PLAIN TOWNSHIP AQUATIC CENTER GATOR SWIM & DIVE TEAM HANDBOOK

Transcription

1 PLAIN TOWNSHIP AQUATIC CENTER GATOR SWIM & DIVE TEAM HANDBOOK

2 "The Plain Township Gators" The swim team was organized in 2003 and is a fun summer organization for children from beginners up to the age of 18. Anyone can be on the swim & dive team if they can swim 1 length of the pool without stopping. Many of our swimmers go on to join the Middle School and High School swim teams to competitively swim. The swim team is a member of the Greater Columbus Swim League (GCSL), which is made up of 8 local swim teams (Delaware, Gahanna, Highlands Park, Northwest, Olympic, Westerville JC, Worthington, and Plain Township). The league s web page can be found at Participants MUST be a member of PTAC as required by the league. PTAC will also be participating in a COSA developmental swim league which will swim on Saturdays. The swim team is run by a board of volunteer parents in conjunction with Plain Township, which provides the facility and supports the team. Team announcements and information can be found on the Gator Website at LEAGUE INFORMATION: When you join PTAC, it encompasses both the GCSL and COSA as one team league. Both leagues are summer recreational leagues that focus on FUN and SPORTSMANSHIP GCSL - Greater Columbus Swim Association These swimmers and divers compete in four to five dual meets against league opponents. The dual meets will be very competitive every week. Diving scores are included in the overall meet scores. A championship is held at the end of the season. COSA - Central Ohio Swimming Association COSA is a developmental league that supports the GCSL. Swim meets are held on Saturday mornings. There is no diving or championship meet associated with COSA. PTAC coaches will decide whether GCSL or COSA meets are best for each swimmer. Important GCSL Rules: A swimmer must be a member of the pool whose team they are participating for. A summer swimmer is only allowed to swim for one summer league (ie. GSCL/COSA, Country Club League, or Suburban East Swim League) at a time. Year round USA swimmers are allowed to swim long course plus GCSL during the summer season.

3 Swim Practice Swim team practice is held in the mornings before the pool opens to the public. Practices are held Monday through W ednesday and Friday. There is no practice on Thursday. The Dive team practices at the New Albany High School dive pool. Practice times and day are posted on the PTAC website for both swimming and diving. The coaches do their best to have all athletes enjoy themselves and also learn how to be competitive. Age Groups Per GCSL rules, a swimmer s or diver s age group will be determined by his or her age on June 15 of the current year. A swimmer or diver who is 19 on June 15 of the current year shall be allowed to compete in the 18 and under age group for the season, if the student was enrolled in highschool just prior to the start of summer season.. Swimmers age groups for meets are as follows: Junior Division Boys and Girls 6 and under (back and freestyle only) Boys and Girls 8 and under Boys and Girls 10 and under Senior Division Boys and Girls 12 and under Boys and Girls 14 and under Boys and Girls 18 and under Divers age groups for meets are as follows: Junior Division Boys and Girls 8 and under Boys and Girls 10 and under Senior Division Boys and Girls 12 and under Boys and Girls 14 and under Boys and Girls 18 and under Meet Availability To help determine if your swimmer will be swimming at each meet, the team uses meet availability forms that parents must complete for each swimmer. The completed form is due to the coaches by the end of the firs week of practice. This helps the coaches set up both the GCSL and COSA meets. If there is a last minute change of the swimmer s status from what was indicated on the meet availability form, the coaches should be notified immediately.

