Lake Forest Swim & Dive

What to Bring

• Team swimsuit, cap, goggles (an extra pair of goggles is a good idea!), team tshirt, towel, and sunscreen. Make sure all items are well labeled with your child's name.
• Plenty of snacks and drinks to keep your swimmer hydrated and energized. (The concession stand also sells food & drink during the meet).
• Games for your child for time in between meets. (travel games, books, etc)
• Folding camp chairs to sit on, and a canopy for shade if you have one.
• Heat sheets printed from the website, and a black sharpie marker for marking up your child
• For our new parents, the heat sheet is the master key to the meet. All the events and swimmers are listed on the heat sheet. For our new swimmers, they will have NT next to their time which means NO TIME. Our returning swimmers will have their time from the previous year on the sheet.

Upon Arrival

• Be on Time! Warm-ups begin well before the meet start time.
• Ensure your swimmer has sunscreen on and is marked up with his/her event information. (Age group parents can help new swimmer parents with marking up their swimmer).
• Swimmers report to age group area and are checked in by age group parent(s). Once you have signed in with the volunteer coordinator, please take ALL SWIMMERS to the appropriate Age Group Parent/Tent to sign him/her in. YOU MUST SIGN YOUR SWIMMERS IN with the age group tent. If your swimmer is not signed in they will be scratched from their heats by the coaches. The same goes for the end of the meet, PLEASE inform the age group parents you are taking your swimmer home, especially our 6 and under parents.
• VOLUNTEERS: If you have signed up to volunteer NO MATTER WHAT SHIFT, PLEASE check in with our volunteer coordinator as soon as you get to the pool. We LOVE our volunteers and like to know we have all our bases covered. 

Marking Up Your Swimmer

• Label your swimmers with a black sharpie with their race details. On their back, mark their name ‘ J. SMITH’. On their forearm, mark their event information:

(E = event, H = heat, L = lane, S = Stroke). For relays, add a column for position on team, ie. 1,2,3,4

• See a photo and more on arm marking.

During the Meet

• WHAT YOUR SWIMMER SHOULD KNOW: First and foremost--have fun! Do their best and enjoy the meet. If you are volunteering and leaving your swimmer especially our younger swimmers, please make sure they know where all their "stuff" is snacks, goggles, money and entertainment. Please remind your swimmers to stay with the age group parents and not wander off as this can create chaos when time comes to swim. 
• RELAYS: Please don't cancel on relays, especially last minute - if your swimmer is signed up to swim the relay and for some reason you cannot stay, or make it, PLEASE INFORM the age group parents immediately. A relay is 4 swimmers and if one isn't there, the whole relay team has to forfeit. It makes everyone sad when this happens.
• DISQUALIFIED: Swimmers will be DQ'd (disqualified) for improper strokes. If your child is DQ'd please assure your swimmer that it is okay and how proud you are of them for trying. The coaches do get a list of what the swimmer was DQ'd for and they will go over with the swimmers in practice!

Additional Thoughts

• Please MARK EVERYTHING with the swimmer's name so we can avoid lost shirts, towels, caps, bathing suits, etc. T
• Please congratulate the winner no matter what team they are on, please encourage all swimmers to do the same - we want to be known for our good sportsmanship.

GO DOLPHINS