🦈 ASAP, RSVP! TIA! 🦈

Our first dual meet, Thursday, June 9, is away, versus Ooltewah located at 6849 Mountain View Rd, 37363. The Tidal Waves placed first in our blue division and overall at City Meet (to our second place spot) last summer so a win would be supreme!

StH team will park and sit to the right of the pool. It is typically very hot but there is room to put up shade tents/umbrellas in the grassy area right off the pool deck. Bring your camp chairs, bug spray, icy water, snacks, towels, team cap & suit, goggles, extra goggles, sharpie marker, and dry clothes for the ride home.

A positive of this pool being small - it is excellent for photos! Please use the social media hashtag #sharks4life when posting. If you have not yet, please follow the team on Instagram @sth_sharks, via Remind @e7eh68 (so important for weather delays) and Facebook @StHsharks4life.

Sharks & their families wear RED! Swimmers should be in their team shirt, suit and cap. There is just something awesome about seeing the team show up in force, dressed for success. Suits can still be purchased at Front Runner. Prepaid suits, shirts and caps will be available for pickup at the meet. Replacement caps are $15 and shirts (limited sizes) are $20.

Your RSVP for the meet is critical and needed at least a day ahead. The final heat sheet will be posted after 1pm on the day of the meet. Changes and updates are made prior to that time and our StH swimmers are merged with the other team's swimmers for the full meet info. The SwimTopia app is free but to see the heat sheets, you will need a subscription, just $2.49/month.  Typically heat sheets are only found online and you can cancel the subscription at the end of the summer season.

Volunteers need to report by 5:00. If you have not signed up to help, please do! We literally cannot have a swim meet without these positions filled:

• Volunteer Sign In - please arrive by 4:45. Check with a board member to get your sign in information. You will be in charge of organizing the other volunteers for this meet.
• Deck Parent - arrive by 5:00 to sign in. You will have a printed heat sheet and will organize our littles and get them to the correct lane on time.
• Place Judge - arrive by 5:00 to sign in. You will watch the finish of each heat and determines the order in which the swimmer's finished
• Lane Timer - arrive by 5:00 to sign in. You will record the swimmer’s time. Each timer is provided a stopwatch, heat sheet and assigned a lane. It is fast paced and exciting to have a front row view of the action.
• Scorekeeper - arrive by 5:00 to sign in. You will work with the other team’s scorekeeper to enter the scores immediately after each event

Timeline of this meet:

• Pre-meet prep:
  • Hydrate and eat healthy food
  • EHL (see below) written on arm with sharpie
  • Littles need first initial, last name, & age written on the back, left shoulder
  • More good tips & tricks here
• 4:50 - swimmers need to be on deck, behind the blocks, and fully ready to get in the water
  • goggles and StH cap on
  • In practice group
• 5:00 - WarmUp with coaches
• 5:30 - meet start

General info:

• During the meet, our 8 & unders should sit together at the team flag*so it is easy for our Deck Parent to find them and get them to the blocks on time. Big Sharks will be managing themselves. *If the flag is ever not there, please just check around for a herd of little people and have them sit together.
• An official will be announcing the events but it is so important that parents & swimmers keep up with the event and be ready, and behind the blocks at least one event before. Summer swim meets go pretty fast, so it is critical that everyone pay attention. The coaches will not be calling swimmers to the deck. That is your responsibility. Every swimmer has the chance to earn points for our team. The team with the most points at the end of the meet wins the meet.
• If something happens and a swimmer misses an event, go directly to the head official (wearing white, usually with a whistle/microphone). If you are lucky, you may be able to get into another heat. This is not always possible so it is very important for swimmers (and their parents) to pay attention to the event numbers.
• The reasons are complicated, but sometimes coaches will enter an athlete as an exhibition swimmer. This means the swimmer cannot earn points but can still swim for practice and sportsmanship.
• A DQ is a disqualification from an event due to a mistake in a start, stroke, turn, or finish. If you are disqualified in a race, the judge will raise their arm, fill out a DQ slip, and your time will not be counted. This will happen. It is part of the learning process. It is not ideal, but no reason to scold a swimmer. We are all out there to have fun. Yes, we want to win (and really, really want to beat Ooltewah), but developing a love of the sport and enjoying the team comradery is so much more important.
• Good sportsmanship is essential. Stay in the pool until everyone from the heat is finished. Shake hands with the swimmers on either side of you. We are the team with the best integrity and will remain so.
• Points are awarded to the team for swimmers placing 1-8 in individual meets and 1-2 in relays. Relay points are huge! We always have tough competition in our division and want to be the team that works the hardest and has the most fun!
• If you don’t make it until the very end of the meet, we will post the final points on Facebook & Instagram.
• We are a TEAM. Big kids should be at the edge of the pool to cheer on the Littles and little kids should cheer on the Bigs. The atmosphere of a summer swim meet can be so much fun with full participation.
• So on that note, the team cheer kicks off each meet. The cheer is repeated three times: soft, loud, then screamy, and a ”GO SHARKS!” finale.

Pro Tips:

• Use a swimmer’s ear treatment after the meet.
• Be prepared for fun chaos!
• We know you and your swimmer are probably tired and it’s hard to make it to Friday practice but DOUGHNUTS!

Finally, we recognize this post was a lot. We always want parents & swimmers to be comfortable and ready. Please reach out if you have any questions and let’s kick some Tidal Wave bootie on Thursday!

#summerswim2022 #sharks4life