4 Regular Season Swim Meets During the summer season, there are 5 GCSL dual meets held on Wednesday evenings. Meets begin at 6:00 pm and generally end between 8:00 and 9:00 pm. Swimmers will need to be at the pool by 4:30 for warm-ups. The PTAC pool closes Wednesdays at 4:00 p.m. on Home Swim Meet Days. The maximum number of events a swimmer can participate in during a dual meet is five (5). COSA meets are held on Saturday mornings. The meets begin at 8:00 am and finish before the host pool opens to the public. Upon arrival at a meet, be sure to check in with the Swimmer Check-in Volunteer. This helps the coaches know that all team members have arrived at the pool. Below is a listing of pools and links to maps: Annehurst 711 Granby Pl. W., Westerville, OH Delaware DARTS Diving: Mingo Pool, 500 E. Lincoln Ave. Delaware Swimming: Delaware YMCA Dublin Dolphins 5660 Dublinshire Dr., Dublin, OH Gahanna Swim and Racquet Club 148 Parkland Dr, Columbus, OH Grandview Municipal Pool 1350 Goodale Blvd, Grandview Heights, OH Highland Park Otters 245 S. Spring Rd., Westerville, Marysville 510 Park Ave., Marysville, OH Northland Community Center 6000 Beechcroft Road, Columbus, OH Northwest Swim Club 1064 Bethel Road, Columbus, OH Olympic Swim Club 3450 Indianola Ave. Columbus, Ohio Plain Township (New Albany) 7650 Swickard Woods Blvd, New Albany, OH Westerville JC 200 Otterbein Ave., Westerville, OH Worthington Waves 400 W Dublin Granville Road, Worthington, OH Regular Season Dive Meets Dive meets are held immediately before the W ednesday night meets. Dive meets begin at 4:00 pm. Divers are expected to arrive at the pool at 3:00 pm for warmups. There are 5 dive meets during the season. Age groups are the same as those used in swimming. The number of dives a diver must perform is dependant upon their age group. 8 & Under 2 dives from any group 10 & Under 3 dives from any of 3 groups 12 & Under 4 dives from any of 3 groups 14 & Under 4 dives from any of 3 groups 18 & Under 5 dives from any of 4 groups

5 Team Suits & Apparel PTAC will provide information on the web page every season about where parents can purchase team apparel. The team uses a plain black swim suit. Swim gear such as goggles, bags, and practice caps can be purchased from swim gear stores or local sporting goods stores. What to Bring to the Swim Meet plenty of towels, goggles (spare pair in case one breaks), swim cap, healthy snacks and drinks (lots of water), warm clothes to put on after events (very important on cooler or windy evenings), marker for noting events on swimmer s arm, fun activities for your swimmer to do between events, chairs (some pools do not have many chairs available for use during a meet), blanket (or extra towel) for swimmer or family to sit on, camera Prior to coming to the meet, each swimmer should have the following information printed on their hand as shown below: (E) Event number (H) Heat number (L) Lane number - this number will be blank until you get to the pool. Stroke The coaches will post the swimmers events on the PTAC web page prior to each meet. With the exception of the lane assignment, the other information can be completed prior to coming to the pool. Permanent sharpie marker works best for this task. E H L IM Breast Fly Back What to Bring to the Dive Meet plenty of towels, healthy snacks and drinks (lots of water), chairs (outdoor meet, see above), blanket (or extra towel) for swimmer or family to sit on (outdoor meet) camera

6 How to Decipher the Heat Sheet Regular season heat sheets are relatively simple since there rarely are multiple heats. Each sheet contains the following information: Event number, event title, heat number, status of heat, lane number, swimmer s name, swimmers age for season, swimmer s team, and their time. At the beginning of the season, each swimmer is designated an NT which stands for No Time. After they swim their first meet and earn an official time (not disqualified) then a time will be shown in the last column. The seed time is based on their best time for the event, not necessarily the time from the previous meet. Championship meet heat sheets look different in that there are usually multiple heats for each event. In addition to the information provided in the regular season heat sheet, each heat is designated by it s number out of a total number (ie. Heat 1 of 4). The type of swim, preliminary or finals, is also noted. When swimming championships, it is very important to know which heat your swimmer is enter into so they are placed correctly in the bullpen. The preliminary times listed are based on the regular season. The finals heat sheet (distributed before finals) contain the swimmers championship preliminary times. All relay times are from the regular season since relays are considered final swims. For each event, the Championship meet heat sheets also contains the meet record time, the year achieved, and the name of the record holding swimmer.

