Sumner County YMCA Stingrays

Meet Attendance

How do we sign up? Great question!  On Swimtopia! 

Not on Swimtopia yet? Once you've signed your swimmer up for the team just reach out via the contact page on this website, or [email protected] with your swimmers info and preferred guardian contact and we will set you up an account!

All needed meet information will be sent out via Swimtopia.

When to arrive - exact warmup times will be provided via swimtopia. Be sure to arrive on time so the coaches can check your swimmer in and help them get ready for their races! 

Boys and Girls compete separately in their our own age and gender groups.

Short course: (25 yards/meters = 1 length of the pool)

Long Course: (50 meters= 1 length of the pool)

What Swimmers Should Bring To Meets

• For indoor meets: extra towels, tops/sweats, and blankets for warmth
• Goggles
• Water Bottle
• Team Swim cap and suit (REQUIRED)
• Clothes to wear over suit during meet
• Sandals to wear while walking on nasty pool decks
• Extra clothes to keep warm or dry
• Towels
• Water bottle filled with water
• Light HEALTHY snacks (fruit, crackers, pretzels, etc.)
• Something to keep busy (games, cards, books, etc.)
• Dry clothes to change into after the meet (include shoes)

Note to Parents: PUT YOUR CHILD'S NAME ON EVERYTHING!

What Parents Should Bring To Meets

• Your swimmer(s)—early for warmups
• Lots of encouragement for all swimmers
• A loud voice for team cheering
• Positive attitude—be a positive role model!
• Willingness to help. The swim team cannot function without volunteering by all parents.
• Seating is limited --Chairs and tents are welcomed at every meet.

Meet Day

• Bring your swimmer to the pool at least 20 minutes before warm-up time to put their things down, get their caps on, and prepare for warm ups to begin.
• There will be 2-3 warm up sessions 15-20 minutes in length. We will find out our session before each meet and this will be communicated to you via Team Unify.
• If your swimmer is late, the coaches might think they are absent and substitute another swimmer in their place for relays. Please email your Coach if you are running late for a meet!

Coaches ask that all swimmers speak to their coach before and after each race to get quick feedback about their swim. This is where much learning and growing takes place in a swimmer’s career no matter what age they are. Please send your swimmer to the coach if you see your swimmer is not doing this themselves. Coaches do not have time to fetch every swimmer before and after a race and sometime swimmers can be a bit intimidated depending on age and experience.

During the Race

After the Referee blows the whistle to signal the start of the race, all spectators, parents, swimmers, coaches, and officials (other than the Starter) must be quiet until the horn or beep sounds to start the race. This is very important, to prevent false starts. Once the race has begun, let’s hear some noise!

After the Meet

• DO NOT Leave until you have talked to the Coach and that all your events have been swum.
• We STRONGLY encourage all swimmers to stay until the meet is over. Nobody wants to swim for an empty pool.
• Leave the area you occupied cleaner than you found it.
• Check to make sure your swimmer has all their belongings.

Championship Swim Meet Qualification:

You swimmer must compete in 2 regular season swim meets in order to be eligible for the Championship swim meet. (unless otherwise communicated by the YMTSC)

Ribbons:

Ribbons are awarded to swimmers at most meets. The host team is responsible for sending these ribbons to the competing teams after the conclusion of the meet. Sometimes this happens quickly, sometimes we wait. However, as soon as the ribbons are received, we will hand them out to your swimmers

How to Read a Heat Sheet

What is a Heat Sheet? What does it say?

The Heat Sheet is a program that shows all the participating swimmers and what events they will participate in as well as the heat number and lane number. The announcer will say the event and heat number. Clerk of Course is used for ages 8 and under. They gather the swimmers, by age and gender, and escort them to their appropriate lanes.

NOTE: Changes to the Heat Sheet could be made the day of the meet based on swimmers who don't arrive on time or do not attend. We could also "combine" races to speed up the meet. For example, if we have 3 girls swimming Fly in the 15-17 age group and 3 boys -- we may combine them into one

For anyone 9 and up, please pay attention, or have your swimmer pay attention, when it gets close to the time of your swimmer's event. Also -- please be flexible as some kids change their mind the day of the race for what they 'feel' like swimming and our coach works very hard to make sure they only have swimmers in races they feel confident about.

Heat Sheet Key-

• Heat Number (A): In each of the events, there are HEATS. Each heat may have 1-8 swimmers - depending on the size of the pool and the amount of swimmers in the age group/gender.
• Event Number (B): Number of events may vary meet to meet depending on the team we are swimming against. We swim the Individual Medley, Freestyle, Backstroke, Breaststroke, Butterfly, and Freestyle Relay.
• Lane Number (C): This will tell you which lane your swimmer is scheduled to be in.
• Seed Time: Once a swimmer participates legally in an event, they will have a "seed time" in that event for the next meet. Swimmers are placed in heats and relays according to their seed times. It's the swimmer's fastest time prior to this meet (if they have a previous time). Time trials is when we get the “seed time” for the younger swimmers. Older swimmers will use their time from the previous season.
• Heat Winner: First child to touch the wall. Sometimes they will win a prize like a duck or beads!

• Ribbons: Ribbons are distributed per event so if an event has multiple heats, each swimmer will get a ribbon relative to the overall event.