How Are A Meet Lineups Determined on Your Team?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He probably just wants to make sure your kid doesn’t reach his full potential…

This is what it feels like to my son. That his coach doesn’t really care about his development or prioritizes others over him. My natural inclination is not to say anything to the coach but I hate that my son is feeling this way. It’s a tough age to move to a new place, and he’s worked hard to get to where he is as a swimmer. At the very least, I hope the coach explains his decision making to my son, and the other swimmers impacted.

If your son doesn't get a reasonable explanation from the coach, it is fine to ask this question to the team rep. Just approach them kindly and remind them you are a new parent. They field these questions a lot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like this isn't NVSL since I don't think there are meets yet and I believe most teams have time trials this weekend (also there aren't IMs at most NVSL meets right?).

Sounds like MCSL - IM + 3 strokes is a typical max schedule that will come out in the lineup and we start A meets tomorrow.

[Anonymous]

On the flip side, as a team rep, I’ve had parents chew me out on deck for not bumping a faster swimmer for their slower swimmers. It’s a hard enough job, but even if you do it the fairest way (do they have the time or not), you get yelled at. No matter what you do, someone’s gonna be pissed.

[Anonymous]

the part that seems odd to me is that he is only in one event. i would ask about getting more events, but not necessarily worry about being faster than the other kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:On the flip side, as a team rep, I’ve had parents chew me out on deck for not bumping a faster swimmer for their slower swimmers. It’s a hard enough job, but even if you do it the fairest way (do they have the time or not), you get yelled at. No matter what you do, someone’s gonna be pissed.

That does sound thankless. Can anyone lay out where the line is between coach and rep responsibilities? I'm trying to understand who actually owns the A-meet lineup — is selecting and seeding swimmers entirely the coach's job, with reps running the meet logistics (declarations, entries, scratches/subs, rule enforcement)? Or do reps have a hand in the lineup itself? Curious how it works across pools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On the flip side, as a team rep, I’ve had parents chew me out on deck for not bumping a faster swimmer for their slower swimmers. It’s a hard enough job, but even if you do it the fairest way (do they have the time or not), you get yelled at. No matter what you do, someone’s gonna be pissed.

That does sound thankless. Can anyone lay out where the line is between coach and rep responsibilities? I'm trying to understand who actually owns the A-meet lineup — is selecting and seeding swimmers entirely the coach's job, with reps running the meet logistics (declarations, entries, scratches/subs, rule enforcement)? Or do reps have a hand in the lineup itself? Curious how it works across pools.

This is 100% dependent on the team. By most summer league rules, team reps are Gods responsible for everything including pool setup, concessions, volunteers, officials, meet directors, equipment, pool water quality, team rosters, meet entries, times, overseeing timers, disputes, league board member, hiring coaches, etc, etc, etc. Seriously, go read your summer league bylaws...

Most teams offload a lot of that onto others though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On the flip side, as a team rep, I’ve had parents chew me out on deck for not bumping a faster swimmer for their slower swimmers. It’s a hard enough job, but even if you do it the fairest way (do they have the time or not), you get yelled at. No matter what you do, someone’s gonna be pissed.

That does sound thankless. Can anyone lay out where the line is between coach and rep responsibilities? I'm trying to understand who actually owns the A-meet lineup — is selecting and seeding swimmers entirely the coach's job, with reps running the meet logistics (declarations, entries, scratches/subs, rule enforcement)? Or do reps have a hand in the lineup itself? Curious how it works across pools.

Coach makes the lineups but as I hired the coaches, and agree with their decisions, it’s my cross to bear. Nobody should ever throw the coach under the bus. You should know their philosophy when you hire them or they’re doing your bidding. Either way, you (should) own it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On the flip side, as a team rep, I’ve had parents chew me out on deck for not bumping a faster swimmer for their slower swimmers. It’s a hard enough job, but even if you do it the fairest way (do they have the time or not), you get yelled at. No matter what you do, someone’s gonna be pissed.

That does sound thankless. Can anyone lay out where the line is between coach and rep responsibilities? I'm trying to understand who actually owns the A-meet lineup — is selecting and seeding swimmers entirely the coach's job, with reps running the meet logistics (declarations, entries, scratches/subs, rule enforcement)? Or do reps have a hand in the lineup itself? Curious how it works across pools.

This is 100% dependent on the team. By most summer league rules, team reps are Gods responsible for everything including pool setup, concessions, volunteers, officials, meet directors, equipment, pool water quality, team rosters, meet entries, times, overseeing timers, disputes, league board member, hiring coaches, etc, etc, etc. Seriously, go read your summer league bylaws...