7 Regular Season Swim Meet Order of Events GCSL

8 Regular Season Swim Meet Order of Events COSA

9 Dive Meet: One meter diving table

10 Dive Meet: One meter diving table

11 GCSL Swim Championships Championships follow at the end of the GCSL season and will take place at various league pools including Plain Township. Per the league rules, in order to be eligible to swim in the championship meet, swimmers must swim 3 regular season GCSL meets. If a meet has been cancelled due to weather and a swimmer was entered for that meet, the cancelled meet DOES count toward as one of their completed meets. No swimmer will be able to swim more than 5 (3 individuals and 2 relay) events during championships. The coaches will enter swimmers into events based on the times that they achieved during the regular season meets. The top 16 swimmers, based on their morning preliminary event times, will return to swim in the finals sessions. Swimmers with the top 8 preliminary times swim in the finals heat th th Swimmers in the 9 to 16 spots swim in the consolation heat. In addition to the top 16 th th preliminary swimmers, the 17 and 18 place swimmers from the preliminaries will return in the as alternates in case any of the finalist swimmers do not return for their event. Two Day Championships at One Location Swimming champions can be an all day event if the swimmer qualifies for finals or swims individual events and is part of a relay team. On both days, preliminary swimming events are held in the morning, with finals and relays held in the evenings. The events are divided up as follows: Monday Morning Preliminaries: Backstroke Events (W arm-ups ~ 7 am) Individual Medley (IM) Events Monday Evening: Backstroke Finals (W arm-ups ~ 3 pm) Individual Medley (IM) Finals Medley Relay Events Tuesday Morning Preliminaries: Butterfly Events (W arm-ups ~ 7 am) Breaststroke Events Freestyle Events Tuesday Afternoon/Evening: Butterfly Finals (W arm-ups ~ 3 pm) Breaststroke Finals Freestyle Finals Freestyle Relays Two Day Championships at Two Locations When the championships are held at two different pools, events are divided up as follows: Monday Morning Preliminaries: Monday Afternoon Preliminaries: Tuesday Morning Finals: Tuesday Evening Finals: Junior Division - all strokes Senior Division - all strokes Top 16 for Backstroke & IM and all Medley Relays Top 16 for Fly, Breast, Free and all Free Relays

12 Other Swim Championship Tidbits Championship tee shirts and other swim apparel is available to purchase at the meet. In addition, heat sheets are available to purchase for each session (morning and evening) of the meet. Parents will be needed to volunteer at championships also. PTAC will be assigned an area of responsibility for meet. Volunteering takes place in 2 hour shifts. W hen PTAC hosts the championships, additional parent volunteers will be necessary. The team will be assigned a designated area for the swimmers to gather during the meet. Parents should be prepared to bring their own chairs to championships for use in the PTAC tent area. Bleachers are erected near the pool for spectators during events. GCSL Dive Championships Dive Championships are usually held on the weekend just before Swim Championships. In order to qualify for champions, divers must participate in 3 dive meets and be able to perform 3 or more dives. Each age group performs a specific number of dives. In addition, divers must dive within their age group and all divers must perform a three step hurdle and a forward dive. Required Dive: Forward Dive 8 & u Forward dive plus one dive from any group 10 & U FD plus 3 other dives from 3 groups 12 & U FD plus 4 other dives from 3 groups 14 & u FD plus 4 other dived from 4 groups 18 & U FD plus 5 dives from 4 other groups End of Season swim and dive Banquet At the end of the year, the swimmers are rewarded with banquet. The party is usually held in the evening during the week of championships. All swimmers and divers and their families are invited to attend. Each family is asked to being something to share. The coaches present the swimmers with any trophies, medals, or ribbons they earned during the championships. In additions, other awards are given to the swimmer by the coaches.

13 VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES PTAC Swim Team Parent Volunteer Policy In order for the swim meets to run efficiently and for the swim team to have a successful season, each family must put forth a team effort. Parent volunteers are an integral part in how successful our season will be Therefore, each family is required to volunteer for a minimum of 3 times during the regular season at either swim meets or other activities where parent volunteer are needed. Meets can be either home or away. All positions must be filled for meets to run smoothly, therefore if you become unavailable to fulfill your volunteer assignment, you are required to provide a replacement volunteer (ie. Grandparent, aunt/uncle, babysitter, etc.). Each family is expected to be a team player to ensure all positions are covered. A description of each volunteer opportunity is attached. In addition to the general volunteer opportunities, we are also seeking parents that may be interested in volunteering as a coordinator for the following functions Concessions Coordinator Fun Friday Coordinator GCSL Parent Volunteer Coordinator COSA Parent Volunteer Coordinator Banquet Coordinator Timer Coordinator (Head Timer) Stoke/Turn Judge (Must be certified) Volunteering for these positions fulfills your family s regular season requirement. Please indicate if you would like to volunteer for any of the above positions. To help with the team, each family is asked to supply food for one of our two home meets or two of our three home meets (will vary by year). The food will be used at the Gator Concession Stand. Volunteering for Swim Championships is coordinated once is has been determined which swimmers will participate. Each team is assigned specific tasks at each championship meet. These tasks change yearly. The Volunteer Coordinator will work with the parents of swimmers participating in the Championships to fill PTAC required positions. These do not count as part of the regular season volunteer requirements. PTAC uses VolunteerSpot to enable families to easily sign up to volunteer and provide food for the Gator Concession Stand. Once signed up, VolunteerSpot will send reminders to your . SUMMARY Requirement: volunteer to work 3 meets/activities Provide food for 1 / 2 home meet (dependant on number per home meets per season) Coordinator position fulfill regular season requirements Volunteering for Championships is handled separately If a family does not fulfill it s regular season volunteer opportunities, they will be charged $25.00 per missed volunteer session.

14 Board Member The PTAC Board consists of the following positions: President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and five general positions. The swim and dive coaches also sit on the board. Each Board member has specific duties for the season. The parent of any swimmer can volunteer to be on the Board. Call-out for Board members is in the fall after the season is completed. Home Meet Gator Concession Stand At each Gator home swim meet there will a Gator concession stand which will be located under the first umbrella. Parents volunteer to bring something for the concession stand. Sign up is through Volunteer Spot Swim Meet Volunteer Positions GCSL Volunteer Coordinator COSA Volunteer Coordinator Concessions Coordiantor Concession Volunteers Banquet Coordinator Banquet Committee Ribbons Announcer/Starter Coordinates parent volunteers for each Wednesday night swim meet and swim Championships using HotSpot. Responsible for sending s to team parents if all positions are not filled. Will check-in volunteers at each meet and find substitutes if a volunteer cannot fulfill their meet obligation. Coordinates parent volunteers for each Saturday morning meet using HotSpot. Responsible for sending s to team parents if all positions are not filled. Will check-in volunteers at each meet and find substitutes if a volunteer cannot fulfill their meet obligation. Coordinates food donations for the Gator Concession stand during home meets using HotSpot. Responsible for sending s to team parents if all food donation spots are not filled. Oversees the setup and take down of the stand and check-in of food donations. Parents are needed to work the Gator Concession stand during home GCSL meets (Wed. evenings). Coordinates the end of year banquet. Leads a committee of volunteers. Determines menu, food donations, and works with Head Coach on swimming awards that need to be ordered for the swimmers. Parents are needed to help the Banquet Coordinator set up the end of year team banquet. Prepares the ribbons won by swimmers at the meet. Announces and starts each event and calls to bullpen

