Meets

For all home meets held at LF II facilities, please enter the side gate and not through the clubhouse building during the morning.

What to do before the meet begins? - Parent volunteer workers who are scheduled to work are to check in with their team leader at the sign-in table. If a parent is scheduled to work that day, the child/children will not be allowed to check in until the parent has reported in for their job assignment. Swimmers are to check in with the arm-markers and receive their swimmer number. Your swimmers should have their arms marked prior to the application of sunscreen. Every meet we have swimmers who are not credited for their swims because their number washed off after being written on top of sunscreen. Please don't let that happen to your children. It is critical that you check in so that the coaches know if you are present and available for your races.

After check-in, parents and swimmers should look at the meet roster posted near the pool and check the swimmer's events, lane and heat numbers. It's helpful to write this information on the child's palm and record it for your information. Warm ups will begin about 1 hour before the meet is scheduled to begin. Please arrive in time for your swimmer to warm up. This will help to reduce injuries, and will let then get used to another team's pool before they swim in competition.

There are always ample opportunities to help on the pool deck. If you have some time available, please lend a hand to someone doing last minute setup. That will help the meet get started and finish on time.

Dual Meet Format

All dual meets are structured the same way. There are 82 events with workers changing from 1st half to 2nd half at the beginning of butterfly, event #37. Some heats may be combined to save time if there are only one or two swimmers. You must listen to the PA announcer and watch the flip chart to check the event number.

The first event is the medley relay; then the individual events follow. Freestyle comes first, then breast, fly, back and the Individual Medley (IM). The freestyle relays are last. In each of these seven subdivisions, the youngest swimmers go first. This procedure gives plenty of time for rest before swimming again.

Click HERE to view the South Coast Swim Conference Meet Events Table

All swimmers are eligible to swim in all dual meets. Every attempt is made to maximize the number of events a swimmer participates in at each dual meet.

Individual Heats - If there are more than three Dolphins swimming an individual event, it will be split into two or more heats. Heats are either official or unofficial. Official is designated "O", and unofficial are letters "A", "B", and "C", etc. The official heat “O” will be first. The only difference in the heats is that the official heat counts for team points. All heats are important because they are good experience for the child. The coach will frequently assign a child to an unofficial heat in a stroke he/she does not normally swim in order to give the child a chance to improve. Children, especially the younger ones, don't perceive any stigma in swimming an unofficial heat. Parents are encouraged not to say anything about team points and unofficial heats unless the child specifically asks about them.

Relay Events - There are two kinds of relay events; medley and freestyle. In each relay, teams of four swimmers compete with each person swimming the appropriate number of laps. In the medley relay, each swimmer has a different stroke, back, breast, fly, free. In the freestyle relay, all swimmers perform freestyle. DO NOT LET YOUR TEAM MATES DOWN! If you are not in your lane ready to participate, the other three members of the relay team cannot swim, and may lose eligibility for League events later in the season! PLEASE BE CONSIDERATE of the rest of the relay team and get to your lane in plenty of time. If a swimmer must leave a meet early and can not participate in an assigned race, please notify the coaches immediately so another swimmer can take your place.

Dual Meet Scoring – Score is kept to determine which team wins the dual meet. The league rules state that only four official lanes (two per team) may earn points toward the team score. (This is to accommodate the smaller teams in the league and those with only a four lane pool.) However, if both coaches agree in the week prior, all six official lanes may be counted toward the final score. Following is the point schedule awarded in each case.

POINTS FOR INDIVIDUAL EVENTS IN A FOUR LANE POOL:

1st place = 7points, 2nd place = 4, 3rd place = 3, 4th place = 2

POINTS FOR INDIVIDUAL EVENTS WHEN COACHES AGREE THAT ALL SIX LANES WILL SCORE

1st place = 7points, 2nd place = 4, 3rd place = 3, 4th place = 2, 5th place = 1

POINTS FOR RELAYS (same for 4 or 6 lanes):1st place = 9points, 2nd place = 4, 3rd place = 2

All six official swimmers receive a ribbon with their finish place and time printed on the back. At our home meets, the swimmer who wins in an un-official heat, will receive a light blue "Heat Winner" ribbon, and all other swimmers at our home meets will receive ribbons with the finish place and time printed on the back. Ribbons awarded are determined by the home team.

