About Meets

Meets are optional but are highly encouraged! JSL meets are a great way to challenge yourself and gain competitive experience in a low-stakes environment. 

What to Expect:

TL;DR: what do I need to do as a parent? Know what event(s) your kid is swimming each meet, listen to the announcements, and when your kid's event is called, make sure they head over to the clerk of course.

Start to finish, what does a meet look like? 
  1. Meet warmup. The home team will warm-up first, followed by the visiting team. Specific warm-up times will be communicated each meet.
  2. Team cheers. The team will gather for team cheers, after which all 8&U relay swimmers will stay with the coaches and will be led by senior group teammates to their lanes for relays. 
  3. Meets begin at 6PM unless they are moved for bad weather.
  4. Events run in the order printed in the heat sheet (published on Wednesdays by noon to the team website), but typically follow this pattern:
    1. 6&U relays (#1P), 8&U relays (#1-2 or #11-12)
    2. 100 IM (#3-10) or Medley relays (#13-20)
    3. Freestyle (#21P-22P, #22-30)
    4. Breaststroke (#31-40)
    5. Backstroke (#41P-42P, #41-50)
    6. Butterfly (#51-60)
    7. Long freestyle (#61-70) or Freestyle relays (#73-80)
  5. When your child's event is called, please make sure they go to the clerk of course with their cap and goggles. They will check in with a parent volunteer or coach, and will be seated on rows of benches corresponding to their heat and lane. 8&Us will receive a pink or blue card with their name, heat, and lane info.
  6. Heats of swimmers slide up through the benches, and then go behind the blocks when called. 8&Us will pass off their cards when. volunteer comes by to grab it. Caps and goggles should be on!
  7. 5 short whistles will call attention to the starter. The event and/or heat will be announced. One long whistle signals the swimmers to step up on the blocks. The starters will then say, "take your mark," and then a loud beep signals the start.
    1. Backstrokes events begin in the water. Swimmers feet must be on the wall, submerged. Swimmers may hold the bar or the wall.
    2. If a swimmer false starts, a rope will be dropped in the pool to stop them, and the starter will rapidly beep. This process will only happen for the first leg of a relay, or an individual event.
  8. Each swimmer's time is recorded by three timers. Stroke & turn judges watch the pool and look for rule infractions. If a swimmer is disqualified, they will not be notified in the moment and will instead see the DQ in the meet results. 
  9. After completing their race, swimmers are free to rejoin their families until it is time for their next race! Pay attention to the heat sheet to see how many heats are in between your events. If their events are back to back, they may need to return to the clerk immediately.
  10. Results are printed and posted throughout the meet as they are processed. Full meet results will be posted digitally within 24 hours. Ribbons can be picked up the next day at practice.  

Helpful Swimming Vocabulary:

  • Stroke: The four recognized ways to swim competitively, consisting of Butterfly (Also called "Fly"), Backstroke (Also called "Back"), Breaststroke (Also called "Breast"), and Freestyle (Also called "Free"). There is also a medley of these strokes, called an "IM", in the order above.
  • Dual Meet: A competition between two teams.
  • Championship Meet: The final competition of the season between all teams.
  • Individual Event: A race consisting of only one swimmer per lane. Their results belong only to them.
  • Relay Event: A race consisting of four swimmers per lane. The results of the relay belong to the team. In the JSL, the only recognized relays are the 200 Freestyle Relay and the 200 IM Relay.(Referred to as the 200 Medley Relay)
  • Exhibition Event: Denoted by an 'X' (X NT or X time). Swimmers are only allowed a certain number of events per meet. However, coaches can enter their swimmers into additional "Exhibition Events", which won't contribute to the team's score, but will count for the swimmer's personal best time.
  • PR: Personal Record, or a swimmer's fastest recorded time in an event.
  • DQ: A disqualification, caused by an unfair practice. A few examples of practices that can lead to a DQ are: pushing off the bottom of the pool, and finishing with one hand during Breaststroke or Butterfly.
  • Heat: The group that the swimmer will be competing with. Each event will typically have multiple heats, with one swimmer or relay on each block.
  • Heat Sheet: The book of information for each meet. It gives a list of each event, event number, swimmer, swimmers heat and lane, and sometimes projected times for events and heats.
  • Clerk-of-Course:​ A series of benches or chairs that organize swimmers into their heats before they step onto the blocks. Swimmers also receive their event cards here.
  • Starting End: The side of the pool with the blocks.
  • Turning End: ​The side of the pool without the blocks.
  • Ribbons: Swimmers that place down to 16th place will receive a ribbon for their accomplishment. Swimmers that place first in their heat will be awarded with a "Heat Winner" ribbon.
Photos by Skipper Photography
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