for him/her.
- City Meet – City Meet is a league-wide meet in which all 18 teams in theRocket City Swim League meet to compete for their place in the league the following year. This is an exciting event that had 1,300+ participants in2017. City Meet typically takes place the second weekend of July, and if your swimmer does well in the Dual Meets or rounds out a relay, please plan to be there!
What you need to know about City Meet:
- City Meet is held at the Natatorium on the Saturday and Sunday a week and half after the dual meet season ends, and includes all RCSL pools.
- Swimmers must swim in 2 dual meets during the season to compete in City Meet. Participation is optional, but if they sign up to compete it is important that they keep that commitment.
- The week before City Meet we have lots of fun events for swimmers competing including: secret swimmer, pasta potluck, and Chick Fil A breakfast after block practice on Thursday.
- Not all of our swimmers will get the opportunity to swim a stroke other than freestyle in the City Championship Meet. Unfortunately, we are only allowed a limited number of slots at this meet except in the exhibition freestyle event. At the City Championship Meet they have a freestyle exhibition and award ribbons to those that place 1-16. The top three (3) swimmers in each age group in each stroke will swim that stroke in the City Championship Meet.
Team Gear:
- Team suits are available at TBD. They are encouraged but not required.
- Swim caps are encouraged but are optional, however they MUST be a Jones Valley cap or one not affiliated with another swim association. We have free JVRA latex caps available, and you can purchase silicone caps from the swim rep.
- Team t-shirts are pre ordered using the swim team registration form.
VOLUNTEERING – Description of volunteering duties
Parent Volunteer Requirements:
It takes approximately 30 volunteers to host a home swim meet. To make this possible, we require each family with a competing swimmer to volunteer for two dual meets. Our volunteer opportunities will be made available in Signup Genius two weeks prior to the first dual meet, and we ask that you sign up in advance for your two service opportunities. If you have questions about volunteering please email swimteam@jonesvalleypool.com and the swim rep will help you.
- Ref-trained official requires certification
- Stroke & Turn Judge- (trained position) let me know if you would be interested in any of the trained positions and we will help you get set up!
- Starter- starts the meet and calls each event (trained position).
- Score Table– this person assists and helps the meet manager collect and calculate the score of the meet and stay organized.
- Place Judge- The Place Caller Judge sits on the side of the pool at the finish end and watches as the swimmers finish. He calls out the lane number as each swimmer finishes (for example, 4,3,5,6,1,2). There are two Callers, one from each team, on each side of the pool, doing the same thing.
- Scribe-records information from the Place Judge, also seated at the finish line.
- Head Timer & Timers- use a stopwatch to time a lane and write the time down. Note the Head timer is for back-up, so the pressure is not all on you! This is a fun job.
- Ribbons Table– place stickers on the ribbons (happens later in the night).
- Runners– pick up time sheets from the Timers and Scribes and take the information to the Score Table.
- Bull-Pen– 2 volunteers are in each bull-pen, and are in charge of lining the kids up for each of the events in your age group. The Bull Pen workers will have a copy of the heat sheet and will call the kids names to get them together and to their starting position. You do not have to know the kids’ names to do this! This is a great way to meet the kids and learn their names. The kids will be in the bullpen or near the bullpen with their families. Bull Pen 6&U ends relatively early as the youngest kids are not involved in relays. 6U & 8U only swim 25 yards, 9&up swim 50 yards.
- Cookout/Concessions– This spot is only at home meets. You would need to assist with setting up, selling, cooking and breaking down the cookouts. It is easy to grab someone to fill in when your child is swimming in an event. There are 2 shifts so you could pick the one when your kid isn’t swimming or take a break when they are.
BEFORE YOU COME TO THE MEET:
STEP 1: Find the Heat Sheet in your email, it can be printed at home for dual meets, as we send them out a few hours before the event. The Heat Sheet will tell you what event your child is swimming in, what heat they are in, and what lane they are swimming in.
STEP 2: These details should be written in permanent marker on your child’s inner forearm. They are written in this order : Event, Heat, Lane. ( E, H, L) Under E put the swimmers’ events in order, Under H write the heat number that corresponds with their event. Under L write the lane assignment that corresponds with the event. In the last column will be the stroke that corresponds with their race.
STEP 3: Your child’s first name with their age should be written on the back of their right shoulder. This helps our coaches and volunteers make sure that everyone gets to the correct event during our swim meets.
STEP 4: Your swimmer needs to stay in the bullpen until his/her events are complete. Even though the information is written on their arm, that does not mean swimmers will keep up with their events. Swim meets can be very exciting and swimmers easily lose track of time. There is a lot of time waiting between events, so encourage your swimmers to listen and not keep asking the coaches or bullpen workers if it is time for their event yet. The bullpen workers will help alert swimmers when their event is about to take place. If your swimmer is new or under 10 years, try to sit close to the bullpen. After his/her events are finished, come to the bullpen to pick up your swimmer and all their stuff.
STEP 5: Sportsmanship We strongly promote and encourage good sportsmanship throughout the season. This involves coming to practice, spirit activities, cheering on team-mates at dual meets and city meets, and helping younger swimmers acclimate to the swim team environment.
STEP 6: IN CASE OF Inclement weather: a decision will be made to reschedule the meet at an agreed upon time by the 2 teams, or the meet may be canceled. This will be communicated as quickly as possible through email and Remind app. Please note that rescheduling is very difficult, and we make every effort to hold swim meets, so the decision to reschedule the event is almost always at the very last minute. Patience is appreciated.
