Silly question about winter swim meets

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fairland PP again. That link above is for this weekend. The one we are doing is on the 9th. We are with PAC.

So, become familiar with Potomac Valley Swimming Site. https://www.pvswim.org/schedule.html

Sign up for Deck Pass to keep scores if you want or you can look them up on usaswimming.

The meet sheet for you meet should have been given to you, but PVS will have information.

Your meet: https://www.pvswim.org/2122meet/22-04-ma.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another question -- what are the differences in meets?

There are PVS Open meets which I assume are all the clubs in PVS, right?

There are invitationals - that a club hosts and then invites certain clubs? There looks like to be "fun" type meets?

Does it matter which meets you go to? Are some more important?

"Fun" in quotes is right.

So true. Snacks and books for your kid. They will have to self entertain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Fun" in quotes is right.

Unless you have a child who is gunning for particular times to make the higher level competitions, these meets are not fun the way that summer swim is. If they make friends with kids on their team, it can be fun to hang out together. Pre-covid they would play games, share snacks, and talk. That is probably going to be harder if they're enforcing distancing. Generally speaking though, they're sitting there for 2-3hrs and swim for a handful of minutes.

You won't find the pep rally type atmosphere with team cheers or whatever.
If this works for your kid, it's a great lifetime sport, but understand going in that it can be much more of a grind than summer swim or sports with shorter games and more rah-rah.

This is pretty accurate. Swimming is a lonely sport. My kids are more introverted and love it. They like the down time of it. They have a few friends that they hang out with and that is about it.

[Anonymous]

I have no idea whether it’s the same for all meets in the area but I was recently told no parents allowed in unless they’re volunteering. My kid is not doing one this weekend but another one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have no idea whether it’s the same for all meets in the area but I was recently told no parents allowed in unless they’re volunteering. My kid is not doing one this weekend but another one.

Yep, no spectators this year. You have to volunteer or watch livestream. Which livestream is meh.

[Anonymous]

Silly question along the same lines, since parents cannot stay how do we know when to come pick up our kid? Do the kids need to have phones so that we can be in contact regarding pick up?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Silly question along the same lines, since parents cannot stay how do we know when to come pick up our kid? Do the kids need to have phones so that we can be in contact regarding pick up?

Yes, this! I’m also a parent of a first time club swimmer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Silly question along the same lines, since parents cannot stay how do we know when to come pick up our kid? Do the kids need to have phones so that we can be in contact regarding pick up?

Yes, this! I’m also a parent of a first time club swimmer.

The day before the meet a very detailed email with the pysch sheet (lists ALL the swimmers and when each event starts) will come out and you will see when your swimmer is swimming. So let's say your kid's last event is XXX and that starts at 12:25pm and there are seven heats and your kid is in the fourth heat. Your kid would be done-ish shortly after 12:25 pm (they would swim 15 minutes after this time, then walk back to their team area, get distracted, then pack up stuff, etc) and walk out of the place. You would be in the car waiting to pick them up.

Scour the pysch sheet when it has the times listed. Some parents sit out in their cars for the blocks. And if you live far from the meet you will have to do that, but if it is close you can drop off and pick up in the window of time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Silly question along the same lines, since parents cannot stay how do we know when to come pick up our kid? Do the kids need to have phones so that we can be in contact regarding pick up?

Yes, this! I’m also a parent of a first time club swimmer.

The day before the meet a very detailed email with the pysch sheet (lists ALL the swimmers and when each event starts) will come out and you will see when your swimmer is swimming. So let's say your kid's last event is XXX and that starts at 12:25pm and there are seven heats and your kid is in the fourth heat. Your kid would be done-ish shortly after 12:25 pm (they would swim 15 minutes after this time, then walk back to their team area, get distracted, then pack up stuff, etc) and walk out of the place. You would be in the car waiting to pick them up.

Scour the pysch sheet when it has the times listed. Some parents sit out in their cars for the blocks. And if you live far from the meet you will have to do that, but if it is close you can drop off and pick up in the window of time.

Yea, pretty much this. This has become the norm from last year. I was impressed at the meets and how well they kept them on schedule. I know some parents would pick their kids up at the very end but my guess is the kid had friends and wanted to stay for the whole time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another question -- what are the differences in meets?

There are PVS Open meets which I assume are all the clubs in PVS, right?

There are invitationals - that a club hosts and then invites certain clubs? There looks like to be "fun" type meets?

Does it matter which meets you go to? Are some more important?

