Tidal Waves,

The first meet day is finally here!  The kids have been working hard and are ready to race!

Sometimes the first meet can be organized chaos.  Please be patient with us, pitch in and volunteer where you can.

Support our concession vendors Local Slice and Tikiz snow cones if you are eating at the meet.  They will have all kinds of hot food and cold drinks, along with a kid favorite, snow cones.

Please make sure that you dispose of all trash that you generate at the meet.  We want to be good customers of our home pool.

There should be parking attendants around to provide instructions on where to park.  *If you are able to arrive early to assist with parking we would greatly appreciate the extra help. Please do not park in front of Real Sports Academy (RSA).  They might tow your car without warning.  We will try to instruct our team parents to park in the gravel lot between Fit One and the Gymnastics Center.  We will try to reserve the gravel lot closest to the pool for the visiting team and officials.

During the meet the kiddie pool in the back will be closed to all swimmers. Please remind your swimmer to not be in the kiddie pool during the meet. 

Warm-ups will be at 4:30 pm.  Please try to get there earlier than that to "check in" at our check in table, but not before 4 pm when the pool closes to regular customers.  There will be a roster of swimmers at the check in table located at the side gate. We will check off your swimmer when he/she arrives.  If you have not received your swim cap, those will be available at the check-in table (if you have paid your Tidal Waves fees).  Remember we are wearing only Tidal Waves caps in this meet to look like a team.  If you have not paid Tidal Waves summer fees, please get those in ASAP.  We have already paid expenses on behalf of your swimmer.  Our team is a "non profit", so please be diligent about getting fees in so we have funds to operate.

Please "mark" your swimmer's name & age on his or her back shoulder so our deck parents & coaches can give them correct instruction.  Also, we are asking to keep all 8 & under's at one team tent and 9-10's at the other team tent.  These will be located along the back fence nearest the baseball field.  We have so many in these age groups -- it is impossible to corral them from all over the pool deck.

We hope to have the heat sheet emailed to you by 3 pm today, depending on when both teams are ready to merge the meet. If possible please print it and bring it with you so you can write your swimmer's events on their arm. There will also be a heat sheet posted on the pool deck for you to view. The heat sheet will have all of the events listed.  They are numbered on the heat sheet, but the order will be slightly different than the numbered order.

The events will go as follows:

Exhibition Freestyle (Heat Sheet Events 101-110)

Freestyle for Points (Heat Sheet Events 1-12)

Breaststroke for Points (Heat Sheet Events 13-22)

Medley Relays (Heat Sheet Events 23-32)

Individual Medley for Points (Heat Sheet Events 33-40)

Exhibition Backstroke (Heat Sheet Events 111-120)

Backstroke for Points (Heat Sheet Events 41-52)

Butterfly for Points (Heat Sheet Events 53-62)

Freestyle Relays (Heat Sheet Events 63-72)

We have alternates on the heat sheet under most point swims.  If we need an alternate to take the place of a point swimmer, we will notify that swimmer ahead of the point swim.  If they are listed as an alternate in point events and not listed on the exhibition events, they should plan to do the exhibition swims anyway.

All swimmers not swimming for points in 3 individual events should plan on swimming the exhibition heats in freestyle and backstroke. Every swimmer should be swimming individually in at least 2 maybe 3 events in addition to any relays they are in.  Encourage your swimmers to give their all in these events to improve their times in the hopes of earning a point swim.  Please do not leave before the freestyle relays if you are assigned to an A, B, or C relay.

Additionally feel free to use the exhibition races to get timed in something other than free or back.  Just remember to tell the timer to record the time under the stroke that you swam. 

Also parents, please follow the meet so you know when your child is to swim.  Find a deck parent to get them to their event.  Ultimately, the responsibility of swimming the event is on the swimmer and parents.

Team Dinner after the meet will be at Zaxby's, our long time sponsor.

As always, if you have any questions about the meet, the heat sheet, or anything else, please come see any board member or call!  Our hope is for everyone to have a great swim meet experience.

 

Thanks and Go Tidal Waves!  Beat the Dolphins!

David Boyd

423-227-6570