North Forke Plantation Barracudas

Q: When are the meets for 2024?

• You can find a listing of all meets in the here tab or by looking at the home page under "events"

Q: What do I bring to meets for my child?

• You should bring the following items to the meets:

1. Swimsuit
2. Swim cap
3. Swim goggles
4. Towels (swimmers sit on towels, and need extra towels to dry off between events)

Q: What time do I need to arrive for meets?

• Please arrive at 4:45 pm for home meets. Warmups start at 5:10.
• Please arrive no later than 5:00 pm for away meets. Warmups start at 5:30.

Q: How do I know how to get to Away meets?

• If you look in the calendar or click a specific meet event, you will find an interactive map to help you locate away events.

Q: Do we come to the meet if it is raining?

• IMPORTANT: Swimmers should come to a scheduled swim meet, rain or shine. A swim meet will not be delayed or canceled due to rain. Spectators should bring an umbrella or wear a rain jacket. The Head Official will try to get a swim meet in on the scheduled day vs. attempting to reschedule.

Q: What happens if bad weather strikes during a meet?

• If inclement weather threatens during a swim meet, the Head Official will ask swimmers to leave the pool and pool deck and to seek shelter. Spectators will also be asked to vacate the pool deck and seek shelter (typically in your vehicle). The Head Official will make the call to resume the swim meet. Delays may range from 15 minutes to more than an hour. Please do NOT leave a meet unless directed by team coaches or admins. We will send that announcement out via Remind.

Q: Should I take my child out of the team area during bad weather?

• During bad weather, your swimmer should never leave the team area without a parent and without notifying a team area volunteer of the departure.

Q: Should I take my child to the car during bad weather?

• Your swimmer should never leave a swim meet unless you have verification it has been canceled and rescheduled. You can ‘check out’ your swimmer from the team area and wait out the delay in your vehicle

Q: What is a heat sheet?

• A ‘heat sheet’ is the swim meet ‘schedule’ that identifies each event, and when and in which lane each swimmer will race. They are published in the Swimtopia App and emailed out for home meets. The hosting team may opt to sell heat sheets to visiting teams. Parents generally bring a pen or highlighter so it’s easier to keep track of your swimmers’ events.

Q: What is an event?

• Each race is called an “event”. There are 82 events in a standard swim meet. These events are determined by the age group competing and the type stroke they swim. For each event, there may be multiple heats.

Q: What is a heat?

• A “heat” represents a single group of swimmers competing at the same time in an event. At the North Forke Plantation pool, for example, we can field five lanes of swimmers. Should an event have a greater number of swimmers entered than can be accommodated in a single race, the swimmers are separated into groups. Each race of that single event is considered a heat. Swimmers are grouped according to their seed times, with slower times in early heats, ending with fastest times swimming the last heat of the event.

Q: What is a swimmer’s seed time?

• “Seed time” is a swimmer’s personal-best recorded time for a particular event. When a swimmer has no recorded time for an event, a coding of ‘NT’ is listed in place of a time.

Q: How is an event winner determined?

• The swimmer with the best overall time, from all heats in an event, will claim first place. There is a first through sixth place awarded for each individual event, and for first and second in relay events.

Q: How many races will my child swim?

• The head coach makes the entries for all regular season meets. All swimmers are limited by swim league rules to a total of five events for each meet –usually by swimming three individual events and two relay events. A maximum of three individual events is allowed per swimmer. Six and under swimmers only have backstroke and freestyle as individual events. Your swimmer may not swim in two relays as this will depend upon the number of swimmers available – four are needed per relay.

Q: Who runs the swim meet?

• Parent volunteers from each team fill all roles needed to conduct a swim meet. The home team has a designated Head Official who is ultimately in charge of the meet. A Starting Official directs the flow and sets the pace of the swim meet. At the beginning of each race, the Starting Official identifies the event name and heat, and starts the race with a horn and strobe flash. This official is in communication with the Head Staging Official and Head Scoring Official throughout meet.

Q: What and where is the Team Area?

• The team area is a designated location where all swimmers on a team stay when they’re not participating in a race. At the North Forke Plantation pool, for example, the home team area is under the covered area next to the clubhouse. Instead of sitting with parents or having free reign of the pool deck during a swim meet, swimmers should be in the team area when they are not participating in a race. 

Q: What should I bring for my child to use in the team area?

• Parents should bring their swimmer(s): two towels – one to sit upon, one for drying off; clothes to wear when not swimming (it does get cool at night); snacks/beverages and small games to make them virtually self sufficient during the swim meet. The swimmers LOVE the camaraderie of being with their teammates. The social aspect of swim meets, to some swimmers, is what they like most about swim team. The team area parent volunteers and assistant coaches will get swimmers to the staging area for their respective races, as well as keep a watchful eye on the swimmers in the team area.
  
