Beaver Valley Tidal Waves

Below are some of the items you should bring with you to every meet:

• Cash for concessions, heat sheets, or swim gear/swag,
• 2 goggles (just in case a strap breaks),
• 2-3 towels (you’ll want to keep your swimmer warm in-between events),
• Swim parka, bathrobe or blanket to cover up and stay warm between events,
• Camp Chairs,
• Flip flops, crocs or other waterproof shoes to wear between events,
• Spare team swim cap,
• Permanent marker or sharpie to write events on your swimmer,
• Highlight marker for heat sheets,
• Change of clothes for after the meet,
• Games or cards (some meets will have many swimmers so keeping your swimmer occupied during down time is always a good idea),
• Most venues provide a concession stand, but it is always a good idea to pack snacks to help refuel such as:
  • Water
  • Fruit
  • Bagels
  • Granola bars
  • Nuts
  • Gatorade

For league meets, you will be able to purchase a heat sheet. A heat sheet is the program for the swim meet. The heat sheet will provide you with a list of all the events that will occur during the swim meet. Under each event, you will see the swimmers participating in the event, how many heats of swimmers are competing and what lanes each swimmer is assigned to.

Now that you understand how to read the heat sheet, you will use that information to mark your swimmer’s events on their hand, arm or leg. Use a permanent marker or sharpie to do so. Draw a grid similar to a tic-tac-toe board. In the first column will be your swimmer’s event numbers. The second column you will write their heat number. The third column is for what lane they are in. Finally, in the last column you can abbreviate the event. See example below: