2015 Parent
Handbook
“Eat ‘em up Crocs!”
Head Coach-Charlotte French
Assistant Coach-Jeff Carder
Assistant Coach-Amy Hays
Assistant Coach-Eric Henke
Assistant Coach – Jose Talavera
www.colescrocs.org
Crocs’ Swim Team Board of Directors:
President - Glen Orr
Volunteer Coordinator – Giles Eastwood
Treasurer – April Adkins
NWAL Representative - Megan Bradley
Team Apparel - LeAnne Redwine
Sponsorships – Amy Caballero / Melissa Henderson
Website Support - Mary Bridget Maddan
Clerk of Course – Ginger Callahan / Kristin Janger
Concessions – Heather Arnold / Chelly White
The Board of Directors are volunteers and parents of swimmers in the
program. If you have any questions, please contact any of them.
We look forward to another great season!
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Coles Crossing Crocs – 2015
Welcome to the 13th year for the Coles Crossing Swim Team! This handbook is
designed to provide you with most of the information you will need for a
successful season. Please take a few minutes to read it and keep it for reference
during the season.
Crocs are one of 100 active teams in the Northwest Aquatic League (NWAL).
NWAL is the second largest swimming organization in the country, second only to
USA Swimming. Over 15,000 swimmers call NWAL home. Of the 22 divisions,
Crocs will compete in Division W1 again this year. We are looking forward to a
year of fun, growth and continued community support.
Good communication is essential for a successful team. Please check your emails
and our website regularly throughout the season. Please do not assume that rain
will automatically cancel a practice or a meet.
Summer Swim League goes very quickly and can seem overwhelming at times.
We hope that you will find this handbook useful in answering all of the many
questions that come up throughout the season.
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2015 Calendar of Events
April 19
New swimmer safety check (8 & under)
April 19
Parent Meeting
April 20
Practice begins
May 8
Pre-season party & tent auction
May 9
Time Trials (HOME – Practice Meet)
May 16
Swim Meet vs. Wortham (HOME)
May 23
Swim Meet vs. Glennloch Farms (AWAY)
May 30
Swim Meet vs. Stonegate (AWAY)
June 6
Swim Meet vs. Fairfield (HOME)
June 8 & 9
Summer Thunder (TBD)
June 13
Swim Meet vs. Spring-Cypress (FLEET POOL)
June 20
Divisional Championship Swim Meet (Cy Ranch)
June 22
Team Party (Coles Crossing Community Center Pool)
June 26-28
Invitational Swim Meets (Red, White & Blue/Ponderosa)
Friday nights from 6:00 p.m. -7:00 p.m. before each meet join us at the pool
for a pep-rally as our coaches get our swimmers pumped up for the meet!
There will plenty of food, fun and friends!
*Qualifying swim times apply.
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SWIM MEETS
During the 2015 swim season, there is a practice meet, five dual meets, one
divisional meet and several invitational meets (for qualified swimmers). All
dual and divisional meets are on Saturday mornings. Swim meets start at
8:30 a.m. and end approximately around 2:00 p.m. Swimmers must “circlein” (promptly by 7:00 a.m.) If you are swimming in a relay event, you must
also “circle-in” for the relay! Please be prompt for all swim meets!
Attendance at swim meets is expected. All swimmers are encouraged to
attend all meets. Swim meets are a great way to measure improvement and
strive to reach goals.
Relay Etiquette
It is very important that all swimmers participate in the relays that they are
assigned. Unless there is an emergency, backing out of a relay or leaving the
meet early, is unfair to the swimmers and their parents who have been waiting
throughout the day for that event and to the coaches who spend a significant
amount of time preparing the relay entries. Swimmers who do not participate
in the relays will not be selected for future relay events. Relays, prepared by
our coaches, are selected to give the team the best possible chance for
accumulating team points.
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2015 Practice Schedule
School Schedule (April 20 – June 4)
Practice will be weekly Mon - Thurs with private lessons & Pep Rallies on Fri.
Age Group
Time Schedule M-Th
15-18
3:30 – 4:30 PM
13-14
3:45 – 4:30 PM
6U
4:30 – 5:00 PM
7-10 White
5:00 – 5:30 PM
7-10 Green
5:30 – 6:15 PM
7-10 Black
6:15 – 7:00 PM
11-12
7:00 – 7:45 PM
**No Practice on Memorial Day, May 25th**
** No Practice on Friday’s Ever**
Summer Schedule (June 8 – 18)
Practice will be weekly Mon - Thurs with private lessons & Pep Rallies on Fri.
Age Group
Time Schedule M-Th
11/12
8:00 – 9:00 AM
7-10 Green/Black
9:00 – 10:00 AM
13/14 & 15/18
10:00 – 11:00 AM
6U & 7-10 White
11:00 – 11:45 AM
**Once morning practices begin, there will be 2 evening practices (Tues and Thurs) for those
that have summer school or work conflicts.
10 & Under from 5:30 – 6:15 PM
11 & Up from 6:15 – 7:00 PM
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Invitational Meet Schedule (June 22 – 25)
Practice will be weekly Mon - Thurs with private lessons & Pep Rallies on Fri.
