SO YOU WANT TO RUN A SWIM MEET

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  SO YOU WANT TO RUN A SWIM MEET?
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(HOW TO LOOK FORWARD TO WORK ON MONDAY MORNING)
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A SWIM MEET WILL NOT RUN ITSELF!!

• Do not plan a swim meet unless you know
• what you are getting into!
• It is not a fund raiser.
• It is not a way to bring swimmers in.
• It is not a way to get parents together.
• It is not a way to make friends and keep your
  coach happy.

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A good source of information is the USA Swimming
website www.usaswimming.org. Under Swim
clubs / Swim meets, find the Meet Directors
Handbook.
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Action items

• Secure a pool.
• Check Niagara District website for competing
  meets. (look at previous calendar or currently
  scheduled meets.)
• Set dates.
• MUST BID ON DATE WITH NIAGARA DISTRICT. YOU NEED
  TO FOLLOW THEIR REQUIREMENTS.
• What type of meet? Dual, clerk-of-course,
  pre-seeded, deck entries, etc?

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Action items (cont)

• You must get parents involved in the meet
  together, set responsibilities and duties early.
  
• Who is the person in charge? (Meet director).
• Who will do entries?
• Who will handle volunteers, hospitality,
  officials, etc, etc, etc?
• Do you have a contingency date?

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Congratulations! Youve set a date, time, and NI
has put you on the calendar.

• Now get to work! Youre not done yet.

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As early as possible, but by the bid date for the
District, please get the meet director and safety
persons USA Swimming membership card, sanction
form and fee to NI district. Its required.
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Meet director meet information (with entry
deadline) and Team Manager download needs to be
put together. Make your MM file as complete as
possible. Information (if NI has everything for
the sanction) gets sent to Jim Bowen for posting
on the NI website.
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This needs to be done and finalized early. (STAR
hosts a LC GSB meet in early June. We have
several Canadian clubs that come. We get
contacted in March for space for them.)
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OfficialsMeet director needs to designate a meet
referee (unless the team is filling this
position). Starter and stroke turn officials
need be asked to work. Do not take it for
granted enough officials will be there. NI has
guidelines for the number of officials.
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Youve got everything lined up, meet information
is set, NI is ready, entries start coming in.
How do you handle them so the teams know they are
entered and you save yourself many problems?
MUST BE ORGANIZED!
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Email is sent with an entry attached. Download
to a disk. (Watch for viruses.) Open Meet
Manager. Import / Entry option, import the entry.
Watch for Exception report for errors in entry
(usually times).
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When taking entries, reports you may want to
print are Team fee (lists of swimmers
relays), entry list. How do you let a team
know you have received their entry? When you
create the entry list above, save as a Word file
/ Disk, email it back to the entry person for
review.
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One other report to check Once entries start to
come in, run the Report Sessions All. You
need to watch the session length for 12 Under
swimmers. Per USA Rules, (205.3 Programs
Events, 0.1F) age group meets are limited to 4
hours for 12 Under (except championships), or 8
hours for perlim / final meet.
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Exception report you must update and run is
registration file. Posted on the NI website.
Down load and run the file daily. Let the team
entry person know of any errors, problems. Send
backup file to Jim Bowen as requested. Also down
load and have available Excel file for current
registrations. If accepting deck entries, you
must check that the swimmer is USA registered
before entering a USA sanctioned meet.
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If the swimmer is not registered in NI, you must
ask to see their USA Swimming registration card.
If not USA Swimming registered, THEY DO NOT
SWIM.(Canadian teams are an exception)
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Entry Deadline Set the time and date you are
comfortable with. You have programs to print,
of swimmers, etc. Allow time for corrections
(close on a Friday evening the week before the
meet, use Saturday Sunday for changes).
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On Sunday (or when ready)Seed the meet!! Before
printing, run through a Psych sheet set up of the
meet for any glaring errors (like the 1008.00
100 Free)Contact the coach to correct these,
re-seed that event. Get program printed.
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Meet director Must stay in contact with the
entry person. You must be consistent to all
teams and swimmers if changes requested.
(Including your own team.) Follow the meet
information!!!!!!
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Do you accept changes, deletions, etc? When do
you stop accepting these?Deadline can be used
as this stop point. Calls for additions can be
entered as deck seeds. Once you seed the meet
and set the program, good break point.
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Make sure you check the pool and facility the
week before the meet. Will your computer talk
to the timing system? Are things ready? Do not
try to do this the day of the meet.
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Make sure you load the latest version of the
entry file from the entry person on the computer
at the pool. Check that you have computer
cables, extension cords, paper, etc. to get set
up at the pool.
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TWO ITEMS YOU MUST HAVE AS MEET DIRECTOR1)
CURRENT USA SWIMMING RULE BOOK2) REPORT OF
OCCURANCE FOR INJURIES
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Other Very Important Items to Take to the
PoolHead sets for officialsDQ slipsAwards
(Ribbons / Medals)Relay slipsScratch forms (if
needed)Official assignment sheets
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On the day of the meet, you need to get to the
pool early to set up. Post a program if you
need, and check that the computer is working with
the timing system. Have the TEAM packets ready
for a coach to pick up.
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If you run a NI district meet, one other fun
project isLane timing assignments. If you
really want to make friends in the district, try
doing this just once and not have someone
complain.
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And it is now time for the meet (Mike, take over)