Swim Meet 101

POOL LOCATION: Home meets are at Chestnut Hill Swimming Pool located at 5184 Lupine Ln, Acworth, GA 30102. Away Pool locations are listed on the calendar, click on "Meet Details" for more information.

ARRIVAL TIME: Please arrive at the pool on time for all meets. The start time of the meets can be found in the Meet email sent out on Tuesday, usually parents and swimmers will be required to arrive between 5pm-5:30pm. Please sign in with the Volunteer Coordinator as you enter before you proceed to your child’s age group tent.

COACHING: During the meet the coaches will be on deck observing each child. These observations will be used in upcoming practices to help swimmers improve. The assistant coaches will be helping swimmer get set up for starts, reminding swimmers of specifics for each race (stroke type, sequence, etc...). Please allow them to focus on these activities. No parents should be in the ready bench area, start or finish areas that are not working a volunteer shift.

Heat Sheets

Print HEAT SHEETS or use Meet Mobile App. Heat sheets will be available online Wednesday night before the meet. PLEASE print out your heat sheet and bring to the meet. There are no extras at the meet and none for sale. For our new parents, the heat sheet is the master key to the meet. All the events and swimmers are listed on the heat sheet.

Upon Arrival

• Be on Time! Warm-ups begin an hour before the meet start time.
• Ensure your swimmer has sunscreen on and is marked up with his/her event information. (Age group parents can help new swimmer parents with marking up their swimmer).
• Upon arrival parents should check in with the Volunteer coordinator
• VOLUNTEERS: If you have signed up to volunteer NO MATTER WHAT SHIFT, PLEASE check in with our volunteer coordinator as soon as you get to the pool. We LOVE our volunteers and like to know we have all our bases covered. Volunteer descriptions can be found here.

Marking up your Swimmer

• Find your child’s race information on the Event Reports/Heat Sheets.

• Label your swimmers with a black sharpie with their race details. On their back, mark their name ‘ J. SMITH’. On their forearm, mark their event infomation:

(E = event, H = heat, L = lane, S = Stroke). For relays, add a column for position on team, ie. 1,2,3,4

• See a photo and more on arm marking.

During the meet

• WHAT YOUR SWIMMER SHOULD KNOW: First and foremost have fun! Do their best and enjoy the meet. PLEASE leave the coaching to our amazing coaches and just encourage your swimmers. If you are volunteering and leaving your swimmer especially our younger swimmers, please make sure they know where all their "stuff" is snacks, goggles, money and entertainment. Please remind your swimmers to stay with the age group parents and not wander off as this can create chaos when time comes to swim.
• FOOD AND REFRESHMENTS: There will be a concession stand selling a number of different hot and cold items. These include, but aren't limited to hamburgers, pizza, sodas, water, candy, etc. The concession stand is cash only, so make sure you hit the bank prior to the meet.
• ON DECK: Age group parents are responsible for getting our swimmers to the ready bench so if you choose to take your child out of the age group tent during a meet, you are responsible for informing the age group parent and getting them to the ready on time. General rule is your child should get in line 3 events prior to their event
• RELAYS: Please don't cancel on relays, especially last minute - if your swimmer is signed up to swim the relay and for some reason you cannot stay, or make it, PLEASE INFORM the age group parents immediately. A relay is 4 swimmers and if one isn't there, the whole relay team has to forfeit. It makes everyone sad when this happens. When signing up for a meet, Swimtopia allows you to note your relay preference: Please indicate if your child won't be available for early or late relays.
• DISQUALIFIED: Swimmers will be DQ'd (disqualified) for improper strokes. If your child is DQ'd please assure your swimmer that it is okay and how proud you are of them for trying. The coaches do get a list of what the swimmer was DQ'd for and they will go over with the swimmers in practice!
• SPORTSMANSHIP: Chargerswimmers stay in the water at the end of their races until all swimmers have touched the wall, it's respectful to other swimmers. Once all swimmers have finished the race quickly look to shake the other swimmer's hand and then quickly exit the pool.

Additional Thoughts

• Please MARK EVERYTHING with the swimmers name so we can avoid lost shirts, towels, caps, bathing suits, etc. The meet should finish between 10PM and 11PM. Again if you are leaving early please tell the age group parent. We encourage all parents and swimmers to stay until the end of the meet to cheer on all of our Chargers.
• Bring money for concessions
• Have fun watching all the kids experience summer swim. Most of all, the Chargers want to be known for our good sportsmanship. Please congratulate the winner no matter what team they are on, please encourage all swimmers and please encourage your swimmers to do the same. The goal is for our children to really love swimming!
• T-SHIRTS: Wear your blue and yellow CHST shirt to each meet.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions. Our coaches and our parent leads will also be able to answer questions you might have at the meet. Most importantly HAVE FUN and ENJOY the day!