Good Morning,

A couple notes about tonight's swim meet:

• Events: You may notice after this morning's practice that your swimmer is swimming one or two fewer events this meet. This is because of the amount of space that Pinewalk has at their location. Their pool is only a 4 lane pool. Since it is such a small pool and we are only allowed 1 heat of relays, this means that each teams gets two relays per age group. With the reduced number of relays, there are fewer openings that I can place the swimmers. I did my best to try and make sure swimmers were in at least one relay so that they could swim 3 events. At this meet, you will notice that there are several exhibition heats for the events because the pool is smaller and fewer swimmers can swim at one time. This may mean that the meet will run a little longer than normal so just keep that in mind when you are preparing for tonight.
• Requests: When signing up for swim meets, there have been some notes added about events your swimmer may want to swim at the upcoming meet. I try my very best to accommodate these requests; however, I cannot guarantee that they will be met. In our league, each event is based on a certain number count for swimmers. I've attached a detailed explanation from Franke Marsden, the man in charge of the league. Based on the number of swimmers in each age group, I have a certain number of events that I need to fill. I must make sure each swimmer is in at least two individual events before I add a 3rd event to fill any holes that may be left. Since this is the case, I cannot guarantee the events requested, I apologize in advance.
• Substitutions: PLEASE let me know as soon as you can if you will be attending a swim meet. After I have exchanged line-ups, it is extremely hard to add a swimmer that was not originally signed up for the meet. It is helpful for both Myself, Beth Ostapiuk, and Carolina Mock to know about any changes for events and volunteering. If your swimmer needs to pull out due to a sudden illness or emergency, I understand that, but I need to know as soon as possible in order to make the necessary changes. Since the entries for each meet are based on numbers and the specific events, it is harder to make changes. One change could potentially effect an entire age-group. I have added some notes on substitutions from Franke as well at the end.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns!

Coach Madison

Guidelines from Franke (Atlanta Swim Association):

Entry Limits

Please keep in mind the league participation rule regarding how many events swimmers can be entered in. Each club may enter three swimmers for team points in each individual event where lanes are available. Each swimmer may enter two individual scoring events and two relays (one medley and one free) with the following exceptions: A swimmer may enter a third individual scoring event to fill all legal lanes provided all other swimmers from that team in that age group are entered in at least two individual scoring events. A swimmer may not enter in more than three individual scoring events unless all other swimmers in that age group are entered in three individual scoring events and so on. Therefore a swimmer may enter every event in the meet provided the required numbers of swimmers have been entered in the required number of individual scoring events. A good formula is listed below for teams to figure out if your team can enter swimmers in more than the allowed 2 heat 1 individual events and how many extra events they can be entered in without creating a rules infraction:

• Take the number of scoring lanes the pool has for each team (4 & 5 lane pools have 2, 6 & 8 lane pools have 3), multiply that number by 6 (the number of individual events a swimmer can swim). This calculates how many heat 1 scoring swims are available.
• Divide that number by the following: The number of swimmers you have for that meet in a particular age group that you will enter for that meet
• The number you have is the maximum number of heat 1 scoring events allowed in an age group. The remainder is the number of extra swimmers that can swim in one additional extra events above what you calculated.
• Example: 5 swimmers in 11-12 boys in a 6 lane pool. 6 lanes x 3 scoring chances = 18. Divide 18/5 = 3 with a remainder of 3. This means all swimmers in that age group can be entered in a maximum of 3 heat 1 scoring events with 3 swimmers in that age group being allowed to be entered in 4 heat 1 scoring events.

Keep in mind, teams are not required though to enter all swimmers in an age group in one scoring event to allow as swimmer to be entered in a second scoring event. In some cases teams will have age groups where some swimmers are entered in up to two individual scoring events and others where swimmers are only entered in exhibition events.

Substitutions (From Franke)

Each team struggles each week with those swimmers who leave you high and dry by not showing. Teams may substitute swimmers into those holes in individual events created by these situations. Teams have 3 options to fill these holes

• Move swimmers up from the exhibition heats
• Enter swimmers who are not entered in the maximum number of events
• Enter swimmers who unexpectedly showed up and are not in the lineup.

The only thing you can't do though is remove a swimmer from an existing scoring event and move them into another scoring event.

Teams must complete these individual event substitutions NO LATER THAN 30 minutes before the start of the meet, and communicate them with the computer operator of the other team. After this window closes teams may not make any further substitutions in individual events. Make sure your deck manager, swimmers and assistant coaches fully understand this rule and don't try to change things after the cutoff for substitutions. The urge may be there to just throw someone into a lane just because it is open, but that is against the rules. The only exception to the 30 minute deadline is for situations where a swimmer is injured or becomes ill during the meet. For relays coaches may make changes at any time up to and during the meet. Teams are encouraged to exchange substitutions via phone or e mail after practice the morning of the meet as well as prior to leaving to go to the pool to allow the computer people to get paperwork printed and the meet started at 5:30 sharp.