Highland Park Hurricanes

"A" Meets

The "A" Meets are offical NVSL scheduled meets that are cordinated with other teams in our Divsion. All"A" Meets begin promptly at 9:00 AM on Saturday. For home "A" Meets, coaches will inform swimmers of the arrival time. Warm ups typically begin at 8:00 AM. For away "A" Meets, arrive in the parking lot at 8:00 AM, warm ups begin at 8:20 AM. Also, a swimmer may become ill and we may need a last minute substitute. Often, the winning team of the meet is decided by a relay. This part of the meet is very exciting!

All swimmers must check with the head coach if he/she must leave before the end of a meet.

"A Meets" are scored, with the First, second, and thirst place winners scoring point for their team. Ribbons are earned for individual swimmers that show their place and time for each event. Swimmers are allowed to swim two individual events and one relay (unless included in Mix-age). Events for Saturday meets:

• Freestyle
• Backstroke
• Breaststroke
• Butterfly
• Medley relays
• Freestyle relays
• Mixed-age relays

Swimming Up

Occasionally, a child is asked to “swim up” at an “A” meet. This means that the swimmer is being asked to swim in an event in an older age group. For example, a 9 or 10-year-old girl may be asked to swim against 13-14 year olds. This situation arises because the team has more than enough capable swimmers in the younger age group, and less than the allowable three in the older group. Please encourage your child to accept this challenge, and view it as an indication of confidence in your swimmer by the coach. This is optional, but it greatly helps the team, even if the swimmer finishes last! Empty lanes do not work in our favor.

"B" Meets: 

“B” meet events differ from those of “A” meets in three ways. First, “B” meets allow swimmers 5 and 6 years old to compete separately. (The youngest “A” meet age group is ‘8 and under.’) These children would feel discouraged if they always had to swim against 8 year olds at the meets. “B” meets also have an ‘8 and under’ 25 meter butterfly event, which is not swum at the “A” meets. We will also have a 100-meter Individual Medley event at the “B” meets. This event is when a swimmer swims 25 meters of butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle continuously.

A schedule of “B” or Developmental meets is arranged, usually with our closest neighboring pools. They are held on Monday evenings and begin at 6 p.m. No team score is kept, but individual times are recorded for use in later meets and to record swimmers’ improvement. These meets serve several purposes. First, they provide a chance for younger and less accomplished swimmers to swim in a competitive environment. “B” meets are organized and officiated under the same standards as “A” meets. Swimmers are prohibited from participating in a “B” meet event if they have placed 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in that event at the previous Saturday’s “A” meet. This restriction provides “B” meet swimmers with a more ‘level playing field’, increasing their confidence while developing their skills. This also helps “A” meet swimmers to develop their off strokes.

Swim Suit/Equipment Sale for Swim Team

The team suits and swimming equipment (goggles and fins) will be available for purchase from Sport Fair. First, the representative from Sport Fair (swimming store) will come to the Super Sunday Sign Up on Sunday. The suits and other swimming supplies will also be available during swim practice at a date to be announced.

All swimmers should have at least two pairs of goggles and one pair of fins.

If you are not able to purchase the suit at these times, please visit Sport Fair in Arlington. (703) 524-9500. They are located at 5121 Lee Highway. Sport Fair is on Lee Highway between Glebe Road and George Mason Drive, on the same side of the road as Dominion Electric. Make sure that you tell the personnel at Sport Fair that your child swims for Highland Park, so that you’ll be directed to the correct suit and given the team discount.

Swimmers are not required to purchase a suit in order to participate on the HP swim team. Please be aware that the suits will wear out with frequent use, so have your swimmers save their team suits for meets and wear ‘practice’ suits for practices. The Sport Fair store representatives will bring a variety of practice suits to the pool for purchase. Please encourage your child to save his/her team suit for the meets.

Swim Caps

Team caps for swimmers will be distributed to all team members. Swimmers must wear caps during meets and practices. Caps help the swimmers to go faster and they are more easily identified as HP swimmers by the distinctive caps. One latex cap will be given to each swimmer free of charge if a swimmer does not have a cap from last year.

Swim Team Pictures

TBD

Social Events for Swim Team

In addition to introducing the team members to competition, the swim team is designed to build team camaraderie and for the children to have fun. Information will also be posted on the team bulletin boards before each activity. 2021 activities will be planned as appropriate given COVID-19 precautions. 

Team Records

When a new team record is set, the new record and name/names of the swimmer(s)/diver(s) will be added to the team records. These will be posted in the display case in the bathhouse lobby.

Ribbons for Swimmers

Ribbons are awarded for 1st through 6th place finishes in both A and B meets. If a swimmer disqualifies (DQs) he/she will receive a ‘Competitor’ ribbon. ‘Personal best’ ribbons are given to each swimmer every time he/she improves his/her times.

