A: Sign up by attending the Registration Day, which will be posted on the website. If you have a conflict and cannot attend, contact the Team Administrator to make an appointment to fill out the paperwork. Sign-up for the team can be any time of the year, but during the short course season, to swim YMCA championships, you must be signed up by December 1.
A: All families are required to volunteer for half of the YMCA dual meets and 3 sessions of each of our Invitation meets. The full volunteer policy is outlined in our handbook. Heat’s main form of fundraising is our swim meets. The funds raised, benefit all our swimmers, so all parents are expected to help. Along with the funds raised, home meets allow our swimmers to compete without the burden of traveling. Each Invitations meet needs 40 volunteers a session, with 240 volunteers needed for the full meet. Volunteering is a great way to meet people, learn about the sport, and cheer your child on. Swimmers like it when their parents volunteer. Here is the description of volunteer assignments.
A: Heat is a competitive swim team, so meets are encouraged. The team offers various types of swim meets, some more competitive than others. The best thing for a coach to do discuss with the coach when a child is ready for meets, and which type and events the swimmer should do.
A: Heat has two main sources of information. The Heat website and the Heat e-mailing list. If you are not on the e-mail list, it is important to email the head coach requesting to be added to the list. Also watch the bulletin board in the glassed in area at the YMCA for announcements. Since swimming deadlines can come up fast, and things at times are confusing, ask your swimmer’s coach after practice, if you have questions. Also seek out experienced parents. They always are ready to help.
A: When a swimmer joins Heat’s, the parents become members of the Booster Club. The Booster Club’s job is to support the competitive aspect of Heat. The Heat website has a link called “Y and Board Responsibilities”. This outlines what the Booster Club’s duties are. The Steering Committee is a group of parents who volunteer to head up various committees that keep the competitive team running. These people are listed on the front page of the Heat website. Every year new people are needed to step into these positions, and it is a great way to learn about the team. Fresh people mean fresh ideas. This Committee meets the second Tuesday of each month and this meeting is open to all parents. The Executive Committee consists of volunteers who have been nominated for the positions of President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer and At Large member of the Booster Club. The nomination process begins in the summer, and the approval of the slate is done at the parent meeting in September. The Committee’s term is 2 years. The head coaches are also a part of the Executive Committee. The Executive Committee meets in closed session, usually once a month.
A: The Team Handbook outlines the by-laws that govern our team and outlines all aspects of the Heat swim team. Parents and swimmers must read it. At registration you should receive a hardcopy of the handbook. The website also has a copy of the handbook on-line.
A: There are various charges associated with being a member of the Heat. The USA fee is due upon registration. This fee makes your child a member of USA swimming and is required to compete in USA meets, and for liability reasons. A swimmer must be a member of the YMCA. If they are new to joining, or have let their membership lapse, there is a joining fee due on registration. The membership fee can be paid up front for the year, or be taken out in monthly bank drafts on the 15th of each month. The Booster Club charges a fee to help support the cost of sending coaches to all meets. This fee is determined by the budget for the season the swimmer is registering for. The fee can be paid up front, or taken out in monthly payments bank drafted on the 1st with their training fees. A relay fee is charged to pay for all relays the Heat enters throughout the year. This is charged up front on the first month’s training fee bank draft. Training fees are charged on the first of the month through bank draft. Each training group has a different cost associated with it.
A: DAXCO is the system the YMCA uses (or used) to sign up for programs. Here is the guide. It is accessible online or by visiting the front desk at McKinley or Country Fair. Meets will be posted in DAXCO, and the parent signs up for these events and gets charged at the time of sign-up. Meet entries, exceptions are YMCA meets, have to be completed usually 6 weeks prior to the meet. Once the check and entries are sent to the meet host, the charges cannot be refunded.
A: Each level has its own set of charges. The levels are designed to allow your child to progress to more difficult, longer and more frequent practices. The charges increase according to this progression.
A: If you are new to the team, the coach will do an in the water assessment of your child and place the swimmer appropriately. As the swimmer progresses through the season, the coach may recommend moving them to a different level. Returning swimmers are placed based on their physical and mental abilities and maturity levels.
A: The head coaches have placed practice recommendations for each group in the team handbook. These recommendations should be followed for the swimmer to reach their full potential. However, it is understood that the swimmer may have conflicts, so the parent and swimmer should work with the coach to assess what is best for each swimmer. More than the recommended practices is not good as you can risk burn-out.
A: The practice time listed on the webpage is the time that the swimmer is expected to be in the water. The swimmer should arrive 15 minutes prior to the start of practice. The swimmer should not arrive earlier than 15 minutes as this can disrupt other practices and lessons that are in the pool.
A: Swimsuits, caps, goggles, kickboard and fins are standard equipment. Buy practice suits for practice don’t wear the team suit for practice. A mesh bag may be desired to hold all the equipment. Equipment can be purchased at Body N Sole or a local Dollar Store, or check with the coaches or experienced parents for on-line sites.
A: Bonding events serve to bring the team members together to do something else other than swimming. Sometimes it is bowling, skating, or a visit to a nursing home. The events improve team chemistry and provide more time for getting to know individual swimmers. They usually happen on the last Friday in the month.
