Springlakes Swim Team

At a swim meet, children swim one or more of the following strokes:

1. Butterfly (FLY)
2. Backstroke (BK)
3. Breast stroke (BR)
4. Freestyle (FR)
5. Individual Medley (IM) is Butterfly, Back, Breast, and Free, in that order, all in one event.  As children get older and stronger, they can decide to swim an IM.

They will also swim one or more relays:

1. Freestyle Relay - 4 legs of Freestyle (FR Relay)
2. Medley relay - 1 leg each of Back, Breast, Fly and Free in that order (alphabetical) (MED Relay)

What's a leg? 

A relay is broken up into 4 legs, first leg (1), second leg (2), third leg (3) and anchor leg (4). In summer league, depending on the swimmer's age, the distance for each leg can vary. 

• For younger swimmers, a leg is one lap (So, a 100 Free Relay is 4 legs of 25 yards or meters, or 4 laps in total)
• For older swimmers a leg can be two laps. (So, a 200 Free Relay is 4 legs of 50 yards or meters, or 8 laps in total)

When you are timing an event, pay attention to the distance:

• One (1) lap is 25 yards (some pools are in meters- M)
• A lap down and back (2 laps) is 50 Yards (M)
• 4 laps is 100 Yards (M)
• 8 laps is 200 Yards (M) (children 11 and older will swim 200 relays)

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How to write events on your child's arm

Events are written on your child's arm so that they (or a coach or parent) know when and where they need to be for their event. The below illustrates how to write their event list on their arm for a meet.

• Start by writing     E     H      L      

(These stand for "Event", "Heat", and "Lane") 

Below is an example of your entries. Event is yellow, Heat is green and Lane is blue.

• You also include the name of the event shown in purple
• When you write a relay, the number shown in red is the leg of the relay they will swim, add that number so they know what order they will swim in and what stroke they will swim.

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How to read a heat sheet

• A heat sheet shows all the Events in a meet. Events are listed #1, #2, #3.....#43, #44, #45...all the way up to #77
• Each event is broken into Heats (Heat 1 of 2, Heat 2 of 2.... or Heat 1 of 3, Heat 2 of 3...Heat 3 of 3...etc)
• Each Heat is broken into Lanes (Lanes 1-6 or 1-5, depending on the pool)
• A child's name appears next to the lane number.
• You will be able to tell what event, heat and lane a child is in. This should match up with what is written on their arm unless:
  • It was written incorrectly on their arm
  • there was a change to their event, in this case, a coach or official should have the change and should make you aware of the change.

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Understanding Medley events

Stroke Order

Stroke order for IM (Individual Medley)

The Individual Medley is an event where four strokes are swum consecutively by one swimmer. Summer league offers IM to swimmers who can swim all 4 successfully.  The IM stroke order is:

1. Butterfly (FLY)
2. Backstroke (BK)
3. Breast stroke (BR)
4. Freestyle (FR)

Stroke order for Medley Relay

A Medley Relay is a 4 swimmer, 4 leg event, each swimmer will swim a different stroke for each leg. Stroke order is different for a medley relay than for an IM.

The MED Relay stroke order is:

1. Back
2. Breast
3. Butterfly
4. Free

You can remember this because it is in alphabetical order for a medley relay

Meet Etiquette

Our meets are run by volunteers and parents. We always try to be as accommodating and as flexible as possible when it comes to our kids. But we are bound by rules set up by the CSRA Swim League, so make sure to read these rules and bylaws if you have any questions about how the team is run.

Kids Remember:

• When you are on the block waiting to swim, be as quiet and focused as possible so you know when to start your race.
• Arrive on time for your event, if you miss your event, we might not be able to squeeze you in to make it up.
• When you get to the end of your event, to be counted you need to touch legally.
  One Hand Touch! A freestyle and backstroke finish is a one hand touch.
  Two Hand Touch! A breaststroke and butterfly finish is a two hand touch!
• Stay on your back during a backstroke race. Flipping over to your stomach at any point until you have touched the wall (on your back) will result in a DQ.
• Try your best and have fun, it doesn't matter if you are first, or last, or in between, every time you get in the water, try to do just a little bit more than you did before.
• Be a good sport! Cheer on teammates no matter what their ability, tell them it's ok if they don't do as well as they wanted. Summer league is fun and Springlakes prides itself on having a great supportive team atmosphere.

Parents Remember:

• With relays, there are 3 other swimmers depending on your child to be there to achieve the 4 swimmer/relay rule set for relays. If your child is scheduled to swim a relay and they decide to not swim, they let down 3 other kids. To avoid this, let the coaches know early if you cannot swim a relay, so they can find an alternate. 
• DQs are not meant to make your child feel bad, they are how a child learns what not to do when they are swimming a stroke. It's difficult to see your child get a DQ, but understand it's also difficult to give your child a DQ, we want them to succeed as much as you do! All DQs go to our coaches and that is what they use to teach your child the correct way to swim. At the start of a season, there are always a lot of them, so don't focus too much on them, let the coaches do that, just let your child know that you know they are trying hard!
• No matter how your child swims, or what place they come in, they always deserve a high five and a hug for their efforts. Swimming is hard, many of us adults couldn't make a lap across the pool, so kudos to your kids! They are getting better with every lap!