everything you need to know

How a swim meet runs

the heat sheet

Heat sheets list all the swim events in order along with the participants in each event, what heat they are in, what lane each swimmer will occupy, and his/her previous best time in that event (if the swimmer has competed in that event before) or it will show "NT" for "No Time." To keep track of when your swimmer is swimming, it is a good idea to go through the heat sheet and highlight each of your swimmer’s events/heats.

write on your swimmer

In order for the Clerk of Course to identify the swimmers, young swimmers need to have their name and 3 digit ID number on their back so they can be seen.

Swimmers don’t have Heat Sheets. So how do they keep track of what events they are swimming?

First, write their name on their back shoulder along with their 3 digit number.

Then, each swimmer needs a grid/chart on their arm (or leg for tiny arms) showing the event number, the heat number, the lane number, and the stroke/distance for every race they are going to swim. All this information is on the Heat Sheet.

Using a waterproof marker (Sharpie®), write four column headings on your swimmer’s arm: E, H, L, Stroke – for Event, Heat, Lane and Stroke respectively.

  • Find your swimmer’s name on the heat sheet. For example, find Marin Colley in the Sample Heat Sheet above. Notice she is swimming in Event 121 in Heat 3. The numbers 1-6 correspond to the assigned lane. Marin is Lane 5. Next to the Event number is the distance and stroke – 50 Yard Freestyle. 

  • Enter the heat sheet information on your swimmer’s arm under each column.

  • Continue filling in the grid until all of your swimmer’s event information is on the arm (can be as many as five lines long). Marin’s arm would read:

    E — H — L — Stroke
    121 — 3 — 5 — 50 Free

during the meet

the dreaded dq

Be prepared to hear that your swimmer has “DQ’ed” or “disqualified.” 

The people you see standing at the 4 corners of the pool (sometimes with clipboards) are swim officials. One of their jobs is to make sure the swimmers follow the rules; such as swimmers only are to use dolphin kicks during butterfly events, that the swimmers actually use the correct stroke (e.g. no freestyle during a breast stroke event); that the swimmers swim the entire length of the pool and the turn correctly, etc. Swimmers who violate any rule for their stroke are disqualified. This means the swimmer is not eligible for an award in that event, and their time is not recorded.

Hearing that they have DQ’ed can be really tough news, especially for a new swimmer. It is appropriate for swimmers to ask their coach why they were DQ’ed, but it is important for parents and teammates to support a swimmer and let them know they will do better next time. Developing swimmers DQ often. It is part of learning competitive swimming. Remember that ALL swimmers DQ at some time. Year-round, high school and even collegiate swimmers DQ. Make it a learning experience, not a season-ender!

Difference Between Event And Heat

Event

An event is the name of the “race” that a swimmer is entered in. 

  • Events are identified by a number. 

  • Generally, even number events are boys events and odd numbers are girls.

  • The event number is followed by the stroke/category and age group. 

 
In the NSL Swim League:

There are six stroke/categories of events: Freestyle Relay, Medley Relay, Freestyle, Backstroke, Breaststroke, and Butterfly

There are 2 categories of swimmers: Open and Novice. 

Most swimmers fall into the Novice category. A swimmer is in the Open category if they have swam a qualifying BB time or place in the top 8 at the previous season’s City Meet. In addition, the Coach has the option of placing a Novice swimmer into the Open category.

  • Novice Age Groups (as seen on Heat Sheets)

    • 6 & Under, 8 & Under, 10 & Under, 12 & Under, 14 & Under, 15 & Over

  • Open Age Groups (as seen on Heat Sheets)

    • 7-8, 9-10, 11-12, 13-14, 15-18

      Examples:
      Event 25 Girls 9-10 25 Yard Breaststroke
      Event 36 Boys 7-8 25 Yard Backstroke

Heat

Many swimmers are entered into each event. In some cases there may be as many as 20 or more swimmers competing in the same event. In a five-lane pool, there is no way to swim all the entries in any event head-to-head at the same time. Instead, the event is broken up into heats. The number of heats is determined by the number of swimmers and the number of lanes in the pool. In a five-lane pool, a 20-swimmer event would be divided into four heats – five swimmers in each heat.
 
It is important to remember that all swimmers in a single event are competing against each other. Times for all heats in an event are tallied together. The fastest time out of all of the heats wins the event.

Additionally, your swimmer may be swimming in a heat that includes swimmers from a different event. Your swimmer will only be scored against swimmers listed in the same event as them on the Heat Sheet.

order of events

  1. 6 & Under Freestyle Relays

  2. Medley Relays - Each leg of the relay swims one of the four strokes.  The first swimmer swims backstroke, the second breaststroke, the third butterfly, and the final swimmer, freestyle.

  3. Freestyle events - Swimmers may swim any stroke, but the stroke most commonly used is the crawl, which is characterized by alternate overhand motion of the arms and an alternating (up and down) flutter, or scissor kick.

  4. Breaststroke events - Consists of simultaneous movements of the arms on the same horizontal plane. The hands are pulled from the breast in a heart shaped pattern and recovered under or on the surface of the water. The elbows remain under the surface of the water except at the finish.  The hands cannot be brought beyond the hipline except the first stroke after the start or turn. The kick is a simultaneous somewhat circular motion similar to the action of a frog.  On turns and at the finish, the swimmer must touch the wall with both hands simultaneously, with shoulders in line with the surface of the water.

  5. Backstroke events - Swimmer must remain on the back with an alternating motion of the arms with a flutter kick.  The swimmer must touch the wall while on the back. A backstroke flip turn is not allowed in CSRA swimming.

  6. Butterfly events - Some consider this to be the most beautiful of the strokes.  It features a simultaneous overhand stroke of the arms combined with an undulating dolphin kick.  In the kick, the swimmer must keep both legs together and may not flutter, scissor or use the breaststroke kick.  On turns and at the finish, the swimmer must touch the wall with both hands simultaneously.

  7. Individual Medley (IM) events - Features all four strokes. In the IM, the swimmer begins with the butterfly, then changes to backstroke, then breaststroke and finally freestyle.

  8. Freestyle Relays - Each swimmer swims one quarter of the total distance of the event. Swimmers may swim any stroke they like, although the freestyle (crawl) is preferred.

swim distances

NSL Swim League is a “short course” competition, meaning we swim in 25 Yard or 25 Meter pools. The swim distances are divided by age group:

  • 25 meters/yards for 10 & Under age group

  • 50 meters/yards for 11 & older age groups

Scoring

  • Individual events are scored 5-3-1 (1st = 5 points, 2nd = 3 points, 3rd = 1 point).

  • Relays are scored 10-6-2 (1st = 10 points, 2nd = 6 points, 3rd = 2 points).

meet entries

The maximum number of events an individual swimmer may swim per meet is three individual and two relays. For more details, see the Constitution and By-Laws.

These documents are reviewed by the league committee every year.

ribbons

Ribbons are presented for 1st through 12th place finishes. If a swimmer receives a DQ in any event, they will receive a Super Swim ribbon. Heat Winner ribbons may be awarded to the fastest swimmer in each heat.