Swim Times - The Dolphins Swim Team can be described as a "recreational team with a competitive spirit!" Dolphin parents and coaches believe all of our swimmers are winners. We focus on individual success through stroke development and good old hard work! We recognize that differences in swimming abilities can occur in families and between friends, but our team emphasizes the goal to make all swimmers -- from first to last -- learn to swim well and enjoy their participation in this program. As we teach hard work and self improvement, we turn our competitive edge towards our league rival teams. Those who have a desire to strive to a more competitive level, can compare their swim times against the posted Dolphin Records, as well as those records established at SoCalSwim.org and USASwimming.org. As the team develops a healthy competitiveness in the league, we never lose sight of the word FUN! We strive to provide social and swim activities that promote the "family and friends swimming together" atmosphere.

Ribbons - Your child’s ribbons will be placed in your family “file” during the week following the meet. Family files are stored in the Swim Team office, and will be available during most practice sessions on the pool deck. Ribbons and medals from Relays and Finals will be available later that afternoon at a location announced during the week before the event. If you feel an error was made regarding a ribbon or medal award, please notify the Ribbon Team Leader as soon after the event as possible. The Ribbon Team Leader is much better suited to sorting these issues out than the coaching staff.

Record Breakers – The Dolphin Swim Team maintains a list of the fastest swims for each event within the Dolphin Membership. These records are posted on the website. Special ribbons are awards to those that break existing Dolphin records. We make every effort to review each meet for record breakers. If you feel that your child has broken a record, please contact the director of scoring. League records are also maintained and it is quite exciting when a Dolphin breaks a league record.

League Events - There are two league events that take place at a large aquatic facility that has ample room for all the teams in the league, Relay Finals and League Finals. Not all swimmers will participate in Finals. The coaches make the final decision on swimmers and relay teams based on swimmer eligibility, as well as the swimmer's performance during practices and dual meets. Every attempt is made to include as many swimmers as possible in the event.

Relay Finals occur early in July and consists of 60 official events consisting exclusively of relays. There may also be a number of unofficial and mixed (co-ed) events as well. In order to meet the League eligibility requirement for Relay Finals, a swimmer must have participated in at least two (2) events in each of two (2) dual meets, (4 swims). The intra-squad meet does count towards eligibility.

League Finals - There are the standard 82 official events as there are in a dual meet, but there will be 3 official heats per individual event. Relay events will only have an official event. There may also be a number of unofficial or exhibition swims. In order to meet the League eligibility requirement for League Finals, a swimmer must have participated in at least two (2) events in each of four (4) dual meets, (8 swims), including one meet before relays. The intra-squad meet does count towards eligibility. Participating in Relay Finals does not count as a meet for eligibility qualification purposes for swimmers age 14 and under but to count for ages 15-18.

League Event Scoring – Scoring is based on the number of teams in the conference at the time of the event. Points are doubled for Relay Events at League Finals. For example, with 6 teams:

POINTS FOR RELAY FINALS

1st place = 14points, 2nd place = 10, 3rd place = 8, 4th place = 6, 5th place =4, 6th place = 2

POINTS FOR LEAGUE FINALS

1st place = 13points, 2nd = 11, 3rd = 10, 4th = 9, 5th =8, 6th = 7, 7th=6, 8th=5, 9th=4, 10th=3, 11th=2, 12th=1

Disqualified Swims (DQ’s)

One of the most disheartening things is to have a child's swim disqualified at a meet. It's not at all uncommon to see a first place finish not count because the child DQd. Young and new swimmers are particularly vulnerable to DQs. If a DQ happens, explain to your child that everybody DQs every once in a while. A DQ does not mean your child is a poor swimmer, a terrible person, or not trying! Sometimes, however, a DQ can mean your child is not paying attention to what he/she is doing.The parents' attitude regarding DQs should be positive and supportive rather than critical (Leave the corrections to the coaches.) At a meet, the judge will mark a DQ slip which will be given to the scoring room., Sometimes, not always, the DQ Infraction Code will also be written down, i.e. the reason for the DQ. If your child DQs, let the coach know before the next practice and ask the coach to try to go over with him/her the correction. Your child's time and infraction code may be printed on the ribbon with the words "exhibition". The following page lists the officials' codes that can result in a DQ.

Cheering - Cheering the Dolphins on is definitely one of the reasons to attend meets. Please, however, cheer from the sides of the pool only. Keep yourself and your children away from the ends of the pool, even if they're not roped off. Cheering fans can get in the way of timers and other workers at the business end of the pool resulting in missed or incorrect times. Frequently, swimmers have to forfeit their events because they can't get to the starting block in time because fans were in the way. Don't let this happen to your child!

After all Meets - Please pick up the trash around where you are sitting and make sure you have all your swim gear, towels, etc. If it is a home meet, your assistance will be needed in putting away the things we use as host team. We have a special "set up and take down" team but they can always use an extra hand! (...And any help is appreciated).