Age Group
Time Schedule M-Th
10 & Under
8:30 – 9:30 AM
11 & Up
9:30 – 10:30 AM
Notice to Parents about practice:
We have a very large team, therefore, very large practices. In order to
keep practice effective for the swimmers please abide by the
following:
Please stay off the Deck (Concrete area around pool).
Please do not try to talk to the coaches during practice - they need focus
on the kids. You can talk to them when practices are over or contact
them via e-mail [email protected].
Coaches have enough to do coaching the swimmers in the pool; they
cannot keep an eye on swimmers/siblings playing on the pool grounds. If
you drop your swimmers off before practice or allow them to stay after
practice, they will be unsupervised while not in the pool.
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Volunteers
Swim teams take a large number of volunteer to run effectively. As a member of
the team, your family is required to volunteer throughout the season. You must
sign-up for volunteer positions prior to each event. Positions are allocated on a
first-come, first-serve basis. Each family is required to work a minimum of 6 shifts
during the season and 1 shift at the divisional meet if they have a swimmer in the
meet. A $250 deposit, by check, is collected at the beginning of the season.
Families that complete the required volunteer shifts will have their checks
destroyed at the end of the season. Families that do not fulfill their volunteer
obligations will have their checks cashed.
Also, please note that any family may not sign up for more than 2 shifts per meet.
We prefer that you only sign up for one per meet but we understand if some of
you are tyring to get some taken care of due to conflicts later in the season.
However, if some of you load up on the front end, other who cannot get slots
now will have to load up later in the season due to no fault of their own.
It is important to note that most of the volunteer shift times are estimates. For
example: If you sign up to be a timer from 8:30 – 11:30. Your shift starts when
the meet starts (8:30) and ends at a certain event number, usually event 39.
11:30 is an estimate of what time that will happen. Another example is
takedown. The time frame is an estimate. We start taking down 15 minutes or so
before the meet ends and continue until the job is finished.
Please check the Events tab of our web site to sign-up for your volunteer shifts.
Sign up will begin at 3:00 p.m. the Sunday before the meet.
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2015 Volunteer Positions
Meet Volunteer Positions:
Most of these jobs are performed in shifts. The first shift runs from Event #1 to Event #40. The
second shift begins after event #40. If you sign up to work the ready bench, timer, scribe,
computer helper/runner you will either work the first or second shift. Please note that the times
for these jobs are only an estimate.
Pep Rally - Help with the pep rally on Fridays before the meet. This would include writing
numbers on swimmers arms, assisting with planning activities for the evening, etc.
Shepherd Tent Parents – Supervise assigned age group tent and assist them to ready bench.
Ready Bench – Line up swimmers according to heat sheet and supervise them as they are
waiting on the ready bench for their next event.
Computer helper/runner - Help with computers, run swimmer lists to scribes, and pick up
recorded lists, post meet results.
Head Timer – Coordinate timers on day of meet and provide on-deck timing backup during
events. Timing experience required.
Meet Timers – Three volunteers per pool lane time the swimmers. Easy job, training takes one
minute.
Meet Announcer - Uses PA system to call swimmers to the events. Announces events, the
score, and makes general announcements, etc. Plays upbeat music to make sure everyone is
having a good time.
Scribes – Record swimmers’ results.
Concessions - Assist with concessions (food preparation, food sales, or grilling). Also, includes
set-up/clean-up, and picking up food or ice to bring to the meets.
Bathroom (boys/girls) – Keep bathrooms stocked and tidy during meet.
End of meet takedown - Take down tents, put away benches, etc. Ensure pool is ready to
open to public.
Refreshments - Take water and lemonade to timers, scribes, computer table, and officials.
Heat sheets - Sell at meets.
Set-up - Responsible for getting everything ready for meet (tents, PA, roping off areas).
Swimmer sign-in - Help “circle in” swimmers the morning of the meet.
Trash - Check on trashcans around pool and change out bags of full cans during meet.
Information Booth – Give information to team members and visitors. You should not
volunteer for this if it is your first year on swim team.
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F.A.Q’s
SKILLS: The four competitive swimming strokes are freestyle, backstroke,
breaststroke and butterfly. The combination of all four strokes is called individual
medley (IM).
COMPETITION: Each swim meet offers a variety of events and distances,
depending on the age group and classification. Each swimmer will have a limit to
the number of events he or she may swim each day, depending on the meet rules.
On turns and finishes, some part of the swimmer must touch the wall. Most
swimmers do a flip turn for distances longer than a 25.
Backstroke-consists of an alternating motion of the arms with a flutter kick
while on the back. On turns, swimmers may rotate to the stomach and
perform a flip turn and some part of the swimmer must touch the wall. The
swimmer must finish on their back.
Breaststroke-requires simultaneous movements of the arms on the same
horizontal plane. The hands are pressed out from in front of the breast in a
heart shaped pattern and recovered under or on the surface of the water.
The kick is a simultaneous somewhat circular motion similar to the action of
a frog. On turns and at the finish, the swimmer must touch the wall with
both hands simultaneously at, above or below the water surface.
