SIGNAL MOUNTAIN SWIM CLUB GREEN GIANTS PARENT HANDBOOK INTRODUCTION Welcome to the Signal Mountain Green Giants! We are so glad you will be joining us for a summer of swimming instruction, competition, and fun! This handbook is a general reference and the calendar of events should be consulted for exact dates and times. Competitive swimming is a fascinating and rewarding sport. Learning to swim competitively takes time, and swimming well requires endurance. As a result, the summer swim team experience does require a significant time commitment from athletes and their parents / guardians. But we are sure you will find the rewards your swimmer reaps well worth the effort. The season begins the Tuesday following Memorial Day and concludes with our end-of-the-year picnic the Sunday of City Meet weekend. Swim practice is held mornings Monday through Friday, plus Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. Your athlete does NOT have to attend every practice! Of course, the more practices athletes attend, the more quickly they will improve (see Attendance for more information). Meets are held most Monday and Thursday evenings during the season. Please see our calendar on our website for a complete schedule. During practice, your swimmer will learn and practice proper stroke mechanics and build endurance through conditioning exercises. At dual meets, our team competes against other teams in our Chattanooga Area Swim League (CASL). Half of the meets are held at our home pool at the Signal Mountain Town Center. The rest are held away, at pools throughout the Chattanooga area, and as far away as Dalton, GA. In addition, we hold our Sprout Meet a special meet designed to provide competition experience for younger and less experienced athletes at home. The season culminates in the City Meet, where teams from the entire CASL compete for individual and team honors. Our coaches strive to create a challenging yet nurturing team environment, where all athletes have the chance to learn, grow, and work toward their full potential as swimmers while having fun and enjoying their summer. Throughout the season, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact any Signal Mountain Swim Club Board member, in person or by email at greengiantsswimming@gmail.com. The coaches are always willing to answer your questions, as well, during designated times after practice (see Our Coaches for more information). We look forward to a great season! GO GREEN GIANTS!!!!!
REGISTRATION AND FEES Swimmers 12 & under * first and youngest $141 Swimmers 12 & under * second swimmer $116 Swimmers 12 & under * each additional swimmer $106 Swimmers 13 & 14 $101 Senior Swimmer $56 Can I try before I buy? Can I get a refund if my child doesn t like competitive swimming? Unfortunately, no. Due to insurance requirements, ALL registration fees must be paid before your child gets in the water. WHO CAN JOIN THE TEAM The swim team is for children and teens through high school age. Seniors graduating from high school in 2015 must be no older than 19 on June 1 to qualify for competition. What if my child does not know how to swim? Can he / she still be a member of the team? We require that team members be able to swim at least one width of the pool (25 yards) without stopping or touching bottom and be comfortable doing it. They should also be comfortable swimming in water over their heads. Swim team instruction is geared toward helping children who know how to swim refine their strokes and become stronger. Children who join the team to learn to swim can benefit from the experience, but may not enjoy the competitive aspect. If your child is not a swimmer when he / she joins the team, supplementing our coaches instruction with outside stroke lessons may help your child progress more quickly. If you wish to pursue this option, the coaches (including junior coaches) can provide you with names of possible instructors. New swimmer evaluations will be held during the first practice. This will be for first-time swimmers only, to give the coaches an opportunity to assess the swimmers abilities in the water.
OUR COACHES Our swimming coaches this year are Jake Sosna (Head Coach) and Will Hunt (Assistant Coach) What the Coaches Do The coaches primary responsibility is to ensure the safety of our athletes during practices and meets. They conduct all practices, during which they instruct the athletes in techniques of meet participation: strokes, turns, and starts. They are also responsible for constructing the roster of swimmers for each dual meet, and deciding who will swim in relays. With the help of the head timer and the head scorekeeper, the coaches also motivate swimmers to work hard by using group incentives, personal rewards (including personal best time ribbons), and team-building activities. Coaches work to ensure that each swimmer feels a part of the team and is able to measure his or her improvement as the season progresses. Communicating with the Coaches and the Team While the coaches primary responsibility is to the children, we realize that parents / guardians will have questions about their child s progress. Coaches will be available to answer parents questions at the conclusion of morning and evening practices and at designated times throughout the season. Please do not engage the coaches in conversation before or during practice time or at meets, as this causes severe safety problems. Please direct questions regarding swim team logistics to one of the parent volunteers at the pool counter during practices and meets.
