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GETTING READY FOR A SWIM
MEET
How to prepare the night before a
swim meet
1) Mindset, be
relaxed.
2) Eat well. Consume
carbohydrates and protein rich foods. Pasta, preferably quinoa
or wheat noodles, are good choices for loading up on
carbohydrates. Make sure you’re well hydrated.
It’s important for recovery that you eat plenty of
protein and drink plenty of fluids.
3) Pack gear (see
below).
4) Race preparation: write
down swimming events, go over what to do on race day and then
visualize competing in each swimming event.
What to
visualize
Visualize walking to the event board, seeing
your name with heat/lane assignments, walking to the coaches tent,
telling your coach heat/lane assignment, walking to lane when your
race is up, getting ready for the race to start, hearing
“swimmers, take your mark” and then the race
buzzer. See yourself diving into the water, holding
streamline, swimming, breathing, kicking, pulling (if two laps,
flip turn), touching the wall at finish, getting out of the pool,
asking timers “what’s my time?”, walking to
coaches tent for update with your coach, jumping into the warm up
pool for a warm down and then taking a shower and getting ready for
the next race.
What to do
on Race Day
1) Wake up
2) Eat well: fruits, and a
healthy breakfast. Stay away from sugary foods.
3) Dress: put on swimsuit and
then warm clothes.
4) Check gear (including food) and
throw in car.
5) Drive to race (during car travel,
this is a good time to visualize each race and listen to
good music and/or eat a light snack).
6) Park car, find check in tables and
sign in. If it’s close to 8:00 a.m., drop off
and
find coaches and other swimmers while parent
parks car.
7) Find coach and other swimmers in
your group. If you recognize another swimmer on your
team, ask them what they are doing and if they have spoken with
their coach.
8) Stretch and go over race preps
with your coach and other team members.
9) Warm up with team in
pool.
10) In the dive
lane, practice race starts with team and coach.
11) Shower and get
ready for your first race.
What to eat during Race
Day
Stay away from sugary foods and drinks, no soft
drinks or candy. After races, drink water or sports drink
(Propel is a good one, make sure sugar content is low) and eat
protein rich foods to help muscles rebuild, such as yogurt (really
tasty with dried blueberries and nuts (sunflower seeds and almond
chips) and peanut butter on bagel.
Parents
Please be prepared to volunteer for timing
shifts. Timing is pretty fun. The concern most parents
have is that their kid will miss an event. All parents in our
swim group, ideally, can watch out for other swimmers. Most of
the kids will be racing in the same events, so if the group gets
ready for their events together, it will be less likely for anyone
to miss a race. It would also be helpful if parents sub for
each other during timing shifts. Also for parents, be sure to
bring something to read and food for yourselves too! Anyone
can volunteer to bring bagels, spreads and drinks or
games. The Bear tent can get crowded quite early by team
swimmers, so it would good to bring extra chairs or picnic
blanket.
Parents as
Timers
Timing is very easy. There are usually
three parents in a lane for a two hour shift. One person
handles the stop watch. One person writes down the
time. When a race starts, the person handling the stop watch
will press it. As the swimmers approach the finish of the
race, all three people in the lane will go to the buttons that are
for the official time and press them when a swimmer touches the
wall. The timer with the stop watch will also have the
responsibility to stop the watch. The timer will tell the
person with the clip board the time who then writes it down on a
sheet that the meet officials have provided. The sheets are
collected by a runner who will pass through every few minutes to
collect sheets.
Gear to
Bring
2
Bear swim caps
2
pairs of goggles
One
towel per race
One
towel for warm up
Food: energy bars, chips, fruit, water
(4-5)
Warm cap for cold days
One
towel for shower
Shampoo
Body wash
Comb
Shower shoes
Extra socks
Change of clothes after the race (i.e., shirts,
pants, underwear)
Fold up chairs
Insights from an Experienced Swim
Parent
“My swimmer wears her suit to the
meet. Over it, she wears the Bear swim jacket, tennis shoes,
sweat pants and shirt. I usually arrive at 7:30 a.m. She
checks herself in with the meet officials and then talks to her
Coach about warm up. As soon as she gets out of the water, I
have a towel for her. If it is cold, I have her go into the
showers to warm up. I then have her put her sweats and jacket
back on. This is depending on the weather. It is very
important to keep warm. I get her into the practice pool
twenty minutes before the race and have her do six laps to warm up
again. Upon finishing a race, I have a dry towel and her
shower shoes waiting for her. She will then warm down in the
practice pool before drying off and covering up
again.”
“I put her shower items and change of
clothes into a canvas/plastic bag so the items don’t get
wet. When she is finished swimming, she grabs the bag and
heads for the shower.”
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