Most teams offload a lot of that onto others though.

Yep. And parents have this “we pay your salary” attitude, and we’re volunteers. Our team hasn’t kept a team rep more than 1 or 2 years in years. And yet, as soon as board members leave from being utterly exacerbated, they go on to trash the new boards for not doing it the same way that failed for them. It really brings out the toxic side of otherwise normal people.

[Anonymous]

So this happened to my DC last year in the divisional. He was ranked #1 in the 50 free for the entire season, but he was chosen to swim in divisional, 2 others were chosen. He was only chosen to do the backstroke.

[Anonymous]

On our MCSL team coaches own the lineup for A meets

It is a little bit of strategy. Especially at the younger ages you want kids who are going to complete the event legally. One of my kids ends up being number one or two seed in all events at our lower half team and they frequently don’t get a chance to do FR (their favorite) because our 2-4 seeds can still beat their likely top 3 swimmers and we need them to put points on the board in FL and BR. The 3 individual stroke or 5 total event rule is pretty much the only reason an event wouldn’t be seeded “straight down the line”. There may also be some issues with swimmers who aren’t solidly legal yet being pulled in favor of slower more legal swimmers, mostly in the 8U and 9-10 categories.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:On our MCSL team coaches own the lineup for A meets

It is a little bit of strategy. Especially at the younger ages you want kids who are going to complete the event legally. One of my kids ends up being number one or two seed in all events at our lower half team and they frequently don’t get a chance to do FR (their favorite) because our 2-4 seeds can still beat their likely top 3 swimmers and we need them to put points on the board in FL and BR. The 3 individual stroke or 5 total event rule is pretty much the only reason an event wouldn’t be seeded “straight down the line”. There may also be some issues with swimmers who aren’t solidly legal yet being pulled in favor of slower more legal swimmers, mostly in the 8U and 9-10 categories.

OP’s swimmer is 13, so this doesn’t apply to them. If what OP describes is true, it’s the worst of summer swim.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On the flip side, as a team rep, I’ve had parents chew me out on deck for not bumping a faster swimmer for their slower swimmers. It’s a hard enough job, but even if you do it the fairest way (do they have the time or not), you get yelled at. No matter what you do, someone’s gonna be pissed.

That does sound thankless. Can anyone lay out where the line is between coach and rep responsibilities? I'm trying to understand who actually owns the A-meet lineup — is selecting and seeding swimmers entirely the coach's job, with reps running the meet logistics (declarations, entries, scratches/subs, rule enforcement)? Or do reps have a hand in the lineup itself? Curious how it works across pools.

NVSL top division team. Coach 100 percent owns seeding, which is based on the ladder and designed to maximize points. Reps collect availability, do the comms, etc. they also check the entries to ensure they conform with the rules, but have zero say in seeding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On the flip side, as a team rep, I’ve had parents chew me out on deck for not bumping a faster swimmer for their slower swimmers. It’s a hard enough job, but even if you do it the fairest way (do they have the time or not), you get yelled at. No matter what you do, someone’s gonna be pissed.

That does sound thankless. Can anyone lay out where the line is between coach and rep responsibilities? I'm trying to understand who actually owns the A-meet lineup — is selecting and seeding swimmers entirely the coach's job, with reps running the meet logistics (declarations, entries, scratches/subs, rule enforcement)? Or do reps have a hand in the lineup itself? Curious how it works across pools.

D1-3: Coach and Reps together make the A Meet line-ups. I think they tend to have similar opinions.

[Anonymous]

We put our kids in the dive well and see who can tread water the longest

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It should all be based upon the ladder set during time trials. Sometimes coaches also make strategic decisions about where to place kids based upon times and swimmers from the other teams. Johnny might have a faster 50 BK than Mike but he might also be the only legal 50 Fly or most competitive against the other team’s best flyer. Mike might have a good enough BK time to still get the team points so coach makes a strategic decision about where to place kids. If he has faster times in the events than the kid swimming 3 events it might be worth gently inquiring with the coach. It’s possible since you’re new that the coach somehow doesn’t have all of his times (they likely can’t use USAS or last years summer swim times)

+1. There is strategy that goes into what events kids swim, especially if they are in the top 3 in the majority of events, but there should not be a situation like your son’s where he is not maxed out on events and there are kids with slower times than him entered in events that he could have swam. They generally will not use club times or last summer’s times from a different team though.

At our pool, only time trial times, or times from that season's meets count for the ladder.