When is My Swimmer Ready to Swim in a Meet, and which ones should we attend?
Springfield Aquatics swimmers attend many meets throughout the year.
The general rule is that once a swimmer is on the Bronze team, they are ready to participate in local dual meets or intrasquad meets. Once your swimmer has a few of those local meets under their belt, it may be time to consider some of the larger meets like the SPA Fall Classic or some of the away meets in Arkansas. New parents often think they should wait to sign up for a meet until their coach comes to them and tells them it's time. THAT'S NOT THE CASE!
The meet schedule changes every year, and is not usually set until fall season begins. It’s fairly common for coaches to add meets during the season depending on availability. The number of swim meets each swimmer attends is completely up to the swimmer and their parents. Some swimmers attend all meets. Others only attend local meets and don’t travel out of town. Many families opt for a combination of smaller home meets and a few away meets each season.
If you are not sure if your swimmer is ready to go to a swim meet, or aren't sure which events they should compete in, please contact your coach via the "contact SPA" button..
How do I Sign up for a Meet?
For swimmers who are ready to participate in meets, here are some guidelines for getting to the meet:
1. Check the Meet Schedule on the SPA Website to review the meets that are offered throughout the season
2. Determine which meets you are interested in attending and email or call your coach with any questions about the meets you have chosen. We attend several out of town meets and host local meets as well. For swimmers who are ready to race, we recommend you attend the locally hosted meets and encourage you to choose some meets to travel to, if possible.
3. When the team prepares to go to a meet, you'll receive an email asking you to SIGN UP for the meet. Instructions are given in the email as to how to sign up. If you are unsure what events to signup for you can leave the event selection blank and just commit to attending the meet. Your swimmer's coach will then pick their events. Be sure to put in the notes if you are not available for any of the days of the meet. Meet information will be posted on the SPA website as soon as it is available. If you are not planning on attending please use the decline instructions .
4. At a multiple-day meet, do you need to swim each day? Some swim meets run over multiple days. If you are unable to attend the entire meet, you can indicate in the comments section that you can only attend certain days. You will then need to review the list of events carefully and only register for events on the day you can attend. Make sure to put a note in the comments section reminding your coach that you will only be attending certain days. Otherwise, your swimmer may be placed on relay teams on a day they cannot attend.
5. Hotel Reservations for Out of Town Meets: The SPA Board may recommend a hotel for the team based on the arrangements made by the host team. However, swimmers are welcome to stay at any hotel they choose. Swimmers do enjoy spending time at the hotel after the meet, so parents may want to consider where other swimmers are staying before booking a hotel. If you aren’t sure where to stay, you can always count on the hotel recommended by SPA to be reasonably priced, have a good free breakfast and be close to the meet location.
6. Coaches will send out entries for the meet and entries will be posted on the web for you to check that your swimmer was entered correctly.
7. As the meet approaches you will receive information about the meet such as warm up times, directions to the pool, etc. Information for the meet including hotel (if applicable), warm ups, entry lists and results can be found in the Forms/Documents section of the Meet Page.
8. Meet fees will be posted and billed to your account after the meet.
9. As always, don't hesitate to contact your coach thru the "contact SPA" button with any questions!
