Central Texas / Area 13 Aquatics Meet - September 17 Nitro Swimming 15506 #D, West Hwy 71 Bee Cave, TX 78738
2017 Aquatics Coaches Packet PARTICIPATING DELEGATIONS AUSTIN PARKS & RECREATION CEN-TEX ROCKETS DOWN HOME RANCH DREAM OF HOPES RANCH GEORGETOWN ISD HILL COUNTRY STARS LAGO VISTA VIKINGS LEANDER LAZERS MARBLE FALLS ISD MUSTANGS MARBRIDGE LONGHORNS PFLUGERVILLE FALCONS ROUND ROCK ROAD RUNNERS
2017 Special Olympics Texas - Central Texas Area 13 Fall Games Hello HODs & Coaches: (Please do not neglect your responsibility to share the following information with all the parents and/or guardians.) Welcome to the Aquatics Meet, one our Fall Games events. We are thankful to Nitro Swimming for the use of their beautiful facility. Please ask your coaching staff, athletes, families and fans to be respectful of each facility. 1. DRIVING DIRECTIONS TO THE AQUATICS SITE: Nitro Swimming 15506 #D, West Hwy 71 Bee Cave, TX 78738 From the North: (from google map) Take I-35 N Take exit 230 toward TX-71/290 W towards Johnson City. Follow signs and keep right on TX-71 at fork. Nitro Swimming will be on the right. (approx.3 miles past RR 620) From the South: (from google map) Take I-35 N Take exit 231 toward TX-71/290 W towards Johnson City. Follow signs and keep right on TX-71 at fork. Nitro Swimming will be on the right. (approx.3 miles past RR 620)
ATHLETE DROP OFF & PARKING The athletes can be dropped off along near the side entrance on the west side of the Nitro Swimming facility. After drop off please continue to park in any of the available parking spots. Busses should park at the rear of the facility. Parking may be at a premium so please carpool whenever possible. 2. WHAT TO BRING: Teams and athletes are reminded to bring the following: Special food items for athletes on special diets. Athlete Medications. ***Medical Forms*** Towels, flotation devices, chairs or towels to sit on. Aquatics Heat Sheets from GMS that were emailed to the HODs, which will be used in order to calculate award placements. 3. DRESSING ROOMS DIRECTIONS: There is one small changing room in the lobby near the small pool. There are also benches in the restrooms that can be used for changing. The restrooms are located in the lobby behind the front desk. We will have directional signs in place for your convenience. 4. OPENING CEREMONIES: Opening Ceremonies will be held at Nitro Swimming on Saturday morning from approximately 8:10am 8:20am. Opening ceremonies will be held at the awards area in the front of the building. During Opening Ceremonies we will welcome the athletes, recognize the participating delegations, and have an athlete recite the Athletes Oath. 5. AWARDS Once athletes finish their HEATS they will immediately be escorted to the awards area. Awards will be held outside in front of the facility. 6. FOOD: Lunch will be provided by the Knights of Columbus Council 8156. They will cook hot dogs for all of our athletes and volunteers. If your athletes have special dietary needs please plan accordingly. Food and drinks must be kept in the lobby or any outside area and not brought in to the pool area. 7. MEDICAL:
EMS will be available throughout the competitions. A First Report of Injury must be filled out on all medical incidents no matter how minor they seem. Any medications brought to the competition must be in the dosage needed for that day only and must be administered by a designated member of your staff. EMS will not administer medications, prescribed or over the counter. Please keep all medications secured. In case of an emergency requiring medical treatment, athletes will be taken to the nearest available hospital. 8. INSURANCE: SOTX provides secondary insurance coverage only. If any expenses result from an SOTX injury, please first submit all medical bills to your accident insurance company. If unpaid balances remain after processing by the primary insurance company, a claim may be submitted through SOTX. If the injured party does not have insurance, a claim must be submitted. For additional information, please refer to section H of the Sports Information Guide. 9. PROTESTS: Since we do not have access to a Score Board, Results will be done manually. We will have a timer for each Lane and a backup Timer right behind them. If you have a disagreement with any of the results, please share it with your Head Coach and in turn they will address it to me and me ONLY. All protests must be submitted within 30 minutes of the completion of the event being protested. Protests cannot be submitted on judgment calls made by an official. Protests can only be submitted for misinterpretations of the rules by a game official. A copy of the protest form is included in this HOD packet. Completed protest forms should be turned in to Jason Miller. 10. EVALUATION: Special Olympics Texas would like to thank you for participating in the 2017 Special Olympics Texas Central Texas / Area 13 Aquatic Meet. Please take the time to fill out the evaluation form in this packet to provide constructive ideas on how to continue to improve the tournament for the athletes experience. 11. VOLUNTEERS: The volunteers are the backbone of the competitions. Please take time to thank the volunteers you encounter. 12. INCLEMENT WEATHER PLAN:
I will leave a weather / competition update, if there are any weather concerns, on my work voicemail. My work number is 512-491-2964. 13. CELL PHONE: I will have a cell phone with me during the competition weekend if you need to reach me for emergency only. Cell phone number 832-623-3021. 14. TENTATIVE SCHEDULE OF EVENTS Please not that we are still working on the heating. Even though we are emailing you the heat sheets, it doesn t mean that there may not be any changes to the events that are schedule during the 2 sessions. So do not be surprised if there are schedule changes that will be sent to you on either Wednesday or Thursday. 7:30am 8:00am - Teams arrive, coaches check-in, submit athlete scratches 7:45am 8:20am - Warm-ups for morning session 8:10am 8:20am - Opening Ceremonies 8:30am 11:30am Morning Session 11:30am 12:00pm Short Break / Vol. Training for afternoon session 12:00pm - 3:00pm - Afternoon Session 15. MEET FLOW: please share this info & the MAP attached with all your families and guests. Please set up tents in the designated area (see map). We will call all athletes by event (eg all 25m freestyle athletes) from this area. We will make 3 calls for all athletes in an event. (we will not be calling for athletes by heat at this stage we will call all athletes in an event only) Once inside, all athletes in an event will be seated on the bleachers near the front entrance. We will call the athletes by heat (eg M02) from there. Once called they will be escorted to the ready benches to compete. As soon as the Event is over, Athletes will be escorted to the awards area in the parking lot in front of Nitro Swimming.