ATTENDANCE Practices We certainly do not expect all athletes to attend all practices! However, the more time your child spends in the water, the more rapidly he / she will see improvement in strokes, starts, and turns. Plus, attending as many practices as possible allows your child to experience the feeling of friendship that grows among the regulars. The more practices a child attends, the more comfortable he or she will be with coaches and teammates. This camaraderie makes coming on cool or rainy days not only more pleasant, but FUN! Meets Many parents wonder whether their children should come to meets, especially when they are new and / or not assigned to swim for team points. The answer is YES! Every swimmer swims at least twice during every meet, if not for points, then in exhibition heats (see Swim Format ). Swimming is a team sport, and ALL team members are important! Plus, meets are FUN! Meets begin at either 5:30 or 6, depending on the host, with warm-ups starting between 4:30 and 5 p.m. Meet specifics can be found in the calendar by clicking on the event for more details. Most meets usually end around 8 pm. Meet RSVPs IMPORTANT: On our website calendar beside each swim meet is an RSVP button. No later than 48 hours before each meet, we need you to click on that button and say YES or NO to each of your swimmers. The RSVP command allows you to enter for each child individually so that if Johnny is away at camp and won t be swimming, Sally can still RSVP that she will swim in the meet. Please be careful, especially if you have more than one swimmer! The NO button will prevent the coaches from entering that swimmer in the lineup. Why are meet RSVP s critical? For each meet, coaches must submit a line-up showing who will compete in what event. Preparing the line-up takes several hours and is usually done the night before the meet. Please be considerate of the coaches and board members time. If you wait until the day of the meet to tell the coaches that your child will not attend, the coaches may have to make many changes, which is frustrating and time consuming for them. In addition, once the team has turned its line-up into the meet officials, around 10 am the day of the meet, no more changes may be made. If your child is a no-show, we may not substitute another athlete in his or her events, thus losing chances for our team to win points. If you have indicated you will be at the meet, please follow through, barring illness or emergency. We are going to be out of town part of the summer. Can my child still participate? Yes! But RSVP for the dates you will be out of town, as described above.
Weather When I wake up to an overcast or rainy day, should I bring my child to practice? Yes! The athletes practice in all kinds of weather, except when there is thunder or lightning. No practice will be held in stormy conditions. The coaches will be very careful of the athletes safety in this regard. If thunder or lightning begins after you drop your child off for practice, please return to pick him / her up. What about meets? Because weather can change rapidly in the Tennessee summer, meets are not usually cancelled ahead of time for weather concerns. Even if it is raining, storming, or threatening to storm, please bring your child to the meet. After the meet begins, if thunder or lightning appears, athletes will leave the pool until the weather clears. If stormy conditions persist, the meet may be called, or stopped and rescheduled, at that point. EQUIPMENT / TEAM STORE The team store carries a variety of items, including goggles, caps, practice suits, bungee cords, etc. Each team member receives one team swim cap and t-shirt, included in the registration fee, which should be worn during meets. To protect your athlete s eyes from chlorine irritation, we strongly recommend swim goggles most children cannot comfortably practice or compete without them. Please remember that all purchases must be paid for when they are ordered. For the first two weeks of the season, the team store will be open each day during all practices for purchases and orders. After this period, the team store will be open during the morning practice session on Mondays and Wednesdays and during the evening practice session on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The team store will also be open for every home meet, 30 minutes before the meet starts and for about 30 minutes into the meet. Our goal is to provide the team with convenient access to reasonably priced, quality merchandise. We encourage you to support the team store throughout the season. TEAM COMMUNICATIONS / MAILBOXES Our web page www.greengiants.swim-team.us is the best compilation of information for our families. We try to send out email blasts of important updates, but they will also appear on the website. On the web page you will find meet times and directions, practice changes, and other announcements / information. We subscribe to a service called REMIND. This app sends short, time sensitive information out via text message. This is the best way for us to communicate cancellations, We are also on Facebook and Twitter and will update this site regularly. The team uses two large plastic file drawers as mailboxes for the swimmers, coaches, and Board. They are located at the pool window when there are items to be collected. Please check these folders weekly.
