FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
The purpose of this section is to help answer some of the more common questions that swimmers and their family members may have. Perhaps there were questions you had when you first became involved with the Sea Devils, or if you're a coach, possibly there are questions you are asked all the time. E-mail your questions and answers to the site administrator and they'll be posted in the hopes that they'll help others who just starting out.
Q. I missed the deadline for signing up. Can my child still join the Sea Devils?
A. It's never too late to start swimming! You can sign your child up for the Sea Devils swim team at any time during the year. The good folks at the Middleboro YMCA will help you figure out the pro=rated cost for membership. Of course, it's best to start early to prepare for competition, but some kids don't always know what activity they want to do in September, right? Many kids have joined the team well after the September deadline. Think of it as rolling admission.
Q. What's the difference between the full year season and the regular season?
A. The Regular swim season goes from September or October through to April. Some swimmers want to continue and they may opt for the Full season which takes a break in April then continues through August. Not everyone knows in October if they want to swim in August, so you can decide at the end of the season and make payment arrangements with the Y if you choose to continue.
Q. How are swim meets organized?
A. Our team will have some meets at home at the Burkland pool, and some meets at away locations. These meets between two teams are called dual meets. Occasionally we will get the opportunity to be part of an invitational meet in which more than two teams will participate. There is usually a small fee involved in invitational meets. If, during a dual or invitational meet, a swimmer achieves a qualifying time, they participate in the District meets. Usually, some swimmers from the Sea Devils go on to participate in the Districts. Exceptional swimmers may also qualify for National meets, held in North Carolina or Florida. Although it is highly competitive, Sea Devils swimmers have qualified for the National in past seasons.
Q. How will we know what to do at a meet?
A. Don't panic! All meets are confusing at first. The coach has a handle on everything going on and will direct your swimmer to the right spot at the right time. You can help by knowing which events your swimmer will be participating in and keeping an "order of events" sheet with you. Parents and swimmers who are new to the team should feel free to seek direction from those who've participated in previous seasons. Some swimmers, when they are new to competition, may get nervous before a meet. If your child is especially nervous before a meet, inform the coach and he or she will take extra time to work them through their anxiety. If your child has been a Sea Devil in previous seasona, encourage them to assist swimmers beginning their first season. Also encourage them to cheer on their fellow team mates. You may think they can't hear the cheers in the water, but you'd be surprised how much it helps.
Q. How do I know which events my child is entered in at a swim meet?
A. Generally the coach tell swimmers which events they will be participating in at the last practice before the meet. If this doesn't happen, don't despair - taped somewhere to the wall during each swim meet will be several sheets of paper containing the meet information with each event and the Sea Devils swimmers who will be participating in it. It will separated according to the Order of Events. Your child can read and tell you which heat he or she is in, or, if they are under 4 feet tall, you may want to go have a look for yourself.
Q. Who decides which events my child will swim in at a meet?
A. Your child's coach will determine which events he or she will participate in based on their performance at practices and their particular preferences.
Q. How many events will a swimmer participate in at a meet?
A. Swimmers can participate in three events - two individual events and one relay, though sometimes there are not enough swimmers to qualify for a relay and so the swimmer will swim just twice during a meet.
Q. What days are meets held on?
A. Usually meets are held on Saturday mornings. Occassionally they are held in the afternoon or on Sundays. A Friday evening meet is not unheard of.
Q. Is it necessary for parent to attend all practices?
A. Not at all. You are free to drop off your swimmers at the pool. While you are welcome to stay through practices, it's not manditory. However, you should accompany your swimmer inside the building, to make sure someone is there. Also, be advised, the practice end time is the time when the swimmers get out of the pool. They will usually spend another 5 - 15 minutes after that in the locker room.
Q. Are parents allowed to watch swimmers during practice?
A. Absolutely. Burkland Pool has an elevated observation area providing excellent viewing without getting wet.
Q. How do I determine which training level is right for my child?
A. You can usually arrange for a tryout for your child prior to signing up the team. The coach will determine your child's appropriate training level based on this tryout. If a tryout is not possible, enroll your child in the level you think most appropriate, based on the descriptions which can be found on the training page on this site. On the first day of classes, the coach will be able to confirm that the level is appropriate or whether he or she should begin in a higher or lower level. Contact the Head Coach to arrange a tryout.
Q. Why doesn't the coach get in the water with the swimmers?
A. Swim coaches need to observe a group of swimmers at once. Unlike traditional swim lessons with an instructor, the coach observes from the side and gives direction. He or she will also demonstrate technique from the side of the pool. Occassionally he or she may have the swimmers come out of the pool to practice stroke technique, or exercise, and very occassionaly, a coach will get in the water. All Sea Devils coaches are certified life guards and will not hesitate to enter the water in an emergency.