"Fun" in quotes is right.

So true. Snacks and books for your kid. They will have to self entertain.

Your kid will make good friends at swimming. It sounds boring, but the kids do develop close friendships and eventually they ask to stay until the end of the meet to hang out with friends. The first couple of meets might not be as fun, but encourage your child to stick with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Silly question along the same lines, since parents cannot stay how do we know when to come pick up our kid? Do the kids need to have phones so that we can be in contact regarding pick up?

Yes, this! I’m also a parent of a first time club swimmer.

The day before the meet a very detailed email with the pysch sheet (lists ALL the swimmers and when each event starts) will come out and you will see when your swimmer is swimming. So let's say your kid's last event is XXX and that starts at 12:25pm and there are seven heats and your kid is in the fourth heat. Your kid would be done-ish shortly after 12:25 pm (they would swim 15 minutes after this time, then walk back to their team area, get distracted, then pack up stuff, etc) and walk out of the place. You would be in the car waiting to pick them up.

Scour the pysch sheet when it has the times listed. Some parents sit out in their cars for the blocks. And if you live far from the meet you will have to do that, but if it is close you can drop off and pick up in the window of time.

Thank you for this! Since my only experience has been summer swim, it’s nice to know that these meets are kept relatively on time. I heard everyone groaning about how long meets are but it seems like with the different warm up/start times for different age groups and a schedule being kept to that this won’t be as much of a time suck as summer swim meets (particularly the B meets).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Silly question along the same lines, since parents cannot stay how do we know when to come pick up our kid? Do the kids need to have phones so that we can be in contact regarding pick up?

Yes, this! I’m also a parent of a first time club swimmer.

The day before the meet a very detailed email with the pysch sheet (lists ALL the swimmers and when each event starts) will come out and you will see when your swimmer is swimming. So let's say your kid's last event is XXX and that starts at 12:25pm and there are seven heats and your kid is in the fourth heat. Your kid would be done-ish shortly after 12:25 pm (they would swim 15 minutes after this time, then walk back to their team area, get distracted, then pack up stuff, etc) and walk out of the place. You would be in the car waiting to pick them up.

Scour the pysch sheet when it has the times listed. Some parents sit out in their cars for the blocks. And if you live far from the meet you will have to do that, but if it is close you can drop off and pick up in the window of time.

Thank you for this! Since my only experience has been summer swim, it’s nice to know that these meets are kept relatively on time. I heard everyone groaning about how long meets are but it seems like with the different warm up/start times for different age groups and a schedule being kept to that this won’t be as much of a time suck as summer swim meets (particularly the B meets).

If you have one kid, it is not that bad EXCEPT think of it this way. You have one kid and they are swimming events Saturday and Sunday. That will be a two two hour blocks or so of your day. If you have multiple kids of different ages, it is compounded.

So a summer league A meet is pretty awesome compared to this and our B meets ran three hours and involved all my kids so not hateful. I think that is why people complain. But on the plus side, your kid picks their swims and they are just trying to make the next cut time to see their improvements. It is nice to see a kid finally go from B times to BB or A, etc. Meets are important for them to make and see improvements.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another question -- what are the differences in meets?

There are PVS Open meets which I assume are all the clubs in PVS, right?

There are invitationals - that a club hosts and then invites certain clubs? There looks like to be "fun" type meets?

Does it matter which meets you go to? Are some more important?

"Fun" in quotes is right.

So true. Snacks and books for your kid. They will have to self entertain.

Your kid will make good friends at swimming. It sounds boring, but the kids do develop close friendships and eventually they ask to stay until the end of the meet to hang out with friends. The first couple of meets might not be as fun, but encourage your child to stick with it.

This it true as well. Once they have friends they will want to hang out for their whole session, you should encourage it.

[Anonymous]

I don't recommend bringing anything like a tablet where a kid will zone out so much that they don't hear the call for their event.

My kids typically bring card games to play with their friends of just hang out with their friends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't recommend bringing anything like a tablet where a kid will zone out so much that they don't hear the call for their event.

My kids typically bring card games to play with their friends of just hang out with their friends.

Yep. Wise advice. I was not so smart. My nine year completely missed one of their events and was so upset about it. The coaches allowed him to "swim it" during the next warm up. Sigh. To add insult to injury his twin brother was swimming the same event that was missed but didn't drag him along to swim it.

Also, so many twins in swimming. The pysch sheet for this weekend is full of them.