  Q: What is Staging and where is it located?

• Staging lines the swimmers up so they arrive at their designated lane for their scheduled event and heat. The Head Staging Official communicates with the team area to call swimmers for their races (a key reason all swimmers need to be in the team area). The Staging area has seats (chairs or benches) near the starting blocks. Parent Staging volunteers arrange the swimmers and seat them to ensure a continuous flow of traffic for the races.

Q: How can I help my child keep track of their races?

• To help swimmers keep track of their individual races, many parents use a Sharpie marker to write the event/heat/lane numbers on their swimmers’ hands. Example: Event 32, Heat 3, Lane 4 would be written 32/3/4. Some swimmers also have their names (first and last) written on their shoulder or back. This helps the Staging crew verify the swimmers as they arrive and helps the Timers identify swimmers before a race. Sharpie washes off with a good soapy scrub, spray sunscreen or ponds pads.

Q: What role do Stroke and Turn Judges play in a swim meet?

• Distinguished by their white shirts and dark pants, Stroke and Turn Judges confirm swimmers meet all rules during their swims. The rules for swimming each stroke are set out in the United States Swimming Rules. Our league follows the start, finish, stroke and turn rules with one exception – Gwinnett County Swim League allows one false start before disqualifying someone for a false start. These volunteer officials are trained on the rules. If a stroke judge disqualifies a swimmer for a stroke infraction, the judge will tell the swimmer what rule was broken. Although the swimmer’s time will not count toward the team score, understanding the infraction and learning how to correct it is a learning experience for the swimmer.

Q: What does a Timer do?

• Timers use a stopwatch to record the duration of a swimmer’s race. Each lane will have a timer from both the home and visiting teams. The home team timer will record times from each timer’s watch. All timers participate in a brief information meeting prior to each swim meet to confirm expectations and roles.

Q: Can I enter the pool to help my child if needed or touch a swimmer?

• IMPORTANT: No parent or other swimmer can enter the pool or touch a swimmer during a race. If there is a false start, do not try to stop the swimmer. Don’t touch racers at the starting blocks before an individual event or any of the relay members once they are on the starting block.

Q: What are the Scoring Table functions?

• The home team runs the scoring function. At the conclusion of each event, a ‘runner’ will collect recorded times from each lane and submit them to the scoring table. The head scoring official will input the times into a master database. There is one representative from each team to verify and reconcile written times with times entered into the computer. Another function of the scoring table is to create individual ribbons for each swimmer that state the details of the swimmer’s race (teams, date, event and time).

Q: Do all swimmers receive ribbons?

• YES! Place ribbons are presented to the swimmers with the fastest six times (first through sixth) for each event. All other swimmers will receive a participant ribbon. The North Forke Plantation Swim Team distributes ribbons the day after a swim meet, typically during the Fun Friday practice from 10-11 a.m.

Q: Can parents stand with their swimmer at the starting block?

• Swim meets tend to be somewhat chaotic at times, particularly in the staging and starting block areas. Parents should not enter the staging or starting block areas during a swim meet unless assigned to a specific job. If there is a problem or an important message for your swimmer, see a Staging Director parent volunteer.

Q: How does a team score points?

• When we swim teams with 90 or more registered swimmers: 1st place = 7 points, 2nd place = 5 points and 3rd place = 4 points, 4th place = 3 points, 5th place = 2 points, and 6th place = 1 point. In relay events, 1st place = 7 points and 2nd place = 5 points.
• When we swim teams with less than 90 registered swimmers: 1st place = 5 points, 2nd place = 3 points and 3rd place = 1 points. In relay events, 1st place = 5 points and 2nd place = 3 points.
• If a team places 1st and 2nd in a relay event, then no points are awarded for 2nd place.

Q: What if I find an error on my child’s time during the meet?

• You and your child should be checking the score sheets sent out from the scoring office as the meet is running. At North Forke Plantation the scoring sheets are posted on the windows of the clubhouse right outside the concessions on the pool deck.
• Alert the scoring room if you find one of the following on the score sheets:
  • You know your child swam and they do not have a time or “DQ” on the score sheet
  • You see a time by a child you know is not at the meet
  • You see a large error in your child’s time (i.e. very different from their seed time)

• Be aware that the scoring table must use the data provided by the timers. A very close race may not show the finish order a spectator observed.

Q: What if I find an error after the meet?

• Errors found after a meet is over are more difficult to change. Please notify our council rep.