DUAL MEETS At a dual meet, two teams compete against each other. The coaches will choose three swimmers plus one alternate in each age group to swim for team points in each event. This information will be linked to the calendar event on the website by 3 pm the day of the meet and available for review at the table outside the pool at home meets or with our assistant coaches at away meets. Swimmers may be entered in a maximum of three individual events and two relays. Four swimmers of the same age group make up the relay teams. At all meets, exhibition heats will be swum in some strokes for swimmers who are not swimming for team points. Times will be recorded for all swimmers at the meets exhibition and point swimmers alike. Swim Format Events are always held in the same order, as follows: Event Heats Comment 1. Freestyle Exhibition 8 & under, 9 & 10, and 11 & Exhibition swims first, then point heats 12 Team point heats, 8 & under through Senior 2. Breast stroke Team point heats, 8 & under through Senior No exhibition 3. Medley relay One team for points (A team) Four swimmers each swimming a Possibly 1-3 (B, C, D) exhibition teams different stroke in this order: back, breast, butterfly, freestyle Point & exhibition heats swim at same 4. IM (Individual Medley) time Team point heats, 9 & 10 through Senior One swimmer swimming four strokes in this order: butterfly, back, breast, freestyle No exhibition, no 8 & under 5. Backstroke Exhibition 8 & under, 9 & 10, and 11 & 12 Team point heats, 8 & under through Senior 6. Butterfly Team point heats, 8 & under through Senior No exhibition 7. Freestyle relay One team for points (A team) Possibly 1-3 (B, C, D) exhibition teams Scoring is as follows: Exhibition swims first, then point heats Four swimmers each swimming freestyle Point & exhibition heats swim at same time Individual Events 1st Place - 5 points 2nd Place - 3 points 3rd Place - 2 points 4th Place - 1 point Relay Events 1st Place - 8 points 2nd Place - 4 points Teams are assigned lanes at the beginning of each meet. For example, Signal Mountain may be assigned lanes 1-4 and those will be our lanes for the entire meet. Individuals or relay teams with the fastest times swim in the center lanes, with slower times swimming in the outside lanes. Parents should help their children focus not on their lane assignments, but rather on doing their best and improving their times. Timers are placed at the end of each lane and will tell swimmers their times as they exit the pool. Swimmers should then go to their rest area to dry off and write their times down. It is really helpful to keep a record of your child s time in each event. While children can get caught up in winning or coming in second, a swimmer s most important goal is to drop his / her time in a particular event a little each week. Swimmers who swim personal best times at the meets will find ribbons in their mailboxes at the next practice.
What Competitors Should Bring 1. A couple of towels for drying off 2. T-shirt, sweatshirt, sweat pants, and hat (for sun protection) 3. A book, cards, or quiet games to share (we have had children lose Gameboys bringing valuables is not recommended) 4. Swim suit, cap, goggles; backup pair of goggles, cap and swim suit; log book, and pencil 5. Sun block, eardrops, bug spray, band aids, healthy snack and plenty of drinking water to prevent dehydration 6. A small cooler with healthy drinks and snacks (water, sports drinks, fruit, protein bar) What Observers Should Bring 1. Chairs or blankets to sit on 2. Golf umbrella for shade 3. Sun block 4. Bug spray 4. Keep in mind you will be there several hours. Concession stands (of varying quality) are usually available, but you may prefer to bring a cooler with snacks and a picnic dinner. SPROUT MEET The Sprout Meet, held at the Signal Mountain Pool, is an invitational meet hosted by the Signal Mountain Swim Club. The meet is geared for new and developing athletes, with the emphasis on the individual athlete rather than the team. This meet is an ideal introduction to competition for inexperienced swimmers. Many future stars get their first taste of winning at this meet. CITY MEET The City Meet is the most important meet of the summer season. Please consult the calendar on the website for this year s dates and location. ALL athletes compete for points and for individual best times. The City Meet is a good way to measure your child s progress after a full summer of practice. Just as important, the more athletes we have competing, the better chance we have to earn team points. Heats are swum all day (ages 10 & under in the morning; ages 11 & older in the afternoon). The top 16 swimmers in each event, by age group, return in the evening to compete in finals. Those finals determine exactly how many points each swimmer and his / her team receive. To compete in this meet, you must register with the team registrar by the deadline shown on the registration form. These forms will be emailed later in the season.
