Dual meets are a lot of fun, but can be confusing to a new swimmer. Here are some helpful tips for newcomers.

Warm-ups are at 5:00 pm for home meets and 5:30 pm for away meets. Swimmers are expected at the pool a half an hour BEFORE warm ups – This would be 4:30 pm for home meets and 5:00 for away meets.

When you first arrive at the pool, report to your age group area. At home, please have your parent write your number on your arm and back if at all possible. The coaches will let you know when you can enter the pool for warm-ups. Meets are hectic, so be sure you are on time and paying attention so you do not miss your chance to warm up.

Tips for Parents: Bring lawn chairs. Pool chairs at home meets are stacked to make more room on the pool deck. Policies vary at other pools so a chair for you is always a good idea. Other items to bring include: towels, caps, T-shirts, drinks, snacks, sweats (it can get chilly when the sun goes down), games, cards and/or other small items to keep your swimmer occupied in between their events. Most pools have concessions in case you don’t have time to pack dinner. Our meets can be lengthy due to the large number of swimmers on our team (and on our opponents’ teams). Our main objective is to let every swimmer have the opportunity to swim an event. Please be patient and try to understand that our first and primary goal this swim season is to let the swimmers have fun and allow them to participate in each meet. 

If your swimmer must miss a meet, leave early or not swim a specific stroke, YOU must opt them OUT in Swimtopia. You must do this PER meet. The coaches need this information by 5:00 PM the Sunday prior to the scheduled meet. If you find out late that your child cannot attend, please contact the Head Coach as soon as possible. Request a confirmation from them to make sure they received it. If it is after 4:00 pm on Tuesday, please call/email Chris Snow immediately if you will not be able to attend. You can watch this video for instructions on opting out of a meet or a stroke.

The scoring system of competitive swimming is based on individual events. Each swimmer is entered in the events prior to the actual start of the meet. Numerous forms are completed, copied, and distributed to meet officials of both involved teams. The coach’s line-ups are building blocks. If your child is a no-show or leaves early without signing out, it affects not only the individual events that the swimmer was placed in, but also can put relays, which other children are part of, in jeopardy. Failure to sign out properly may result in disqualification for the next meet (as this may cause other swimmers to become teary-eyed). 

A. Swimmers may participate in individual main events for their own age group only. A swimmer's age is determined by his or her age on June 1 of the current TSA swim season. Swimmers do not change age groups during the TSA swim season. The age groups, distances, and strokes for individual main events shall be as follows, separately for boys and girls:

• 6&U 15 yards -free, back, breast
• 7&8 1 length of pool -free, back, breast, and fly
• 9 & 10 1 length of pool -free, back, breast, and fly
• 11 & 12 2 lengths of pool -free, back, breast, and fly
• 13 & 14 2 lengths of pool -free, back, breast, and fly
• 15 to 18 2 lengths of pool -free, back, breast, and fly

B. Rope finish lines shall be established for 6-and-under events. All other age groups shall swim from wall to wall, regardless of pool length.

C. Swimmers in the 6-and-under age group may swim in up to 2 individual main events. Swimmers in all other age groups may swim in up to 3 individual main heats. Swimmers may swim the 4th stroke but not in the main heat. Swimmers may participate in 2 relays per meet.

D. There is a medley relay main event and a freestyle relay main event separately for boys and girls in each age group, except for 6-and-under. Participation in relay shall not be included in the number of individual main events a swimmer may enter. A swimmer may participate in one medley relay event and one freestyle relay main event. Each swimmer in a relay will swim the same distance as swimmers in the individual main events for the age group.

E. Events shall be swum, alternating between boys and girls and starting with the youngest boys' age group swimming in the event, in the following order:

1. Medley Relay

2. Free Stroke

3. Backstroke

4. Breaststroke

5. Butterfly

6. Freestyle Relay

Meets will start at 6:00 PM on Tuesday evenings. The inclement weather date will be the next day starting at 6:00 PM,unless an alternate day can be mutually agreed upon by the TSA representatives. 

Six dual meets are scheduled during the season. Three of the six meets will be held at Silverton, and three of the meets will be held at other pools. Here is a video about scoring a swim meet.

A dual meet consists of the following components:

                      Free & Medley Relays                    Individual Strokes

1st place                5 points                                           5 points

2nd place               0 points                                           3 points

3rd place                0 points                                           1 point

Any tie finishes -split the points

Scoring is done for main events only.

Ribbons for 1st through 6th place are distributed for main event swimmers/relay swimmers after the meet at practice. On the evening of the swim meets, heat winner ribbons are given to the first place swimmer for every heat. "Participation" ribbons are given to all swimmers 6 and under for freestyle, or for another event if freestyle is not swum.Note that our team philosophy is to encourage our swimmers to have fun, make individual improvements, and we do not emphasize ribbons and scoring. 

The swimmers in the main events will be chosen at the "coach's discretion.”

The decision will be based on the swimmers' times. Consistency of times, performance at meets and practices, legality of stroke, and attitude will also be taken into consideration. The coaches and the swim team value the swimmers in every heat. Each swimmer is encouraged to have a personal Best Time.

We have limited parking for swim meets. We reserve the top half of the parking lot for our visiting team. You may also park along Winfair and other side streets. Please DO NOT block driveways. Thank you.