GREEN MEADOW SWIM TEAM Handbook
Greater
Knoxville
Area Interclub Swim Association (GKAISA)
Welcome to Green Meadow Swim Team.
This handbook includes information about frequently asked questions
about summer swimming, rules and guidelines for Green Meadow Swim Team and
GKAISA, practice and meet schedules, and other important information about
participation on the swim team.
PHILOSOPHY AND
PURPOSE
We are a
family-centered competitive team that is operated by a staff of coaches, a
volunteer advisory board, and many other parent volunteers.
We enjoy working and playing together and making new friends in the
process. We stress the value of
every swimmer on the team. This
is a team for swimmers of all levels of ability.
We hope that all swimmers feel a sense of TEAM
spirit.
COACHING PHILOSOPHY
We believe that
each swimmer is important to the team and we try to make certain that they
know this. We think that by
participating on a swim team, a child learns how to set individual and team
goals, how to be a responsible team member, and how to accept victory and
defeat. We hope to teach each
swimmer something new about stroke techniques, conditioning, and competing
during the season. We strive to
motivate each swimmer in a positive way and in the process increase their
confidence and belief in themselves.
There is a lot of hard work in practice, but we try to never ask more
of a swimmer than they can give. Swimming
is one of the very best forms of exercise that there is and it is a sport that
one can enjoy for life! Our
goal is to make this a fun, low pressure, and positive experience for each
swimmer. It is a competitive team
and we do strive to win, but there is an important place on this team for
every swimmer. We want this summer
to be a great experience for everyone.
COACHING STAFF:
10 & Under Assistants:
Karen Rule
Caroline Phillips
Dan
Rule
Cameron Russell
Landon
Owen
Jessica Woods
Staci
Doig
We are really excited about our coaching staff.
They bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to our program.
All of our coaches have participated in Summer League and USS programs.
Among our staff, we have former GKAISA Champions and record holders,
Southeastern Champions, Jr. and Sr. National Qualifiers, and Olympic Trial
Qualifiers, as well as All-Americans and Academic All-Americans.
They are looking forward to working with our team.
PRACTICE RULES AND
ETIQUETTE
Swimmers
should:
1. Be
on time. There are important
announcements and stretches before we get in the water.
2. Come
to as many practices as possible. We
may be working on new skills.
3. Come
to practice with a good attitude; be ready to work hard and be cooperative.
4. Bring
your workout equipment to each practice. (Kickboards, fins, goggles, etc..)
5. During
the season, try to eat a healthy diet and get plenty of rest.
6. If
you have a problem with a teammate or with the practice, please talk to the
coach first.
7. Always
ask questions or let the coach know if you don't understand something.
8. Do
not sit, stand or pull on the lane ropes.
They will break!!!
9.
Always
let the coach know if you need to leave the pool for any reason.
10.
Be
respectful of coaches and teammates. If
you disrupt practice, it hurts everyone.
11. Be a good team member; cheer for your
teammates and treat them like you would like to be treated.
PARENTS
If you have questions or other matters to discuss, please check with one of
the advisory board members if it is during practice, or talk to the coach
before or after practice. The
coach's time with the swimmers is limited and his or her attention needs to be
devoted to practice. If you
get to a meet and your swimmer is not in the events that you or your swimmer
desires, please try to realize that this is a team effort and the coaches try
to place the swimmers where they are most needed for the team and also so that
everyone has an opportunity to get to participate.
It is extremely difficult to reschedule an event once we are at the
meet.
BOARD MEMBERS
The Green Meadow Swim Team has a rotating advisory board of parents to
coordinate swim team activities. These
people are volunteers that help with the numerous details needs to keep the
team running as smoothly as possible. These
people will be asking for other parent volunteers to help run meets as it
takes about 50 volunteers to run each meet.
If every parent is willing to work at least 1 or 2 meets, the same
group of parents won’t have to work every meet.
Please be willing to help when asked so that we can run our meets as
smoothly and efficiently as possible, as there are often as many as 250
swimmers in a meet!
PRACTICE SCHEDULE
A
GKAISA swimmer release form must be signed and turned in before a swimmer is
allowed to participate in a practice or meet.
This is a GKAISA rule and must be enforced.
We have practice
Monday - Friday mornings and Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday evenings.
We will have practice unless lightning or stormy weather.
There will be no practice on July 4.
Practices
begin after school is out.
Pre-Competitive
(swimming lessons) are Monday – Thursday,
10:45
– 11:30
Morning Practices (for
swimmers who are out of school) will be as follows:
Monday - Friday
11
and Over:
9:00 - 10:45 a.m.
10 and Under:
10:30
- 11:45 a.m.
Evening practices (for
swimmers who have school, work, camp in the a.m.) will be as follows:
Monday - Thursday
10 and Under:
5:30 - 6:30 p.m.
11 and Over:
6:15 - 7:30 p.m.
Note:
If there is a scheduled meet during evening practice time, there will
not be practice!!!
The pool is open to the membership in the evenings so
our space is very
limited.
Please
attend mornings if at all possible.
SWIM MEETS
The coaches ask that you stay out of the sun
and rest as much as possible the day of meets.
Do not stay at the pool after practice these days.
Drink plenty of fluids and be rested and ready to swim your best when you
get to the meet.
******Please
get to the pool at least 15 minutes before your scheduled warm-up.