15 Age Group Bullpen Parents Parents are needed oversee 10 and under swimmers in age group bullpens (swimmer waiting area) and to walk them to lanes for their events. The age groups are: 6 & under girls, 6 & under boys, 8 & under girls, 8 & under boys, 10 & under girls, and 10 & under boys. Two to three parents are needed for each level of swimmer. Head Timer Timers Runners Computer Personnel PTAC will have stop watches available for the timers to use during both home and away meets. Head Timer is responsible for distributing stop watches to timers before and collecting them after each meet. Also responsible for the meet stopwatch which is used to time every event with time being used if a lane timer s stopwatch fails. Three (3) timers are needed for each swim lane. PTAC provides 2 timers for each home meet and 1 timer at each away meet. Timers will record the swimmers time. Two (2) runners are needed for each home meet to gather the event time slips from the timers after each event. The slips are given to the scorer s table for processing. Parents are needed to enter event times into the meet manager computer program. Volunteers will be trained on how to run the meet computer. Stroke & Finishing Judges Swimmer Check-in Fun Friday Volunteers Stroke Judges watch the swimmers to ensure that they properly execute their strokes including touches, turns, and finishes. Finish Judges note the visual order of the swimmers' finishes. Finish judge information is used in case of a timer discrepancy. Signs in each PTAC swimmer at each meet prior to warm-ups. Provides attendance information to meet coaches. Parents are needed to coordinate Fun Fridays including obtaining food donations and set up and take down of snack area. Dive Meet Helpers Score Table Volunteers Two helpers are needed at each meet to work at the score table.

16 Picture Sharing The team s website will be used as a place for parents to share pictures taken at the meets. Many times, besides getting pictures or your swimmers, you may also snap a picture of another swimmer too. Photos may be sent to the webmaster via the swim team ptacswimteam@gmail.com

17 Helpful swimming Terms Beep, Whistle, Starting Pistol Bullpen Disqualification (DQ d) Dual Meet Event False Start Finishing Heat Heat Sheet Individual Medley This may be all that is heard for the swimmer to start racing the event. He/she will hear the announcer state, Swimmers, take your marks. Then the swimmer will hear one of the starting signals (Beep, Whistle, or a Starting Pistol). The swimmer should immediately begin racing. If there has been a false start, the swimmer will hear a continuous beeping or whistle sound or the starting pistol one additional time during the race. He/she should stop swimming and return to the starting block. The bullpen is a designated area where all swimmers must report before they can swim an event. This is where they are organized in advance of their races, in order to keep the meet running smoothly. Failure to report to the bullpen on time will result in the swimmer being scratched from the event. Swimmers aged 13 and up do not have a bullpen requirements. A swimmer may be disqualified if they are not executing the stroke according to USA Swimming rules, if they dive in early, perform an incorrect flip turn or any number of other events. Although this can be upsetting to a child, DQs are very common and should be regarded as part of the learning process. Two teams compete at one location The race in which a swimmer will participate Leaving the blocks before the sound of the starter's signal Finishing a race often relies on split-second judgment. A decision to start a new arm stroke or lengthen the current one, may need to be made. In breaststroke and butterfly, both hands should touch the wall together; in freestyle and backstroke you can make the touch with one hand. Race within a single event A listing of all swimmers by heat and lane assignments at a meet, seeding swimmers according to times submitted. This is when a swimmer swims four different strokes in one race. The order is butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and then freestyle. Special turns are used because swimmers need to change from one stroke to another.

18 Relays Scratch Seed Seed Times Starter Starting Block Stroke Judge Time Standards In relays, the swimmer is one of a team of 4 people each swimming an equal distance. There are 2 relays, the freestyle and the medley. When a swimmer, scheduled for an event, is removed by the coach prior to participating. The placement within an event according to individual time Time used to enter a swimmer in a meet. This determines a swimmer's heat and lane assignment Official responsible for the start of each heat and for calling swimmers to the blocks. Staring blocks are normally used to start an event where swimmers dive into the water. A swimmer may not take any stroke until he/she breaks the surface of the water. If a swimmer is not yet comfortable using the starting block, he/she may choose to start in the water or dive from the side of the pool. Backstroke is the only stroke where you have to start in the water. The official that determines the legality of a swimmer's stroke or his/her turns Qualifying times that have been set by Regional and National Committees for all events.