Q. Where do we get information about upcoming meets, directions, etc.?
A. In addition to keeping this web site current, the coach will keep parents up to date by passing out handouts for swimmers to take home. Directions to meets and meet schedules will be posted here on the web site and on handouts. If you have any questions you feel aren't being answered, please don't hesitate to ask the coach.
Q. How do I know what size team swim suit my child needs?
A. Racing suit sizes can be extremely confusing. Use the size charts on the Gear page on this web site to help you figure out which size you should order. As a rule, you should order the suit to fit snuggly. It will loosen up in the water.
Q. Should swimmers wear their team suits to practice?
A. No. Suits worn for meets should be maintained in excellent condition. Constant practice in the chlorinated water will deteriorate them and make them appear dingy. Swimmers should swear other, appropriate swimwear to practice and save their team suits for meets. Once meets are over for the season they are free to wear a team suit to practice or for recreational swimming. It is a good idea to look for sales on swimsuits in your swimmer's size during the year as they tend to become scarce in stores during the winter.
Q. What should swimmers wear to practice?
A. Racing suits, or any comfortable well-fitting one-piece swimsuits for the girls and loose trunks for boys are best. There are some good links on this site for purchasing low-priced swimwear. For meets, boys will wear Jammers, which are more streamlined for cutting through the water faster. All swimmers should bring goggles, and anyone with hair longer than shoulder-length should bring a cap. Make sure your swimmer has a hat for the cold months to cover wet hair after practice.
Q. How are team suits chosen?
A. The coach chooses the team suit and arranges for their purchase. A handout will go home for ordering. A size chart is located on the Gear page of this site. Be prepared, girls suits cost more, and suits don't usually come in until the first meet. Team suit buying is almost always last-minute affair.
Q. Can I see a picture of the Team Suit or T-Shirt before they come in?
A. The web site administrator would be happy to post pictures of any apparel or equipment in the future on this web site if they could get hold of them.
Q. Do swimmers have to wear swim caps?
A. If hair is longer than shoulder length, a swim cap needs to be worn. Three are three types of swim caps; spandex, latex and silicon, with silicon being the most expensive. It is the swimmer's choice which cap to wear. In previous years the team has worn a common latex cap, free of charge to team members. Caps are recommended during meets to increase speed.
Q. I went to the Burkland location, but I couldn't get in - the door was locked. How do I get inside?
A. Actually, the main doors to Burkland are supposed to be open in order to get to the pool. But often, that's just not the case. Sometimes, the main doors are open and you can get to the locker room doors but for security reasons, those are usually locked. You should be able to walk around past the locker rooms down the corridor on the right and there should be several doors to the pool on the right hand side, at least one of which should be open. But of course, this is seldom true. In this case, walk back outside the building, turn left, and left again around to the side of the building where there is an exterior door leading directly to the pool. There is a sign on it saying that all Sea Devils parents and swimmers need to use the front entrance of Burkland to get to the pool. Ironically, this door is usually open. (When you are new to the Sea Devils, it can sometimes feel like they are deliberately making everything so difficult in order to test your level of commitment.) Perhaps the parents and coaches training at Burkland could try to keep one of the doors off of the Burkland corridor open to the pool during practice?
Q. How long does a swim meet last?
A. On the average, a dual meet will last about 4 hours. If one or both of the teams are small, the meets may go quicker. This is because in smaller dual meets there may not be enough swimmers to fill all heats so those heats may not be done. If there are an especially high number of swimmers on one or both teams, there may have to be more than one heats, thus lengthening the duration of the entire meet. Sometimes, it just takes a long time to get started, ironing out the bugs, so to speak, and this can lead to a longer meet.
Q. What does IM mean?
A. IM is an Individual Medley, and event during which a swimmer swims all four strokes in sequence — butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle. You can find definitions of other swimming terms on the glossary page on this web site.
Q. How do I know at what point during a meet my child will be swimming?
A. All dual meets follow the same Order of Events which you can find on the Meets page on this web site. First, find out which Age Class your child is in, then on the Order of Events page, locate those heats your child is entered in, and this will give you some indication of when your child is likely to swim. You can even print out an Order of Events sheet on this web site to take with you to meets to help you out.