What to Bring/What to Wear to a swim meet
- Swim Team suit
- swim cap (JVRA team cap or plain color only)
- goggles (bring an extra pair if you have them)
- Water bottle, sports drink, healthy snacks
- Heat sheet or meet entries (whichever is available)
- Black Sharpie, highlighter, and a pen/pencil
- 2 towels per swimmer (towels get really wet between races)
- Sweats, t-shirts or a deck coat for cold, wet swimmer
- LABEL EVERYTHING – Toiletries and clothing your child may need for changing after the meet
- Medication (e.g. inhaler) your child may need during the meet
- Cards, games, books – entertainment for lag time between events
- Folding lawn chair (swim meets are VERY crowded)
- Money to visit the Concession Stand
HOW AN ACTUAL MEET RUNS:
For first timers, swim meets can seem overwhelming and chaotic because there are so many events, and they are over so quickly – literally, seconds. Swimmers are divided by gender and age: 6U, 8U, 9/10, 11/12, 13/14, 15-17. Swimmers age up on their birthdays and may swim in their own age group or one level above. JVRA swimmers will be in lanes 4-6 of the pool at home meets. 6U and 8U start events at the diving well end of the pool, and all other age groups start at the guard shack end of the pool. Points are earned for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place in each individual stroke event and 1st place only in relays. The following information will help you understand what is going on at the first meet and how to help your swimmer get where he/she needs to be:
Dual meets consist of 96 events. Please be aware that at least age 8&up swimmers have relays at the end of the swim meet. If your child cannot participate in late evening events please notify the coaches ahead of meet scheduling by word of mouth.
Events are numbered 1 to 96. Except for the Mixed Freestyle Relay, odd # events are for girls, and even # events are for boys. The order of events is by age group starting with the youngest and according to relay/stroke:
Events 1 through 10 – Medley Relay (ages 8U and up) – four swimmers who each swim one stroke for 25 yards (8U only) or 50 yards in relay style in the order of backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, freestyle.
Events 11 through 46 – Freestyle and Freestyle Exhibition – single sprint of freestyle (all ages) – each team may enter up to 3 swimmers who swim 25 yards (6U & 8U) or 50 yards. This is the fastest event of the meet!
Events 47 through 56 – Breaststroke (ages 8U and up) – single sprint of breaststroke (ages 8U and up) – each team may enter up to 3 swimmers who swim 25 yards (8U) or 50 yards.
Events 57 through 65 – Mixed Freestyle Relay (ages 8U and up) – four swimmers (two girls, two boys) who each swim freestyle 25 yards (8U) or 50 yards.
Events 67 through 76 – Backstroke (ages 8U and up) – single sprint of backstroke (ages 8U and up) – each team may enter up to 3 swimmers who swim 25 yards (8U) or 50 yards.
Events 77 through 86 – Butterfly (ages 8U and up) – single sprint of butterfly (ages 8U and up) – each team may enter up to 3 swimmers who swim 25 yards (8U) or 50 yards.
Events 87 through 96 – Freestyle Relay (ages 8U and up) – four swimmers who each swim freestyle 25 yards (8U) or 50 yards. This is the fastest relay of the meet!
Swimming is all about time, so the fastest swimmers will be entered in each event. As the season progresses, your swimmers will IMPROVE!! Encourage them by keeping up with their times and showing them how much better they are getting each week. It is rare for a swimmer to be good at every stroke. Usually, swimmers will have one or two that come more naturally. You can help them by encouraging them to focus on what they do best and try to fine tune their stroke as well as starts and turns. There are lots of videos online that can really help them with their form, starts, and turns.
After the Dual Meet Home or Away:
CLEAN UP YOUR BULLPEN, get all your gear towels, crafts, books, whatever you brought to the meet, THEN …
- Five Guys dinners – most Wednesday nights the team and coaches meet up at Five Guys to celebrate and relax.
- Fun Day takes place every Thursday morning after the dual meet from 9:30-11:00. Parents volunteer to bring snacks and the swimmers get to celebrate all their hard work playing games with the coaches. Fun day is only for swim team swimmers ages 6+.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Q. Why isn’t my child swimming in a relay?
A. This is better explained by an example. For example, the Freestyle Relay, which has four (4) swimmers. If there are only three (3) swimmers in your child’s age/gender group, then there are not enough swimmers to make up a full relay team. If there are more than four (4) swimmers, but less than eight (8), then there are only enough swimmers to make one relay team.
Q. How can I tell what event we are on?
A. The official Starter with the bullhorn that starts each race will announce the event and heat before each race. There will also be an individual holding a pole with the race number displayed at the top. The numbers at the top are flip cards and are changed to keep up with the race events.
Q. Why do we have exhibition swimmers?
A. Each team is limited to three (3) swimmers in each individual competition event. A freestyle exhibition event allows every swimmer on the team an opportunity to swim in a dual meet. Exhibition events are important because they allow your swimmer to improve their time and it helps the coaches track their progress. All swimmers will receive ribbons for each event they swim!
Q. My child got DQ’d. What does this mean?
A. For some of the strokes there are technical things that they legally can and cannot do. For example, in butterfly and breaststroke, they must touch the wall with two (2) hands simultaneously during the turn and finish of the race. If the official notices that a child is doing something illegal for that stroke, they can get disqualified. In relays, the swimmer must touch the wall before the next member can dive in. The coaches will find out why your child was disqualified and will work with them on the error before the next meet, to prevent it from occurring again.