16. THE RABBIT RULE : Coaches are responsible of making sure that parents/guardians have understood and accepted the Rabbit Rule prior to competition. If a parent complains to any of the competition committee members or myself, please be advised that this parent will be re-directed directly to their coach or HOD. A coach is more than welcome to come and ask us any questions necessary, but the parents should be getting all their questions regarding competition answered by their coaches. Why does this rule exist? Special Olympics Texas feels that the "rabbit rule" is a more fair revision of the Honest Effort Rule that is listed in the SOI Sports Rules. Application of the Special Olympics, Inc. Honest Effort Rule would require any athlete who performs over a 15 percent improvement be disqualified in any sport that has an entry score. The "rabbit rule" was established in athletics, aquatics, bowling and cycling for the purpose of equalizing competition and protecting against inaccurate entry scores or sandbagging in preliminaries. How does the rabbit rule work? The rabbit percentage is determined by using the best score in a heat. For example, in aquatics events, the rabbit percentage is 20 percent. This means that if the fastest time in a particular heat (M2001) is 20 seconds, then the rabbit score for heat M2001 would be: (20 seconds x 80 percent = 16 seconds). This means that any athlete within heat M2001 that swims a time faster than 16 seconds (over a 20 percent improvement) would be identified as a "rabbit" and would have his score removed in the determination of awards for that heat. The other athletes would move up one place. In more detail: Assuming we run the 10M Assisted Swim for males and we have only 2 heats: Heat M2001 Qualifying score Final Score John 00:21:00 00:14:00 Mike 00:22:00 00:20:00 Tim 00:20:00 00:19:00 Heat M2002 Qualifying score Final Score Tom 00:13:00 00:14:00 Larry 00:12:00 00:11:00 Nick 00:14:00 00:13:00 Rabbit Score: 00:16:00 Rabbit Score: 00:09:06 John in Heat M2001 swam faster (14 sec) than the rabbit score (16 sec), which means that his entry score did not accurately reflect his abilities.
Result: The "rabbit" athlete does NOT repeat the race and the "rabbit" is not disqualified. The "rabbit" athlete is instead placed according to the appropriate heat (in which his score fits) and is awarded according to this new placement. A "rabbit" athlete will always be placed in front of the awards stand as an additional award recipient. The "rabbit" will be announced as an "additional second/third/fourth place, etc. finisher" to clarify that their placement was not due to a tie. A "rabbited" athlete will not take the place of another award recipient; they will be dual-awarded accordingly. The rabbit percentage is in place to protect the integrity of Special Olympics competition without penalizing athletes with disqualification.
Special Olympics Texas Protest Form Form must be submitted to the sport rules committee NO LATER than 30 minutes after the conclusion of the event being protested. Date Sport Age Group Time Submitted Event Division (Heat) Athlete's or Team's Name Identification Number Delegation Code Reason for Protest (Please Explain Below) Signature of Sport Head Coach Division of Jury / Referee Protest Approved Protest Denied Signed Time M-19 2017 Special Olympics Texas Sports Information Guide
SPECIAL OLYMPICS TEXAS CENTRAL TEXAS AREA 13 7715 Chevy Chase Dr Suite 120 Austin, TX 78752 Fax 512-835-7756 EVENT EVALUATION 2017 FALL GAMES - AQUATICS Date: September 17, 2017 Locations: Nitro Swimming Bee Cave We appreciate you taking a moment to fill out this competition evaluation. Your input is important and will help us improve the quality of future competitions. You can either leave your completed evaluation with personnel at the volunteer registration table or fax to the number listed above. Please circle the number which best expresses your feelings on the following items: EXCELLENT: 5 GOOD: 4 AVERAGE: 3 FAIR: 2 POOR: 1 1. Pre-event communication to HODs 5 4 3 2 1 NA 2. On site coach registration 5 4 3 2 1 NA 3. Opening Ceremonies 5 4 3 2 1 NA 4. Award Presentation 5 4 3 2 1 NA 5. Competition Director 5 4 3 2 1 NA (Competency /Enthusiasm) 7. Adequate Schedule Distribution 5 4 3 2 1 NA 8. Proper Time Allowances for Event 5 4 3 2 1 NA 9. Adherence to Schedule 5 4 3 2 1 NA 10. Volunteers: Adequate Number 5 4 3 2 1 NA 11. Volunteers: Properly Trained 5 4 3 2 1 NA 12. Volunteers: Identifiable 5 4 3 2 1 NA 13. Adequate Meals 5 4 3 2 1 NA 14. Adequate Supply / Access of Water 5 4 3 2 1 NA 15. Medical: Accessible 5 4 3 2 1 NA 16. Medical: Identifiable 5 4 3 2 1 NA 17. Competition 5 4 3 2 1 NA Organization 5 4 3 2 1 NA Proper Heating 5 4 3 2 1 NA Ability of Officials 5 4 3 2 1 NA Adherence of Schedule 5 4 3 2 1 NA Comments or Suggestions: PLEASE MARK: I am a Coach Volunteer Family Member Other (Back side of page for sport specific comments or suggestion)