Swimmers New to Competitive Swimming

Welcome to the world of competitive swimming! This is a fun and exciting experience for swimmers of all ages and all experience levels. There are a lot of new things for you to learn. The most important things we can tell you is, listen to your coaches. They will get to know you, your abilities, and what will work best for you to improve and have fun.

Swim practice is pretty simple. The coaches have a routine that you will learn very quickly.

Swim meets are a little different. Take a look at the page What to Expect at Swim Meets. In addition to the information there, you will see a lot of people on the pool deck; some telling you where to go, some telling you what to do, and some wearing white shirts who seem to be always watching. You will get to know what each of them does as you go through your first couple of meets. There is a referee who has a whistle and tells you when to get on the starting blocks. This is the person who is in charge of the officials at the meet. There is a starter who uses a loud speaker and starts the races. There are stroke & turn judges who ensure the competition remains fair.

There are many other people at the meet whose jobs range from ensuring swimmers get to where they need to be, to getting the results of the races on the walls. A meet is a very busy and exciting event. Make sure you come prepared, with all of your equipment, snacks, drinks, and something to do between races. See the Meet Packing List on Page 9 of the handbook.