Snapper Swim Team Questions

1. What is the swim team and why would I want my child to participate?
It's fun. It's great exercise. It builds confidence. It's a great way for your child to meet other kids in the area. It's a great way for you to meet other parents.

2. What strokes do the swimmers use in competition?
Freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly.

3. What swimming strokes does my child need to know to join the team?
If your child is 5 to 10 years old you should have them participate in the Swim America program. If you child is 11 to 18 and can swim a lap of the pool then they should come to swim team practice and have the coach evaluate them for the team.

4. I just want my child to learn how to swim better. Do they have to swim in competition?
You should discuss this with the coach.

5. I see that there are different age groups for the swimmers. How does that work?
The age groups are 8 & under, 9-10, 11-12, 13-14, 15-18. Every other year your child will have an "up" year when they are the oldest in their age group and a "down" year when they are the youngest in their age group. The system generally works well.

6. How often and when is practice?
The practice schedule is available from the Practice Schedule page.

7. Should I stay and watch a swim practice?
You're welcome to watch. Please refrain from talking with the coach during practice. Practice is when the coach spends time with the swimmers. Please hold you questions for the coach until before or after practice.

8. What happens if we have a conflict and my child is not able to attend practice?
Discuss this with the coach.

9. Does a child have to swim in a particular number of practices during the week in order to swim in a meet?
Discuss this with the coach.

10. Does my child need to wear the team swim suit during practice? During a meet? What brand and where do I buy it?
Not during practice. In fact, to reduce wear-and-tear, the swim team suit should only be worn during meets. The swim team changes the swim suit every couple of years. The Swim Info page has information on the suit for this season.

11. What is a dual meet and what other kinds of meets are there?
A dual meet is held between two swim teams. One swim club is the host team and the other is the visiting team. The schedule is posted at the swim team bulletin board and is available from the Season Calendar page.

12. How many meets will my child participate in?
It depends on a variety of factors including your child's swimming ability, the availability of other children within the age group, and coaching strategy.

13. When are the meets?
Meets are generally held on Saturday mornings. The coach will tell you when to have your child at the meet for warmups.

14. How long does a meet last?
Most meets are usually 2.5 to 3 hours long.

15. What teams will we swim against?
The YMCA teams in our league are listed at the Western Mass YMCA League website
Our schedule of the meets can also be found from the Season Calendar page.

16. Where can I find directions to the swim club we are visiting?
Directions to the swim club for an away meet will be posted on the Direction page.

17. What can I do to help prepare my child for a meet?
Have your swimmer eat a healthy diet, get plenty of sleep, bring a water bottle to the meet, and arrive to the meet on time. Advise them to listen to the coach and to have fun! Cheer them on too!

18. What is a "heat"?
An event may be divided into multiple "heats." Usually a dual meet will only have one heat in each event with 2 to 8 swimmers depending on the number of swimmers and the size of the pool. The championship meets with multiple teams often have multiple heats of each event to accommodate the large number of swimmers.

19. What is a relay? And what stroke(s) do the swimmers use?
Relays consist of four "legs" with a different child swimming each leg. The distance varies with the age group from 100 yards (four lengths of the pool) for the younger age groups to 200 yards for the older age groups. You can review the full list of events to get a feel for where the relays occur in the meet.
There are two types of relays: medley and freestyle. The medley relay has four different legs: backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, freestyle. The freestyle relay has four legs of freestyle.

20. How is it determined what swimmers will be on a relay?
The coach makes this decision. There are a variety of factors involved.

21. How is the winner of a dual meet determined?
The fastest swimmers in each event earn points for their team using various scoring systems.

22. What does DQ mean?
Disqualification - this can happen for a variety of reasons including starting early (false start), leaving the diving block early in a relay, performing an illegal stroke, performing an illegal turn, not touching the wall with two hands during a breaststroke turn, etc. If you'd like to learn more, see the Swim Meet Officials section below.

23. Are kids DQed a lot?
No. The younger swimmers, especially the 8 & under age group tend to have more problems early in the season, but you'll see a DQ from time to time in every age group.
If your child is disqualified, try not to get upset about it. Your swimmer will be unhappy enough about it without having your emotions adding to the situation. If you think there was an error made, then discuss it calmly with the coach. Do NOT discuss it with the officials. Let the coach do that if it is appropriate.