Q. Do we need to stay for the entire meet?
A. Parents and swimmers are encouraged to stay for the duration at dual meets and should do their best to plan for this. The reason for this is for the swimmer to be available to offer their support to the rest of the team. However, having a restless younger sibling in tow, a doctor's appointment scheduled on the same day, or other similar conflicts may not always make remaining for the full length of the meet possible. Some parents find that helping out as a Timer at dual meets makes the time pass much faster and is a great way to become more involved in the sport. Timers are always needed and chances are you will be asked if you would like to Time at a dual meet. It is not necessary to stay for the duration at championship meets.
Q. What does "fly" mean?
A. It's short for "Butterfly" - as in the Butterfly stroke.
Q. Do swimmers get awards for events they win at swim meets?
A. Yes, ribbons are given out for first, second and third place in individual events. Check your Parents Folders at your child's practice location in the week or weeks following the meet for the ribbons.
Q. My child won came in first in three heats at the last meet so why did she only receive 2 ribbons?
A. What most likely happened is that the two ribbons your child received are for the two official races she swam at the meet. A swimmer may participate in a maximum of 3 official events, one of which must be a relay. Swimmers can swim in three races but only two of them are considered official, unless one of the three is a relay, in which case they would all be official.
Q. My child came came in second in three heats so why didn't he get any ribbons at all?
A. Sometimes the answer is, we just don't know. Sometimes the team filling out the ribbons runs out of ribbons. Sometimes there's a mix up when filling them out and sometimes they just get lost somewhere between the meet and the parents folder. Just another reason why we always need good parent volunteers to help out at meets.
Q. Why is it that sometimes, even when the Sea Devils come in first in most of the heats, the team still managed to lose the meet?
A. It's a numbers game. Sometimes it happens that there are so many swimmers on the other team that they win by virtue of having one of their swimmers in every heat. Swimmers can only swim in two official heats and a relay, so often we won't have enough to fill every heat. But on the bright side, the swimmer's individual times are not effected by whether the team as a whole wins or loses.
Q. What's a Swim-a-thon?
A. A Swim-a-thon is a terrific fundraiser for the Sea Devils. You will get a sign-up sheet which asks you to sponsor the swimmer for a set amount per lap. You take the sign-up sheet around to relatives, friends and co-workers. They sponsor the swimmer and after the event, you let them know how much they owe. Here's a hint: Don't sponsor them for $1.00 a lap unless you're loaded. That's because we see how many laps the swimmers can swim in one hour and the kids can generally swim between 60 and 120 laps in that time frame.
Q. Where can I get swimming videos and other swimming information and merchandise?
A. A great place to start is at the USA Swimming web site. In addition to having a lot of good information, they also have a section where you can purchase books, magazines, videos and other swimming merchandise. See the Links page on this site for other places to find swim information.
Q. How can I get my photos added to the album Pages?
A. That's great! Go to the album Page where you will find a "Send Photos" link which tells you all about how to get your photos added to the site.
Q. How can I get a photo of myself or my child removed from the web site?
A. No problem, just click here to send an e-mail requesting the removal.
Q. Why can't I see the album pictures on the Sea Devils web site unless I scroll up or down?
A. You may have your computer monitor resolution set to 640 x 480. Most computer monitors today have a resolution of 800 x 600 or larger, and the album pictures should fit precisely on your screen at this resolution. However, the trend today is for monitors to go larger with higher screen resolutions, and higher screen resolutions mean that the album pictures which fill your screen at 800 x 600 look much smaller. So the compromise was for them to look very big at the 800 x 600 while not being too tiny at higher resolutions. You can change your resolution by going to "Start" on your PC, then to "Control Panel" then to "Display". From there choose "Settings" and adjust your monitor resolution there. Click "Apply" and then "OK" and you should be in business. Another thing you may want to try is, when viewing the photos online, is hitting the F11 key which will give you more screen space. Clicking F11 again will toggle you back to the regular browser view.
Q. Who created and maintains this web site?
A. Thanks for asking! I do. My name is Mary Tufts, a freelance web designer and in 2003 as the parent of a first year swimmer I had (and still have) lots of questions. Adding to the confusion was the fact that the team practices in two locations, making the Parents Folders the main source of information. And take it from me, if someone didn't take the time to walk the information over to the Parents Folders in a timely manner, you were out of luck. It felt like there were really two separate teams, not one. I could see there was a dire need for a web site like this to communicate and share information, but even though I created and maintain the site, it really belongs to the team. So it's up to all Sea Devils coaches, swimmers and parents to keep the information current. I hope this site will be a help to you, and if you like it, be sure to tell all your friends (www.IAmSpartacus.com)!
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