How to declare / sign up or decline for a meet
Please remember: ALL SWIMMERS MUST SIGN UP BY THE DEADLINE TO SWIM IN A MEET. No exceptions. You may sign up for meets via our team website. Below are links with instructions on how to complete a declaration
Click here to learn how to sign up for meets and volunteer jobs
Click here to get to the calendar and declare
A swimmer can request up to 4 individual events, but those may be adjusted by coaches when building relay teams and filling empty events. Coaches will not put a swimmer into an event if they are not ready to swim it - coaches see things that we as parents may not, so please help support your swimmer in any and all events where they are placed. Remember that this will set your child up for success - not failure, so please trust the coaches judgment and encourage your swimmer in any and all events.
Make sure to include notes in the Notes section of your declaration to let coaches know about:
- Possible schedule conflicts
- Preferences for specific individual and relay events
- Goals for breaking a specific record
If you know you cannot attend, please follow instructions to decline the meet. If not, you'll get several email reminders that will just clog up your inbox and push notifications to your phone!
When do I sign up for the meet?
For a Monday night meet, the deadline is the Wednesday at 8pm of the prior week.
Why do I have to sign up so far in advance?
Our team is governed by the rules of the St. Charles County Summer Swim League. Those rules have specific dates and times that we must have our meet entries ready. In order to meet those deadlines, we only give our coaches 2 days to put together entries for 200 swimmers and over 100 events. Their time is split on those days between building the meet and running practices - this is in order to ensure we are not exceeding budgeted salary costs. They also have a hard deadline to submit their work to our Webmasters to allow for timely submission of entries according to league rules.
What happens after I sign up?
Double check on the website that you've completed your signup correctly.
The day prior to the meet, you should receive an email with information about heat sheets - make sure to look these over for your swimmers events, including the addition of relays. The Swimtopia app will show individual events and relays. For more information on that app, please check out their help center:
Why am I in different events that what I picked?
Coaches have a lot of factors to consider when building a meet of 100 events for 200 swimmers, when each swimmer can only participate in a total of 4 events. Not everyone can swim the 25 Free event - the coaches work hard to balance the requests of each swimmer, the ability of each swimmer, and the overall structure of the team in the meet. If your events change, please remind your swimmer that the coaches know they can do it, and that the team needs them to fill the spot.
My kid doesn't want to swim the events he/she is assigned. Can I get them changed?
League rules do not permit us to modify any entries after we have exchanged with the opposing team. Changes at that point are only allowed if a swimmer has scratched (is not longer attending) and we need to substitute in relay teams.
Uh oh, I signed up but can't go anymore. What do I do?
If you have signed up and for any reason are no longer able to attend, please contact the team immediately! There is a link on our homepage "Help! I Can't Make the Meet" that you can fill out to contact the coaches and board members about the last minute change.
Direct messages, emails, and Facebook posts may not reach all the right people, and may cause us to miss the opportunity to substitute based on scratches.
What if I'm at the meet and suddenly need to leave early?
If for an unexpected reason you need to leave a meet early, please have your swimmer (or for littles, a parent can) find a coach and let them know they are leaving early. We need to know this to prevent coaches and bullpen workers from searching for swimmers that are no longer at the pool.
We know meets are long (and often hot!) and that kids get tired. But it is so important that you stay for all of your events, for several reasons:
- Your swimmer has worked hard at practice, and deserves to see that work pay off in the competition of the meet
- Coaches strategically place swimmers into events to ensure points. Other teams know we have a large and very competitive team, and often load swimmers into later events on the chance that people go home early and skip. Losing those points could, in close meets, cost us a win.
- Every team does their best to run meets as efficiently as possible, but we all know that they can run late. It's only fair that we all take our turn to stay for later events.