A: The parents and the kids are usually located in the gyms, so bring chairs, blankets for the floor, and reading materials. Have extra towels and clothing to keep warm. Keep them entertained at the initial meets. They will find company at the later meets and take care of that themselves. Above all, keep the swimmer adequately hydrated and warm. Keep track about their events, so they do not eat heavy or even moderate meals close to the races. Make sure they eat something during the meet, so they run out of energy. Avoid junk food. Fruits, cereals like cheerios, granola bars are very good for them. Power drinks and Gatorade is recommended. Water could also be taken. Avoid pops.
A: Heat swims for two sanctioning bodies, YMCA Swimming and USA swimming. YMCA meets are often small duals and contain sprint events (especially in the younger levels). USA is mostly 2-3 days invitationals. There are different requirements for each type of meet.
A: Time standards are used to qualify for end of season championships. USA also has motivational time standards (B, BB, A, AA, AAA, AAAA). YMCA has standards for Districts, Area Championships(Y-State), YMCA Nationals, and Top 16 recognition. USA has motivational time standards, Regional Championships, Age Group championships (JOs), Senior State, Sectionals, Zones, Olympic Trials, Olympics and Top 16 standards. Just focus on the next level your child wants to achieve to keep from getting too confused.
A: YMCA championship meets are Junior Districts, Districts, Area Championships(Y- states), and YMCA Nationals. A swimmer must be on the Heat roster by December 1, and have swum 3 meets to be eligible. To participate in District, they should be at or close to a District time standard. To compete in Y-state, they must swim a qualifying time at Districts. To compete in Y-Nats, they must swim a qualifying time during the short course season. To compete in Junior Districts, they cannot have a qualifying time in the event in Districts. USA/ISI championships are Regionals, JO’s(Age Group Champs), Senior Champs, Sectionals, Zones, Senior Nationals, Olympic Trials, and the Olympics. A swimmer must have achieved a qualifying time to attend these meets. Sign-ups will be prior to these meets by coach’s notification. This happens quickly, so parents need to watch the web page for notices. Here is more info.
A: DQ’s are a part of swimming. Each stroke has rules which the coaches teach the swimmer in practice. It is normal for the swimmer to not understand all the rules, or forget what they are suppose to do at a meet and get DQ’d. They learn from these mistakes and often understand better what the coach has been trying to teach them. A parent can learn these rules better by training to be an official. Officials are always needed.
A: The age groups are determined by the type of meet, YMCA or USA, and the wording on the meet information. YMCA age is determined by the age of the swimmer on December 1. So a swimmer, who turns 13 on November 30, will have to swim in 13-14 age group for YMCA meets all season, including September-November. A swimmer whose birthday is December 2 or later gets the advantage of swimming in the younger age group, in our example 11-12, for the entire YMCA season. USA age is determined by the age of the swimmer on the first day of the meet. If the meet starts on Friday, and the swimmer does not have an event until Saturday, it is still determined by the age of the swimmer on Friday. Meet wording is important. If the age group is worded 10 and under, anyone 10 years or under may swim the event. If it is worded 9-10, only 9 and 10 year olds may swim that event. Open is for any age.
A: All of these questions can be answered by going to the meet schedule page on the website. As each meet is prepared for entry, the information will be posted. Some meet results take longer to post than others because the meet host may be slow getting the information to us.
A: It might be that she or he would not be able to compete. Being with other competitors would be a good thing if possible. Unfortunately, the meet fees are non refundable.
A: NT stands for No Time. It means the swimmers has no official time. Sometimes it means the time is not in the computer or not communicated to the meet organizer. Sometimes it means it is in the wrong computer. Everybody starts with NT. Do no worry about these things, more than often there is one more relatively good swimmer there.
A: Event could, for example be 100 yards free style. Since there are more swimmers than lanes in the pool, the swimmers would be put into different heats. The kids with fastest times go to the topmost heat. H2 would be heat 2. L3 would mean lane 3 in that heat.
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Some of them are listed here:
A: Most of the indoor pools are 25 yards, except the Olympic size pools. Up to and including College meets are indoor yard meets, except those which are the international in nature. The outdoor pools are mostly 50 meter pools which are used during the summer months, so the summer season is called Long Course season.
A: The meets are run by volunteers who have to take care of all the meet needs and then afterwards process the results. That can sometimes take the time, since not all of us have the same experience and software support. Ti mitigate make a habit of writing down your kid results at the meets. It would help to print the Meet Entries or buy the Meet Sheets to make the bookkeeping easier.
A: Meet Manager software will use the following conversion factors when converting entry times from one course to another: · 1.11 to convert SC Meters to/from Yards · 2% to convert SC Meters to/from LC Meters · 0.875 to convert 400/500 and 800/1000 Meters to Yards · 0.997 to convert 1500 Meters to/from 1650 Yards.
A: There are lots of resources available. Heat has a Cool Links page that can take you to Illinois Swimming, USA Swimming and YMCA swimming. All of these sites have articles and all kinds of information and links. Volunteer at meets. Most jobs at meets require little training and you will learn by working with experienced parents and watching the swimming. Train to be an official. The official’s training is very comprehensive, and thorough. Officials are always needed and you will become an expert in no time. Heat reimburses our officials their training fees once they have completed their training sessions.
A: Excellent. We are always looking to extend the Heat FAQ. In addition to a new question, its answer is also helpful. Send them to the Heat webmaster.