24. What does it mean when my child is "swimming up"?
The coach may determine that the team (and perhaps the swimmer) can best be served by having your child swim in an older age bracket. This is a complement to the swimmer because it shows the coach feels that the he or she can swim effectively and will make a significant contribution to the team.

25. Does my child have to participate in every meet? What happens if my child has a conflict for a meet?
Without consistent participation the team will have a poor season, but conflicts happen. Let the coach know in writing as soon as possible if your swimmer will not be able to attend a meet.

26. How do swimmers earn ribbons and medals at meets?
In dual meets, ribbons are given for the first three places in individual events and in the relay events.
The policies vary with championship meets and are usually posted at the websites associated with the championship meet.

27. What is Western Mass Championships? When and where is it?
The Western Mass YMCA Championship meet is held in February. The Western Mass YMCA League website will have the details.

28. How are the results of the meet posted?
The team results will be announced at the end of the meet.
Individual times are posted at the Western Mass web site within the week. .

29. How can I best help the team?
Support your child by bringing them to practice, preparing them for the meet and cheering for them and the team at the meets.
Volunteer to help out at a swim meet or with other swim team duties. It's an all volunteer effort and there is always something more that can be done.
Consider becoming a stroke & turn judge, starter or referee. The officiating is all volunteer and it always helps to have more people trained to step in when others have scheduling conflicts for a meet. You may also enjoy the meet more when you know the rules well.

Swim Meet Officials

30. How is a meet officiated and who are the officials?
A swim meet will have a referee who runs the meet, a starter who announces the event and starts the swimmers, multiple stroke and turn judges, a head timer and multiple timers for each lane. You'll get the hang of the flow of events at an "A" meet very quickly. The pace is rapid since there are 66 events.

31. I see some parents timing the events. Can I do that too?
Sure. At most meets there are three timers required on each lane. See the head timer if you are interested in timing. If there are already sufficient timers the head timer may take your name to have you as an alternate if someone has to leave or take a bathroom break.
If you are a timer make sure you use the strobe light instead of the horn for starting your stopwatch. This is why you may see timers craning their necks around the swimmers or other timers to make sure they can see the strobe light.
Parents can also be place judges. A place judge records the order of finish and acts as a cross-check to the timings in each lane.

32. Why do the timers have to go to the other end of the pool for some events?
The 8 & unders have some 25 yard events. They dive off the blocks (or start from the wall for backstroke) and swim one length of the pool. The timers have to see them touch the wall so they are located at the opposite end of the pool from the starting blocks.
By the way, it is legal to start from the side of the pool instead of a starting block. You may see this with some of the younger swimmers who are not comfortable diving yet.
The 9-10 year-olds and older have all 50 or 100 yard events. They start and end on the same edge of the pool by the starting blocks.

33. Hey, my kid was just DQed! What can I do about it?
The coach will choose when and how to talk to the swimmer about it. Feel free to talk to your coach at the next practice. Do NOT talk to the officials.

34. I'm sure that kid just did an illegal turn on his backstroke, but he wasn't called for it. Who do I complain to?
It's not really a parent's place to find fault with the officiating. If you feel strongly that there is a problem with the officiating then you should talk with one of the swim team representatives or the coach. They can best decide how to proceed, but the officiating is really under the direction of the hosting club's referee.

35. That's a strange looking freestyle stroke. Is that legal?
Except for an exception or two, Western Mass uses USA Swimming rules. The USA Swimming web site has the rules.

Coaches, Parents, Kids

36. Who are the coaches?
Jill is the Head Coach for the Snappers. Our assistant coaches are Trish Wyatt and Sara Aubois. Check out the Coaches page for more information.

37. How can I best help the coach help my child?
Bring them to practices regularly, prepared and on time. Be supportive and let them enjoy the sport. Let the coach do the coaching.

38. How do I let a coach know when we can't attend practice? Or be at a meet?
Please let the coach know in writing as soon as possible. It's necessary to put it in writing since the coaches are trying to coordinate over 50 swimmers on the team and a verbal notice will probably be forgotten.

39. What if I have an important message to tell the coach during a swim meet?
Wait until the coach is not busy and then briefly tell them your message. The coaching staff is focused on supporting the swimmers during the meet so please leave them free to do that as much as possible.

40. It looks like there is a lot to do to run a swim team. Can I help?
Yes! See a swim team representative for ideas.

Frequently Asked Questions