West Memorial Tiger Sharks

Summer swim meets are so much fun for children and their parents, but they can be long! We try to get the meets over as quick as possible, but sometimes factors beyond our control can mean that a meet will last longer than expected. You should expect to arrive at 90 minutes prior to meet start and for meet events to last 4-5 hours. For instance, Saturday morning home meets start at 8am; swimmers will be expected to arrive between 6:30-7am and the meet will be estimated to end between 12-12:30 followed by clean up so the pool can open at 1pm in accordance with our agreement with the West Memorial HOA.

As a general rule Saturday morning meets will start between 8:00 and 9:00 am while weekday meets will start between 5:00 and 6:00pm. Please bear this in mind when you sign-up for volunteer positions because it may require you having to leave work early to be at the meet to sign-in for your volunteer position on time.

We understand swim team may be new to many of you so here are some tips to prepare for your swimmer's first meet.

What to do before a meet:

• RSVP your swimmer as attending/not attending in your Swimtopia account
• You can find the instructions for how to RSVP to a meet below
• Remind your swimmer of behavior expectations during the meet and that they are required to remain with their age group in their tent
• Label your items including your team shirt!

What to bring to a meet:

• chairs for all spectators and swimmers
• 1-2 towels 
• team suit, goggles, and swim caps including extra
• team t-shirt (TIP: write swimmer's name on inside!)
• flip flops/Crocs
• water and/or Gatorade
• snacks
• sunscreen
• bug spray
• blankets or extra towels for night meets as kids can get chilly when wet
• flashlight or head lamp for night meets
• activities for kids to entertain themselves between events
• cash for concessions

What to do at the meet:

• Arrive on time! It is important to arrive on time to ensure your swimmer is able to complete warm-ups and for lead volunteers to finalize/print the heat sheet and make any adjustments to relays as needed.
• Check-in with the volunteer coordinator 
• Check your swimmer in at their age group tent
• Verify the last event your child is swimming so you will know when to pick him/her up
• Confirm with your swimmer's wrangler before departing the meet.
• Help tear down when the meet finishes! This is extremely helpful to the Coaches and Board and allows for us all to wrap up sooner when we have extra hands to help.