19 THE STROKES Breaststroke This stroke must be done on the stomach with some part of the head surfacing during each stroke sequence, except on starts and turns when one underwater pull and kick are allowed, in that order. The kick must be a squeezing action with no downward thrust of the legs, all on the same horizontal plane, recovering forward from the chest. The swimmer must touch the wall with both hands simultaneously at all turns and the finish. Backstroke Swimmers must remain on their backs until they touch the wall for a turn or finish. Any means of stroke or kick is allowed. The pennants hanging across the pool are situated to prepare the swimmer for the approaching wall. Butterfly The leg kick(s) must be a downward thrust, which is simultaneous action. The arm pull must be simultaneous and the arms must recover forward over the top of the water only. Both hands must touch the wall simultaneously at all turns and the finish. Freestyle: "Free" means any stroke imaginable, but most swimmers choose the crawl, the fastest of the strokes. Any part of the body may touch the wall at turns and the finish. This is the first stroke emphasized and virtually all new swimmers will compete in freestyle events.

20 Helpful Diving Terms 1 meter Height of a diving board used in GCSL meets Approach Degree of Difficulty Dive Judge Entry Free Position Hurdle Pike Position Scores Three or more steps forward to the end of the board before the hurdle and takeoff. Each dive is assigned a degree of difficulty depending on the type of dive and combinations performed. The rating ranging from 1.2 to 4.1 indicating the difficulty of executing a specific dive. The DD is multiplied by the sum of the judges scores to calculate the overall score for a dive. Diving official who scores each dive. The conclusion of a dive as a diver makes contact with the water. May be either head or feet-first. Upon entry, the body should always be near vertical in a straight position with toes pointed. In a headfirst entry, arms should be stretched above the head, in line with the body with the hands close together. A combination of straight, pike, or tuck positions, to be used in twisting dives only as listed in the DD tables. The final segment of a diver s approach to takeoff. Consists of a spring to the end of the board, taking off from one foot, and landing on two feet at the end of the board. A dive position in which the body is bent at the hips, legs straight at the knees, and toes pointed. Feet should be held together, while positioning of the arms is optional. Dives can be scored from 0 (lowest) up to 10 (highest) points in half point increments. Springboard An adjustable diving board that regulates springiness, either 1- meter (3 3") or 3-meters (9 9") above the water. The springboard projects at least five feet beyond the edge of the pool. Straight Position Takeoff Tuck Position A dive position in which the body is straight without bending at the knees or hips, with feet together and toes pointed. Formerly called the layout position. A diver s lift from the board prior to execution of the dive. May be done from a forward (running or standing) or backward approach, or from an armstand position. A dive position in which the body is bent at the waist and knees, with thighs drawn to the chest and the feet kept close to the buttocks. Feet and knees should be kept together and toes should be pointed.

21 THE Dives Back Dives Takeoff from the end of the board with back toward water. Direction of rotation is away from the board. Includes tuck, pike, or straight Straight Flip Pike Forward Dives Takeoff from a standing or running approach, facing the water. Direction of rotation is away from the board. Includes tuck, pike, or straight Straight Entry Pike

22 Inward Dive Takeoff from a standing position at the end of the board, with back to the water. Direction of rotation is toward the board. Includes tuck, pike, or straight Reverse Dive Takeoff from a standing or running approach, facing the water. Direction of rotation is toward the board. Includes tuck, pike, or straight Somersault Dive A movement in which a diver rotates the body on an imaginary horizontal axis through the hips. This move can be performed in a variety of combinations. Includes tuck, pike, or straight Twisting Dive Any dive with a twist. There are four types of twisting dives: forward, back, reverse and inward

23 PTAC Website The PTAC website can be found at The site is continually updated during the season with meet announcements, links to volunteer opportunities, and meet results. The site contains the following information: Home Page: Announcements, meet record breakers, updated frequently Swimmer Information Page: Links to handbook and team forms, contains practice schedules and team apparel information. Volunteer Information Page: Describes all volunteer opportunities, contains sign up links Coaches Profile Page: Learn about our swim coaches Meet Schedule and Maps Page: Contains the schedules and maps to pools for both GCSL and COSA meets. Meet Results Page: Contains results for current season meets and championships since 2003 and record breakers by meet. Championship Page: Information on championships Photo Gallery Page: password protected page contains meet pictures Links Page: Links useful for parents including links to year round swim clubs Dive Team Page: Dive team information and coaches profiles