Introductory Note from Seasoned Piranha Parent:

Swim meets can seem like semi-controlled chaos.  Children are seemingly running around uncontrolled and parents have no control.  Actually swim meets run very smoothly - once parents get the hang of things and realize their kids are responsible enough to make it to their own event! Most kids go to camp and parents hear about it later, with swim team YOU get to experience it with them.  Cheer as loud as you want!

Dress Accordingly:  Piranhas swim rain or shine!  Just because it is raining at your house does not mean the meet is cancelled.  Meets are rarely cancelled before they start.  Swimming is an outdoor sport that involves water, there is a good chance you will get wet.  If you are working poolside plan on getting splashed.  Watch the weather, we do and plan ahead.  I have worked swim meets in flip flops and a tank top.  I have also worked them wearing rain boots and a jacket.  Meets usually go late into the evening, so you may want to bring sweatshirts and pants.  I usually pack pajama pants and a t-shirt for my kids to ride home in, pack these in zip lock bags.  Check the weather and come prepared, it makes for a much more enjoyable meet for the entire family.

Parking:  During home meets we can only park on one side of the neighborhood streets, this is extremely important.  If cars are parked on both sides of the street emergency vehicles cannot get through!   This could affect your child that fell at the pool or the neighbor down the street having a heart attack.  There will be “No Parking” signs posted along one side of the meet, please comply.  Bring a flashlight, Concord Hills has no streetlights and it will be dark when we leave.  One other lesson I have learned, get a carabiner clip for your car keys.  Weather you clip it to you bag or your belt loop, you will be grateful that you know where your car keys are.

Sharpie:  These are a must for swim meets.  Most swimmers write their scheduled events on their arm or leg                     (event#/heat#/lane#.)  For our younger swims it is also a good idea to write your child’s name and age on their shoulder, this allows volunteers to identify them.  The “bubble” on girl’s back is a great place to show your team spirit; Eat My Bubbles, See My Feet – you’re beat, or our Piranha.  Show your team spirit!  A good coating of lotion sunscreen or hand sanitizer will take Sharpie off their skin.

Seating:  Bring your own chairs, the chairs and loungers you see around the pool at practice will not be there during meets.  Blankets or beach mats are also a good idea; the kids like to make camp with their friends. 

• Special Note: If you want to bring a canopy for shade, please remember this:  Most quick shade canopies advertise that they are 8’ x 8’ of shade, that equates to 64 sq. ft., with the flared out legs, these canopies take up a 10’ x 10’ space.  That equals 100 sq. ft.   Four camp chairs for your family only take up 36 sq. ft.   If you want to bring a canopy find some friends to share with – we just don’t have that much space on pool deck.  Yes, I live with an engineer, it’s a curse some of us have to bear.  It is also something to think about.

Swimming:  Home swim meets are the only time the pool is truly closed.  This means the baby pool and the shallow “L” are closed.  Every home meet we have children playing in the shallow “L” and the baby pool, please talk with your children and explain that this in not allowed.  We have lifeguards on duty to watch children swimming events, not those misbehaving.

Food: On the morning and during the day of a meet, please encourage your swimmer/s to drink plenty of water and get hydrated. Once they get to the meet, please continue to have them push the water or Gatorade. It is so easy for these events to drain kids and that impacts how they feel and perform. Additionally, pack some simple snacks – pretzels/goldfish/etc and FRUIT for the meet. These are the best for in between events. For dinner/heavy food, we encourage everyone to eat at the meet at home!  This year we will have a neighborhood owned food truck  - D&B Hot Dogs- at all our home meets. They will have hot dogs, burgers, fries, Gatorade, lemonade, etc for sale. Please support your neighbor/small business and our team by patronizing them at our home meets! This service is a beneficial source of income for our team.  The money raised from concessions and spirit gear goes toward:  the purchase of training equipment, maintenance of existing equipment, coaches’ bonuses, and other benefits for your children. 

Spirit Gear: We will again this year be offering spirit gear for our team at the meets. There is limited availability of these items. Currently, we have T-Shirts, drawstring logo bags, team magnets, team cups, team road signs, and logo towels. These will only be available at HOME meets. Cash or check accepted. We welcome spirit gear suggestions and if there is enough demand for certain items we will replenish/special order with our local promo vendor Kennesaw Promotions. Thank you Colin at Kennesaw for your years of team discount and customer service support!

Weather Delays:  As I said Piranhas swim in the rain, thunder and lighting is a different story.  If we hear thunder the coaches will clear the pool for 15 minutes, if we see lightning it’s 30 mins.  We may also clear the pool deck.  This does not mean the meet is canceled!!!!!  It is extremely hard to reschedule a meet; we will wait out the weather if at all possible.  This is the best reason to sign up for Rained Out!!!  When you are sitting in your car wondering what’s going on Rained Out will be your best friend. To opt in to this text service, text TO: 84483 the phrase -  CHPIRANHAS. The service is free and we use it for meets and practice.

Away Meets:  Our Meet Directors work closely with the Meet Directors from other teams.  We will communicate any information we have (parking, concessions, seating areas, etc.)  Please park where you are told to, do not make disparaging remarks about their pool, support their concession stand.  After a few away meets you will understand what a great pool we have.

Home Swim Meets Areas / Layout:

• 8 and Under Clerk of Course is located next to flag pole.
• Home team parents and swimmers should set up next to shallow end of pool on right side.
• Away team will be seated in the grassy area on the far end of the pool.
• Judge and Scoring Tables will be located by start blocks on the left side of the pool.
• Food Truck will be in the parking lot.

Glossary of Terms

Heat Sheet:  List of events, this is where you will find out what event your child is swimming.  This will give you the event number, heat and lane information.  We try to email these out before the meet, they are also posted on the fence before meets.

Event Card:  This card is kind of your swimmers ticket to swim.  When your child gets to the starting blocks they will give this card to the time/scribe assigned to their lane.  Ours are pink for girls and blue for boys, they have the same event information as the heat sheet (event#, heat#, and lane#.)  Your child will get their event cards from Clerk of Course.

Clerk of Course:  For swimmers 9 and older Clerk of Course is volunteers at a table to the left of the pool that distribute event cards.  Your swimmers will typically get their event card about 10 events before.  Clerk of Course for 8 and Unders runs a bit differently.  We have chairs set up to simulate the lanes and heats they will be swimming in.  Your child will be seated according to their event card information.  We then have volunteers take them to the Ready Bench area.  This is a great place to work if you have an 8 & Under swimmer, you will get to know a lot of the kids in your child’s age group.

Ready Bench:  This is the area directly behind the starting blocks.  We again have chairs set up by lane number, your swimmer will set in these chairs by their heat and lane number.  There are volunteers there that help swimmers make sure they are in the correct heat and lane. 

DQ – If your swimmer has been DQed it means they have been disqualified for that event.  Most younger swimmers do not even realize they have been DQed.  The Stroke and Turn judges will fill out a DQ slip, that is then attached to the swimmers event card.  Our coaches review these after meets to see what needs to be worked on.  8 & under swimmers will still receive a ribbon for this event, however it will be a 6th place ribbon.  Swimmers 9 & up will not receive ribbons for these events.  It is rare that a swimmer is DQed on freestyle and backstroke.  It is fairly common on butterfly and breast stroke.

The Ribbon Box:  The ribbon box is a plastic file box that will be available during practices and meets.  Each child has an envelope containing their ribbons.  Please take the ribbons and leave the envelope!  League one doesn’t do ribbons for Senior swimmers, most of them are left in the box and never claimed.  If you have a Senior swimmer that really want their ribbons, please email the team.