Butterfly-features a simultaneous recovery of the arms over the water
combined with an undulating dolphin kick. In the kick, the swimmer must
keep both legs together. Both hands must touch the wall simultaneously
on the turns and the finish.
Individual medley-commonly referred to as the IM, features all four
strokes. In the IM, the swimmer begins with the butterfly, then changes
after one-fourth of the race to backstroke, then breaststroke and finally
freestyle
Medley relay-all four strokes are swum. The first swimmer swims
backstroke, the second breaststroke, the third butterfly, and the final
swimmer anchors the relay with freestyle.
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Freestyle relay-events consist of four freestylers, each swimming one
quarter of the total distance of the event.
TYPES OF MEETS
During a summer swim season, there are several types of meets:
Time Trials – this first meet of the season is a Crocs-only meet to establish
swimmer seed times. Under NWAL rules, “no swimmer may be entered in a
competitive swim event unless entered by fastest time achieved at an official
meet or time trial.” Time Trials are NOT OPTIONAL; if your swimmer is not
timed, they will not be able to swim dual meets. Time trials are ran just like a
regular meet to give new swimmers the true meet experience.
Dual Meets – these are the meets we swim against other teams in our Division.
The number of meets will depend on the number of teams swimming in our
Division that year and/or our ability to schedule out-of-division meets.
Divisionals – this is an end-of-season meet in which all teams in our division
participate to determine a Division Champion. All swimmers are encouraged to
participate; there are no qualifying times however, you must have participated in
2 Dual-Meets.
Invitational’s – these meets require swimmers to meet qualifying times in order
to participate. While these meets are not part of our team’s regular season, we
do coordinate registration and provide practices. However, it is the swimmer’s
responsibility to register and pay for their events.
RIBBONS & AWARDS
Swimmers receive several types of awards for their accomplishments. These
will be placed in the family folders, which are plastic bins that include hanging
folders with a tab for each family. These bins are brought out and placed on a
table at the entrance to the pool usually at every practice. This is where you
will find your child’s ribbons after each meet.
Types of Ribbons:
Place Ribbons--These are awarded to swimmers finishing 1st through 6th
place in individual events, and to the 1st – 3rd relay team winners at our
home meets.
Personal Best Ribbons--Every swimmer 10 & under who improves over
their best time in a given event, will receive a Personal Best Ribbon.
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Heat Ribbons--During the meet, scribes will hand heat ribbons noting the
event and swimmers’ time to swimmers age 10 and under from each
participating team.
AT THE MEET
Before the Meet Starts:
Upon arrival, take your child over to circle in. This is extremely important and is
our only way to know who is at the meet. These circle-in sheets will come down
usually about an hour before the meet begins.
After circling in, take your child (10 & under) over to their age group tent and
check in with the Shepherd tent parents. This adult will get your child from the
tent to the ready bench when it is time for that event. The team suggests the
swimmer sit in their age group tent with their peers to get to know their
teammates and to have fun. It is important to let your child know where you will
be seated. That way if they need anything from food, sunscreen, potty breaks or
just a good luck hug they will know where to find you.
Next your swimmer will now get his cap and goggles and report to the pool for
warm-ups per swim group. The Meet Announcer will call the levels to the pool.
At some point before the meet begins, it is suggested that you write the
swimmers event number on his or her hand in ink. This helps them remember
what events he is swimming and what event number to listen for when they call
events to the ready bench.
A heat sheet is available for sale in the concession area of the pool. It lists all
swimmers in each event in order of seedtime.
Meet Starts:
A swimmer’s event is called over the loudspeaker and the Shepherd Tent Parents
will assemble the swimmers and take them to the ready bench. Swimmers need
to bring their caps and goggles with them and listen carefully for their name so
they will be placed into the correct lane. After each swim, the swimmer needs to
ask the timers (person behind the blocks at each lane) his/her time. The swimmer
should then go immediately to their coach. The coach will discuss the swim with
each swimmer.
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Next, it is time to relax and wait for the next event. Results are usually posted
somewhere at the meet or can be found on our website the following day.
Awards/Ribbons are often gathered for a team and given to the coach at the end
of the meet. The awards/ribbons are placed in the swimmer’s folder back at our
home pool.
Watching Your Child’s Event
When it is time to watch your child swim, come out on deck and stand behind the
rope or sit in the spectator bleachers (at away pools or indoor locations). When
your child finishes go back to your set up area, so that other parents will be able
to see their swimmer.
Parking Guidelines for Meets
During home meets, please park all cars in Sampson Elementary parking lot.
Computer Table
Please DO NOT approach the computer table during a meet. The people at that
table are busy running the swim meet program. If you have any questions, please
go to the Information booth or contact a board member.
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Swimmer’s Checklist for Meets
1. Team Swimsuit, goggles and team cap
2. At least 2 towels
3. Team T-Shirt
4. SUNSCREEN!!!!
5. Water!!!!!!
6. Healthy and nutritious snacks
7. Books, Games and activities
8. Concession stand money
9. Sharpie Marker or Ball-Point Pen to write your child’s event numbers on their
hand/arm.
10. Chair & tent
****Be sure to label ALL of your swimmer’s belongings****
Go Crocs!
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