Our team doesn't let you swim an event at a B meet if you swam it in an A meet. They will give you an exception if you're in danger of losing your spot the following week.
B Meets are fun for the faster swimmers because they get to swim against neighboring pools (read: friends) that are in different divisions. We only give out B meet ribbons for 10 & under. None of the older kids ever pick up their B meet ribbons. Finally, our team would not be able to run a B meet if none of the A meet families swam/attended the meet. There aren't enough people there to time, officiate, run sheets, automate and sell concessions! If you ban A meet swimmers entirely, the B meet swimmers would be responsible for all of it. Plus there would be about 40 swimmers , compared to 128 kids on the other team. |
Our MCSL team does it more simply: everyone can have 2 events at the B meet. So everyone comes, and everyone cheers, and it's fun. Many of our A meet swimmers don't have 5-event programs, so they get those other strokes and races in at the B meet. The one thing I wish we did do at B meets is relays. That would be awesome. But I think we don't because of a) the potential time suck for the length of the meet itself, b) the difficulty in organizing who gets to swim a relay (because not everyone could, and the point of B meets is to top your own time, not compete against the other team - we don't score our B meets), and c) the related sense of hierarchy that relays could create - at the very meets that are supposed to _not_ be that way. How do other teams handle this? |
B Relay Carnival. Sunday morning before Divisionals with three other teams in our informal B League. |
I remember thinking this when I first joined swim.
The bottom line is if your kid is not a top swimmer there is no place for them to have the experience of winning or shining. Which is kind of life. And okay. |
A meet kids would never get a time in other strokes if they weren’t allowed to swim B meets. My kid swims her least favorite strokes in A meets so B meets is how she qualifies for Divisionals. |
NVSL, D 1 - our team does not let any swimmer who swam that event in the prior A meet swim it in the subsequent B meet. On large and/or higher division teams, there are sometimes more good swimmers than A meet spots, and there are more excellent swimmers than relay spots, so B meets are quite competitive. Tonight, I know they my child and other “A meet” swimmers are only choosing to swim IM. |
Yes, our B Meet league (Springfield-Burke) runs B meets just like A meets (seeding, heat sheets, etc). This means officials in white and blue, and all of our officials are A meet (and most are club) parents. |
⬆️ NVSL does not regulate B meets. Either the B meet league a team has joined, the team itself, or the two teams competing at the B meet, make the rules. |
+1. DS is the fastest back stroker in his NVSL division but never gets to swim it at A meets because he is also fast at fly and breast, and that’s what the team needs. |
At our MCSL team, you can swim what you didn’t swim at the A meet but you swim is as an exhibition meaning you can’t earn points. |
We have maybe 75 swimmers not counting those on the pre-team and that’s probably a generous estimate. Take away those who aren’t available or don’t want to swim in an A meet and most who want to swim in an A meet can. |
This implies that there is a static A and B team. In NVSL, there isn’t. A meets are seeded based on the latest and greatest times and you’ll have kids in and out of A meets each week based on the revised ladder. In our B meet league, you can’t swim an event that you swam at the preceding A meet and any events you do swim are exhibition, but the times count. This way, the whole team has a decently fair shake each week to be seeded in the next A meet. The B meets are both developmental meets as well as a chance to earn a spot in the next A meet. |
+1 Nobody at our pool refers to swimmers as “A” or “B” meet swimmers, but our team is also on the smaller side as far as the number of members. |
Kids swim faster are chosen to swim specific strokes at A meets for the team, so the team has higher chance winning and keep the division place. Everyone can swim at B meets, following the not to swim more than one or two strokes rule, for kids swim at A meets, but they still can have limited choice to swim 1 or/and 2 strokes they prefer at B meets, and see friends that don’t attend A meets. |
Wait, there are B meet leagues that don't require the white and blue for the meets? Would have been amazing. -non-swimmer who was badgered into stroke & turn because no one else would do it |