Walnut Creek Swim Team

If you and your swimmer are new to swim meets, this is the page for you!  We hope it provides answers and guidance for what to expect, what to pack and how a meet operates. Please be sure to contact us if you have additional questions. We have all been first time swim families and want to help you!

Swim meets can be a bit overwhelming, so here are some helpful hints on how to stay cool at the pool.  The key is to PLAN AHEAD!!

The week of a swim meet:

Monday:

No later than the Monday before a swim meet, be sure that you have signed up your swimmer(s) to attend the swim meet and you have signed up for a volunteer job on the team's website.  For each meet, please indicate whether your swimmer will be "Attending" or "Not Attending" (See Meet Entry Instructions page).   You may request that your swimmer swim certain strokes at the meet and note whether your swimmer will be available for relays.      

Some families like to choose "Attending" or "Not Attending"  for all meets at the beginning of the season - that way they do not forget about a meet.  Swim meets are optional for swimmers, but they sure are fun!

Wednesday:

Coaches will enter all of the swimmer meet entries.  

Usually sometime on Wednesday (or the day before the meet), you can check your Swimtopia App to see what events your swimmers are entered in.  In the past, the team emailed a Meet Entry Report to families in advance of the meet, but now families can check their swimmers' events in the Swimtopia App. Please email the team if you see any errors about the events your child can swim.  

Packing for Meets:

• $1 - $2 to purchase a heat sheet, which lists all swimmer’s events for the meet
• Swimsuit! Yes-sometimes these are forgotten!
• Goggles, swim caps (a spare pair of goggles is a good idea too!)
• Highlighters to highlight your swimmer’s events on the heat sheets
• Spare towels/blankets
• Drinks and healthy snacks (enough food for the evening) and/or money for concessions. 
• Extra water, mist/fans, hats
• Favorite toys and games to occupy the time between events
• Chairs for family seating or a picnic blanket
• Pop-up tents or umbrella tents, where space allows. Shade is key on hot evenings!
• Jackets/sweatshirts if weather is cool or for post-swim wear
• Sunscreen
• Bug spray
• Click here to see the Meet Themes!

Food at Meets

Outside beverages (non-alcoholic) and food are allowed at swim meets. Coolers are also allowed. Every meet usually has a concession stand where you can purchase snacks. Often times (but not always), there are food trucks or other options at meets, where you can purchase meals.

Chairs/Tents 

Many families bring pop-up tents. Shade is a premium at the meet sites, and tents help ease the heat of the sun during the first half. Tents are usually shared among families so everyone does not need to bring one. Seating is not available at any of the meet sites, so bring you own chair or towel to sit on. 

Directions to Meets

Directions to away meets may be found on the website, under Meets & Events - Pool Locations.  When parking at meets, please be respectful and do not block driveways in the neighborhood.

Thursday (Day of the Meet):

How Meets Operate

Meets are typically on Thursday evenings, with the meet beginning around 6pm and lasting until 10:00pm-ish.  The first half of the meet usually ends around 8:15pm.  There are 6 regular season meets, 3 at the Walnut Creek Pool and 3 at our opponents' pools as visitors.  The home team warm ups are typically 4:45-5:15pm with away teams warming up from 5:15-5:45pm. Please have your child at home meets by 4:30pm and at away meets by 4:45pm.  

Parents working jobs at the meet need to attend the volunteer training at 5:45pm with the meet officials.

With the exception of the conference swim meet, all meets are duals where there are not finals, meaning all swimmers swim their events once and winners are placed/ribbons are awarded based on those times.

8 & Under swimmers swim 25 Meter lengths (one length of the pool).

Swimmers 9 and over swim 50 Meter lengths for individual strokes (see Strokes and Events below).

Arriving at the Meet:

• Get to the pool on time. Allow extra time for parking and walking to the pool.
• Buy your heat sheet, which lists the names of swimmers and the event in which they are entered for the meet, conference qualifying times, and the fastest time for your child to-date.  Find your swimmer's events and highlight them on the heat sheet.  
• Some families choose to write their swimmer's events on their arm to help their kids remember which events they will swim in, but this is not required.  See "How to mark your swimmer" below.   It sometimes also helps the Clerk of the Course identify younger children if you write their last name on the back of their shoulder or on their swim cap, but it is also not required.
• Parents check-in with the WCST Volunteer Coordinator.  Also, listen for announcements calling for 1st & 2nd half volunteers.  The meet officials will call for the 1st half meet volunteers to meet on the pool deck at 5:45pm, where they will give you training about your job.  The first half volunteers should work the first half of the meet through all of the backstroke events. After the backstroke events, there is a shift change for the 2nd half volunteers to work their jobs. 
  Please note that some jobs have slightly different times for working: 
  Safety Marshall: 1st shift is 4:30-7:00pm, and 2nd shift is 7:00pm to end of meet.
  Concessions: 1st shift starts at 5:00pm.
  Heat Sheet Sales: 1st shift starts at 5:00pm.
• At home meets, we ask all spectators to sit up on the grassy hill north of the pool. Early arrival = better seating, possibly shade.
• We ask that all spectators and swimmers remain outside of the pool deck fence until it is your swimmer’s turn to swim in their event. The gate between the pool deck and the grassy hill will be open during the meet. Since our pool deck is small, please be respectful so that all families will be able to see their swimmer swim their event.
• Around 5:50pm, the National Anthem is performed and the announcer begins calling event numbers and directing swimmers to the Clerk of the Course (see below). 