FAQ How are swimmers chosen to compete for points? For the most part, the coaches choose swimmers to compete for points based solely on time. At the Developmental Meet and at dual meets (exhibition and points heats), all swimmers are timed and their results entered into our Team Manager software. When the coaches prepare a meet line-up, they consult this application and choose swimmers based on the fastest times listed. Some subjective decisions may be made for events that do not have exhibition heats and thus have fewer recorded times (e.g., 8 & under butterfly). What is the Green and White Meet? Early in the year, we hold the Green and White Meet at home. This meet is run like a dual meet, except we do not compete against another team. Instead, all swimmers swim most events, to acquire a recorded time for that event. These times are used to help determine who will compete for points in various events at dual meets. The Green and White also familiarizes newer swimmers with the experience of swimming a meet event. I ve heard of swimmers DQ-ing. What does that mean? A referee watches each swimmer who is swimming for points to make sure that his / her stroke is being done legally. Reasons for DQs (disqualifications) might be an improper touch on a turn or at the finish, standing on the bottom of the pool, or using a butterfly kick with a breaststroke pull. The referee quietly notifies the scorers, who later notify the coach, who will in turn discuss it with the swimmer. DQ-ing happens to every swimmer at one time or another. It is simply part of the learning process. There are many rules to learn. What is swimmer s ear? This is an infection caused by water remaining inside the ear. If a child has pain when tugging gently on the earlobe, he may need to consult a doctor. Swimmer s ear can be prevented by using over-the-counter eardrops or a mixture of one part alcohol to one part vinegar. Use these drops after each practice to dry the inside of the ear. What is long course and why don t I see those swimmers at Signal Mountain practice? Long course swimming uses a 50-meter pool as opposed to our 25-yard pool. Those swimmers are part of a second team (year round). Each morning they have a much more strenuous, 2-hour practice off the mountain.
CASL The Green Giants belong to the Chattanooga Area Swim League (CASL), which sponsors competitive swimming events for Chattanooga and surrounding area pools and organizations. The goal of the program is to stimulate an interest in competitive swimming and to provide a means through which youth may learn leadership, good sportsmanship, and values of physical fitness. CASL currently consists of these teams: CAL Calhoun CAT Cleveland CGCC Country Club CYF Cumberland DAL Dalton STH Stuart Heights FC Fairyland Club FTO Fort Oglethorpe MB Mosby Park OSC Ooltewah RB Red Bank RG Ringgold RS Ridgeside SM Signal Mountain Teams are organized into three divisions Blue, Red & White. Each team competes against the other teams in its division, twice each season. Signal Mountain is in the Blue Division with Stuart Heights (STH), Dalton (DAL), Cleveland (CAT), and Ooltewah (OSC). The CASL website www.casl.swim-team.us lists meet schedules and pool locations, and shows league standings. It also contains the league s dual meet handbook, rules and regulations, and by laws. After meets, you can visit the site to see team and individual results. In addition, you can subscribe to email notifications that inform you when results have been posted (follow the link at the bottom of the home page). Check this website often for news about your league! WE NEED VOLUNTEERS! Swimming is a people-intensive sport. Planning and conducting meets takes coaches, timers, judges, runners, record-keepers, etc., etc. Our coaches are paid, but the rest of us are volunteers! There are many, many opportunities for parents, grandparents, friends anyone and everyone to participate. From time to time, the team will ask people to sign up for specific jobs at specific meets. But we also need people who are willing to take responsibility for a given area throughout the season (and beyond). Please give of your time as generously as you can. It is good for your children to see that you have taken an active interest in their sport. Together, we can make the swim club an excellent learning and growing experience for all our children.
TIPS FOR A GREAT SEASON FOR ATHLETES AND PARENTS Athletes should give their best at all times. Athletes should be proud of their best effort regardless of their time or team score. Be a humble winner and a gracious loser. Shake hands after meets. Help your child learn discipline by getting him / her to meets and practices on time and arriving promptly for pick-up. Your child s commitment to swim team will be only as strong as your own commitment. Athletes will be on time and ready to practice / compete if you are enthusiastic about their sport. Ask your child what he / she learned at practice and what he / she hopes to do better the next time. Give all the positive support you can. Let your children know if they are doing well. If you don t think they are doing well, offer to help by arranging additional practice or lessons, or just by listening and supporting. Learn the rules of competitive swimming don t guess at them. Watch swimming videos with your child. Encourage your child to communicate directly with the coach; don t become a middleman. Support the coach even if it means disappointing your child. Prepare nutritious meals especially before meets. Always be positive at meets. With your words and actions, attempt to relieve the pressure of competition, not increase it. Never abuse a referee or judge, or question their calls. Teach your child to accept and cope with the decisions of the officials. Model fair play always don t wink at unfair play even if it may benefit our team. Please do not openly criticize any athletes, parents, or coaches. Praise other people s children from the sidelines and after meets. Signal Mountain pool lifeguards are not connected with the swim team they will not be able to answer your swim team questions.