This will allow time for announcements and getting caps and goggles on
and getting in the pool on time. Our
warm-up time is very limited so don't be late!
In a dual meet, no swimmer can swim in more than 3 individual events and
1 relay or 2 individual events and 2 relays.
Not every swimmer will be in this many events.
CLERK OF COURSE MEET PROCEDURES AND
SUGGESTIONS
Arrive at the meet prepared -
Parents who want to be assured that they have a place to sit should bring a lawn
chair. Swimmers will have time
between their events and may want to bring a book or game to play.
It is a good idea to bring an extra towel or sleeping bag to sit on and
an extra swimsuit - just in case! Swimmers
will need to come with or in their team suits, swim caps and a waterproof pen or
marker for writing down their events. You
may want to pack a sweatshirt as it can get cool for the swimmers when the sun
goes down.
MAKE SURE THAT YOU LABEL ALL ITEMS
WITH YOUR NAME.
Upon
arriving at the pool, find
the clerk of course sign in table. It
is very important that you let us know that you are there and ready to swim.
There will be a sheet on the table with your child's name and a place to
check in. There will also be a
copy of the meet entry sheet so that you can find the event and heat numbers of
your swimmer's events. Write these
down for your swimmer and yourself. A
lot of parents write the event number, heat number and lane number on their
swimmer's hand with a waterproof pen or marker so that they can easily look and
see what they will swim next.
Find your swimmer a spot under the team tent.
There will be tent parents there to assist your child.
Tent parents will be helping to keep order and see that swimmers get to
their events. It is important that
all swimmers be under the tent prior to the beginning of warm-ups to hear team
announcements or instructions from the coaches.
Home Meets: We will have an event board placed near the team tent
where all event cards will be placed in order by event number.
Swimmers need to go to the event board before their event and pick up
their card. The swimmer will then
need to go to the rows of chairs behind the starting area to get lined up for
their event. When the swimmer is
lined up behind the blocks with his or her card, a parent will come by and take
up the cards to give to the timers for the 8 and Under and 9 and 10 year old
events. Those swimmers 11 and older
are responsible for picking up their cards from the board getting behind the
blocks and giving their entry card to the timer in their lane.
AWAY
MEETS: Usually there is a designated parent for
each age group and gender to hand out cards to swimmers.
Please volunteer to help us in this area.
If you would just volunteer to help hand out cards or take swimmers
behind the blocks for an age group in which your child is participating, it will
help make the meet run much more efficiently and relieves any one person from
having to try to get cards to and get swimmers to all of their events.
It is impossible for one or two people to accomplish this.
We
want to avoid the problem of having find swimmers when it is time for his or her
event. It is especially distressing
to relay team members when they cannot find one or more swimmers.
We cannot go looking for swimmers. If
they do not report for their cards, they may miss their event.
This upsets the swimmer, the coach, and hurts the team effort.
Make every effort to see that your swimmer is where he or she needs to
be. We realize that parents have to
work and run these meets. If you are
the only parent and you are scheduled to work, please see if someone who is not
working that shift can help your child. *** If you are not working, please offer
to help another parent who is working so that they do not have to worry if their
child is getting to their events. Remember
this is a team - parents as well as swimmers must work together to make this fun
and successful.
Do
not leave the meet early without checking with a tent parent or a coach.
It is possible that you have events to swim that you are not aware of.
Make sure you are not needed before you leave.
Pick up all trash and belongings around you as you leave.
Ribbons – Check
your file the day after the meet for your awards.
Do not try to get ribbons the night of the meet.
It is extremely
confusing when swimmers come up during the meet and try to go through the file.
Awards
Banquet: We will hold an awards ceremony at the end of the
season. The date and time will be
posted on the bulletin board.
SWIM MEET SIGN-UP PROCEDURES
In
order to make the swim season fun and successful for everyone, we would like to
make sure each family is aware of the swim meet sign-up sheets and procedures.
Each swimmer will have the opportunity to sign-up for every swim meet
this season.
The sign-up sheets will be posted at the swimming pool until at least 3
(three) days prior to the swim meet.
At that time, the sheets will be taken down and the meet entry will be
made.
Everyone should be able to make a decision about swimming the meets in
this amount of time.
It
is important that everyone understand that if you have not signed up for the
meet, it will be assumed that you are not swimming the meet.
There will be no late entries taken unless there is an empty lane
available. If you are not
swimming, make sure your name is not on or has been taken off the sign-up sheet.
If you have signed up to participate in a meet and find you will not be
able to swim, please let the coach know just as soon as possible.
We will be enforcing this rule this year in order to make the meet entry
process much smoother.
This
rule is not intended to penalize any swimmer.
Once a meet entry is made out it is very hard to go back and add or
delete swimmers. Besides the fact
that the meet entry sheet must be redone, relays have to be refigured, and all
the cards must be redone to accommodate the change.
When the changes happen during the last hours prior to a swim meet the
likelihood of errors and omissions being made are far greater.
If everyone
makes the effort to abide by this rule it will not only be easier on the
coaches, it will assure that all swimmers get due consideration in the number
and selection of events that they swim.
This will also allow for the announcement of entries at practice the
morning of the meet.
By announcing what each swimmer will be swimming, the coaches will be
able to correct errors, work out problems and the swimmers will have time to
think about their events.
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