During the Meet:

• Swimmers need to check in to the Clerk of the Course a little bit ahead of their events.  The Clerk of the Course is usually a group of chairs or benches used to line up the swimmers for the upcoming events, usually near the starting blocks.  At home meets, there is a tall sign with event numbers which shows you the event numbers that are being called to the Clerk of the Course.  The announcer at the meet will also announce that certain events are being called to the Clerk of the Course.  Since it is sometimes difficult to hear these announcements, you should pay close attention to the meet progress and which events are currently swimming their races.  Please note that the coaches are not responsible for getting swimmers to the Clerk of the Course.  Younger children may need to be escorted to the Clerk of the Course until they get the hang of it. Swimmers should check-in with the volunteers in charge at the Clerk of the Course and they will be directed to the correct place in the line-up.
• After swimming an event, swimmers should be sure to ask Timers for their “unofficial” time.
• Swimmers are encouraged to check in with the coaches at the Walnut Creek coaches table after they swim an event to receive helpful tips and pointers (but swimmers may not sit at the coaches table).
• Concessions, including bottled water, soda, and snacks will be available for purchase at all pools, both home and away. However, you are welcome to bring your own.

After the Meet:

• After the meet, we all need to pick up the pool deck and grassy areas where we were sitting. Please stay and help put away chairs, pick up and dispose of trash, clean up concessions, etc. It’s late and everyone wants to get home, so the more help, the quicker it goes! .
• We must leave the pool as we found it for use the next day.

Plan on the meet lasting 3-1/2 to 4 hours.

Courtesies

• No alcohol or smoking is allowed at any team functions (swim meets, practices, parties, etc...). At home meets, smokers must go outside the fence/gate to smoke.
• Support the team by wearing team shirts, spirit wear, or colors.  
• Supervise your swimmer(s); discourage rough housing in and around the pool and restrooms. Swimmers should not be in the clubhouse at any time.
• Volunteering is essential to running a swim meet, so please do your part to help.
• Be careful spraying aerosol bug spray and sunscreen when in close proximity to others – find an open area for this.
• The baby pool is off limits and no one is permitted to use the baby pool.
• No swim team members, families or guests are allowed in the Walnut Creek clubhouse.

Events allowed per swimmer

Each swimmer is allowed to choose up to three individual events [the four strokes, and, for 9 and up, the Individual Medley (IM)]. Swimmers may change their individual events from meet to meet.

Relays

Coaches may place swimmers in up to two relays (medley relay and free relay). You will declare your swimmer as "available for relays" each week when you sign up for your individual events online.  The coaches will then decide which swimmers will swim in the relays at the meets.  The swimmers who will swim in the relays are determined solely by the coaches and are only subject to change at the discretion of the coaches. Note: Your swimmer may end up not swimming in a relay, even if they declared that they are available. Sometimes there is not space in the meet for more than 1-2 relays.

Strokes and Events

The four competitive strokes are:

• Freestyle is characterized by an alternate overhand motion of the arms and an alternating up and down flutter kick.
• Backstroke consists of an alternating motion of the arm while on the back using a flutter kick.
• Breaststroke requires simultaneous movements of the arms on the same horizontal plane. The hands are pulled from the breast in a heart-shaped pattern and recovered under the surface of the water except at the finish. The kick is a simultaneous somewhat circular motion similar to the action of a frog. On turns and at the finish, the swimmer must touch with both hands.
• Butterfly consists of a simultaneous overhand stroke of the arms combined with an undulating dolphin kick. In the kick, the swimmer must keep both legs together and may NOT use any other kick. On turns and at the finish, the swimmer must touch with both hands.

The following events are in addition to the above strokes:

• Individual Medley (I.M.) features all four strokes. The swimmer begins with the butterfly, then changes to the backstroke, then breaststroke and finally freestyle. This event is only for swimmers ages 9 and older.
• Medley Relay consists of 4 team members swimming one leg each of the four strokes. The first swimmer swims the backstroke, the second swimmer swims breaststroke, and third swimmer swims butterfly and the last swimmer swims freestyle.
• Freestyle Relay consists of 4 team members swimming freestyle for each leg.

Most young swimmers start out swimming freestyle and backstroke before progressing to breaststroke and butterfly. It is not essential to know all strokes before joining the team. Strokes will continue to be taught and improved upon during practice.

Order of Events

First Half

 Boys                                                      Girls

Second Half

 Boys                                                         Girls

Heat Sheets
The order is the same for each stroke- boys compete first and then girls compete in each age group. Heats will be slowest to fastest.

How to mark your swimmer

In order to help keep track of a swimmer's specific events at the meet, some families mark the events on the swimmer's arm, like in the example below. 

First, highlight all places in the Heat Sheet where your child's name is found. Then, use that Event, Heat and Lane information to create a grid/list on your child's arm in permanent marker.

Make four (4) column headings - E, H, L, S. These stand for Event, Heat, Lane and Stroke. Go through the heat sheet and find your swimmer's name which you highlighted. For each event, write the event number, heat number, lane number and stroke in the corresponding column.

For younger swimmers, some families write their swimmer's name in big letters on his/her arm, back or swim cap. This helps the volunteers who are lining up the swimmers at the Clerk of the Course near the starting blocks.

In this example, the child is swimming:

Event #11, Heat 4, Lane 4, 25M Freestyle

Event #31, Heat 1, Lane 6, 25M Backstroke

Event #41, Heat 2, Lane 3, 25M Breaststroke

Event #59, Heat 2, Lane 4, Free Relay

Each swimmer is responsible for their own event schedule. Listen carefully as the events are called so that you do not miss your event.

At the conclusion of the meet, the Sharpie can be removed with alcohol-containing hairspray, hand sanitizer or rubbing alcohol.