Trophies/Awards for Swimmers

A trophy is awarded to every swim team member who participates in at least two meets during the season. (“A” and “B” meets count.) These are given out at the end of the season Award Picnic.

Points are earned in four ways. Five points are earned for each first place finish. Three points are earned for each second place finish. One point is earned for each third place finish. If a swimmer “swims up” in an age group that is higher than his/her actual age, points may be awarded to the child based upon how his/her performance compared to the next fastest swimmer in their appropriate age bracket..

If the weather is inclement at the time a meet is to begin, we will try to wait and begin the meet late. We will also interrupt a meet if a storm, that has lightning and thunder, comes close. Your child’s safety is the most important thing, so a meet will not begin/continue until we are confident that any storm has passed (30 – 45 minutes at least). We will strictly follow the NVSL’s and the pool’s guidelines on this. Make a plan with your swimmer so that he/she will know where to meet you in the event of a delay/interruption due to weather. A designated adult must be available during each meet to be responsible for each swimmer.

Please stay in a safe place while waiting out a storm and check with the Team Rep for information about a starting time or cancellation.

If a meet is canceled, then every attempt will be made to make up this meet. However, some circumstances are beyond our control and cannot be helped.

Swimmers/divers and parents should come to each meet prepared to deal with the weather. This may require anything from jackets to rain gear, for cool or wet weather, to light colored cotton t-shirts for hot weather. Books, playing cards and quiet games are helpful diversions in the event of delays. Drinking water is also good to have on hand both for the parents and swimmers.

Please do not allow your child to bring expensive toys/equipment to the pool. The pool/swim team management is not responsible for lost items.

The Relay Carnival is competitive meet and is for relay teams only. It is the championship relay meet for our division. We will select the fastest swimmers to be on the relay teams for this meet. The final selection of swimmers will be made after the B meet typically two days prior to this meet, which is on a Wednesday. Each division has this meet on the same evening. We will take our best relay teams to this meet. If any of our relay teams happen to finish in the top 18 places in the league, then that team will advance to the All Star Relay Meet the next week.

The Divisional Meet, scheduled for Saturday, July 20th, is the Division Individual Championship meet. This meet is commonly referred to as ‘Divisionals.’ Each team is allowed to enter two swimmers in each event and a swimmer cannot enter more than two events. If a team does not have two swimmers for an event, the other teams can bid in other swimmers to fill empty lanes. The swimmers with the fastest times earn spots at this meet. The Team Rep and Head Coach will ask swimmers who are likely to be bid in to attend the meet. Last year, we bid in several swimmers, and they all did very well. Some even dropped lots of time and finished in the top six!

DQs

You will hear the term “DQ” frequently. This refers to a disqualification. There are rules to be followed in swimming, such as performing the strokes correctly, not starting early and finishing/turning correctly. Almost every swimmer gets at least one DQ each summer. The coaches will work with each swimmer if he/she is disqualified so that he/she can become ‘legal’ in that stroke.

Details…

Everyone wants their children to perform their best during meets. To prevent children from exhausting themselves before a meet, parents should restrict their children’s playtime at the pool on Fridays before an “A” meet and Mondays before a “B” meet.

Swimmers will be notified by Thursday afternoon if he/she will be scheduled for the upcoming Saturday “A” meet. Please confirm attendance as requested.

Swimmers will consult with the coaches to choose the events that they will be swimming at the “B” meets.

All swimmers are encouraged to swim all four strokes in competition during the swim season. This can be done during “A” and/or “B” meets.

“A” meets begin at 9 a.m. sharp. If we are hosting the “A” meet, our swimmers need to be at Highland Park by 7:50 a.m. to be ready to warm up in the water at 8 a.m. If we are the visiting swim team, then the swimmers need to be at the host pool by 8:00 to be ready to warm up at 8:15 a.m.

“B” meets begin at 6 p.m. and last about 3 hours. If we are hosting the meet at Highland Park, the swimmers must be at Highland Park by 4:50 p.m. If we are visiting another pool, the swimmers should be at that pool by 5:15 p.m. This will allow for enough time to settle in and warm up.

“A” meets begin at 9 a.m. and usually end about 11:30 a.m. If it is a home meet, please plan to have a hot dog lunch in the picnic area after the meet with the team. All HP swim team members and their families are welcome.

Snack bars/concession stands are available at all meets unless otherwise posted.

Teams are assigned to a team area at the host pool. Swimmers are expected to remain in the team area under the direction of a coach and team area parent for the duration of the meet. Parents are asked to stay out of the team area with the exception of the designated Team Area Parent who is assigned to assist in the team area for each meet.