A meet kids going to B meets new swimmer

Anonymous
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.
Anonymous
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?
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote: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.
Anonymous
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.
Anonymous
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.
Anonymous
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.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote: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.


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.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:We are MCSL. You can swim in a B meet IF you are not swimming that event in an A meet. We love A meet swimmers who show up to B meets to cheer on the rest of their team trying very hard although it doesn't count for points. Our B meets are super fun for that reason.


Similar, from another MCSL team. You can swim in freestyle in a B meet if you swam it in an A meet but were not one of the top three finishers for our team. For other events, you cannot swim them in the B meet if you scored a point in the preceding A meet, so the only way you can swim the same events is if you finish last in your event. We often have kids who only swim A meets come and cheer at the B meets so ours are fun, too.

I'm glad we're not in NVSL. I think it's poor sportsmanship to allow a kid who scores points in an A meet event to swim that same event at a B meet.


You can't in NVSL either. But only top three swimmers score points in A meets, so 4th and 5th could race again in addition to 6th.


⬆️ 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.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Yes, because kids don't get to pick their strokes for the A meet, plus there's IM. My daughter had to swim breast for years because no one else could. Her only chance for fly was the B meets.


+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.
Anonymous
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.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote: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.


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.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Not sure if this is standard but at our pool the A meet swimmers can go to A meets and B meets. The B meet swimmers can only go to B meets. Shouldn’t the B meets be exclusively for kids who don’t place at A meets? There is a rule at our pool that if you placed in the weeks previous A meet you can’t swim that stroke only for that week but this seems silly, allowing these kids to dominate the developmental meets. Is this a standard rule?

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.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Not sure if this is standard but at our pool the A meet swimmers can go to A meets and B meets. The B meet swimmers can only go to B meets. Shouldn’t the B meets be exclusively for kids who don’t place at A meets? There is a rule at our pool that if you placed in the weeks previous A meet you can’t swim that stroke only for that week but this seems silly, allowing these kids to dominate the developmental meets. Is this a standard rule?

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.
Anonymous
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.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote: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.


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.


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
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