The Meet is Finally Here!

If you haven't gone to a swim meet, then you have missed out on a lot of fun. They are very chaotic though. Especially the championship meets, but there a lot of fun!

The swim meet is normally a whole weekend long. Friday evening, Saturday, and Sunday. On Friday there is all age groups swimming, but on Saturday and Sunday, they split the day into two sessions. The first session is normally the 9-10 age group, and the 11-12 age group. The afternoon is normally 8 & under, 13-14, and 15 & over. Sometimes they just have 13 & over or Open instead of 13-14 and 15 & over. If anyone younger than 13 (which if there is Open then the 13 usually swims with them) wants to swim in the Open session than there own age group session, then they can, because its Open, but usually Open is just for 13 & over, or 15 & over. They split up the age groups so the eight years old are not swimming with like the fifteen year old. The sport is co-et, but in the meet there is a different event for the men and the women. Usually the women's events are before, but then after one event the men's are right after for that age group. So it's not like all the women swim first and then the men, it's every other. So when you first get to the swim meet you have to positively check your self in, which means to highlight your name on a list to show that you are here. Then you have to warm-up before you actually swim your races. There is more than one warm up session and they normally last around 30-45 minutes. Then after every warm-up session everone does two starts off the starting blocks. They do that so everone can get a feeling of what the pool and blocks are like. When warm-ups are done then the meet starts and you swim your races. You want to make sure that you are up and behind the blocks a few heats before your race so you are ready to go. A heat is a race in each event because they can't fit everyone who is swimming in that event in the six or eight laned pool at one time. In a meet you need to be drinking water and eating healthy foods. You could be eating a power bar, a bagel, fruit, crackers, and other simple foods like that. You also want to STAY HYDRATED!!!!

That is pretty much the whole meet. So go swim a swim meet and remember what I told you about the meet!

Go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVZrne7X5ww and watch what a real swim meet looks like.

Got Speed?

The purpose of fast suits are to make you go faster. I know what your probably thinking right now, how can a suit make you swim faster. Well it can't make you swim faster, but it can make you go faster, and yes there is a difference between them both. The suit won't effect the way you swim, that's all you, but the suit will make you go through the water faster which will decrease your time to make it better. The fast suits are made out of a different material then the swim suits you use to practice in. It is made out of a thinner material. When you buy a fast suit you should buy it at least one size smaller, but if I were you then I would go down more. For example, my suits that I use for practice are a size 30, and my fast suit sizes are 24's. You do that because you want the fast suit to be tight so you can go straight through the water.

There are a ton of brands for fast suits. Them most popular kind that swimmers buy is the Speedo Aquablade Recordbreaker, TYR Fusion 2 (Aeroback), Speedo Fastskin II Recordbreaker, TYR Tracer Light (Aeroback), Speedo FS PRO Recordbreaker, TYR Tracer B-Series (Aeroback), Speedo LZR Elite Recordbreaker, TYR Tracer C-Series (Aeroback), and the Blueseventy Nero TX Swimskin (Female Kneesuit). The stuff in the parenthasis are what the backs are like for the women suits except that the Blueseventy Nero TX Swimskin, only comes in a kneesuit for women, and not a reguakr suit.

Right after the Beijing Olympic Games, most of the new suits were banned and now illegal to wear. USA Swimming and Illinois swimming are the ones who ban the suits. They do that because the world records are keep being broken. USA and Illinois Swimming think that that's because of the new fast suits. They want to make it more challenging to break records.


Below is an example of three fast suits, one men's and two women's. The men can only wear those type of suits, because the leg and body suits for men illegal now. The women can only wear suits that go down to their knees and the regular kind of suits that they wear in practice. The leg skins are also banned for women. Both for men and women's fast suits the high neck ones are also illegal to wear in a meet.

People don't wear fast suits in practice because, like I said before, fast suits make you go faster in the water. In practice you don't want to "go fast". That is what practice if for, is to get fast, not to go fast. So normally in practice people don't wear fast suits, they wear drag suits. A drag suit could just be a worn or stretched out suit that you wear over a regular practice suit. That is what a lot of people do, wear two suits when they practice, to create drag. It helps if you create drag because then when you dive into the water in a meet, with your fast suit on, and with no drag suit then it would be and feel a lot easier swimming!

Go to http://www.usaswimming.org/USASWeb/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabId=95&Alias=Rainbow&Lang=en and then click on Approved Swimsuits for 2010. Then read the couple pages about the new swimsuit rules for 2010!

Go to http://www.swim-faster.com/ and scroll down a little to read about the fast suit. If you want to read even more than you can click on Speedo Swimsuits and or TYR Swimsuits (on the black bar below the big letters and above the picture) to find out more!

The Swim Meet, and it's Past

After all of that practicing, you have to pay off all of your hard work...and swim in a swim meet!

Before you actually go to the meet, you or your coach has to sign you up for the meet and the events you are going to swim in that meet. Normally you do that online, and then your coach enters you in the events you chose online and your team mates events into that meet, unless it is a championship meet. For championship meets, you have to have qualifying times. You still have to have your coach enter you in the meet, but you don't get to pick what you swim, you have to qualify. In other cases your coach would pick the events you swim. Some teams do that, where your coach just puts you in whatever events he or she thinks that you need to improve, that you could score high for the team, or various reasons. First you would have to tell your coach if you are swimming in that meet though. So it's not like the coach picks what meets you swim, but does encourage you to swim as many meets as possible.

Do you know where swimming came from, or how all four strokes came into swimming? Well just swimming, not competitively, but just any kind of swimming came from a discipline for cave man. They had to swim across a river or a lake. That is also what gave them the idea of having swimming be a sport, but that didn't start until the early nineteen hundreds. The first stroke that was swam, or developed was the breaststroke, or something like that, that eventually became the breaststroke. Then soon after that freestyle was "invented". Those were the two first strokes that came into swimming. Those were also the only two strokes that were swam at the Olympic Games. Not until 1904 that changed. Backstroke and butterfly were also brought into swimming. Butterfly came from breaststroke. In the Olympics, people realized that you could go much faster by bringing both of your arms over you head. That then became the butterfly. Now all of the four strokes were created. Before only men could swim the Olympics. That changed in 1912. That was the first Olympics where women could also swim in the Olympic Games too.

If you didn't know what a swimming pool looked like, there is a picture below of one. The picture below it is someone swimming breaststroke because that was the first stroke to be swam at the Olympic Games, and just overall.

I Scream DQ!

To get DQ also means to get disqualified. If you don't swim correctly, then you will get disqualified from your event. For example, if you don't swim the stroke correctly [if your swimming breast stroke and while still pulling the breast stroke pull, but kicking flutter kick(example)] then you would get disqualified. Another way you can get disqualified is if you false start. To false start means to start early. The way you would false start is if you move or dive in after the official says "take your mark", but before the "go" siren goes off. Those aren't the only ways that you can get disqualified. You can also get disqualified if you miss your event. If you miss your event in a championship meet than you could possibly get scratched from your next event. To get scratched means that you are being disqualified before the event swims. You don't just get scratched if you miss an event, but you can get asked to get scratched. If when you get to the meet and you decide at the last minute that you don't want to swim a certain event, then you can scratch yourself from that event (or have a coach scratch you). Another way that you could get disqualified from your event if the way you finish or turn (mainly in butterfly or breaststroke). In butterfly and breaststroke you need to finish with two hands. Also when you touch to turn, the touch needs to be with two hands. If you don't do that then you will also get disqualified. There are lot of other ways to get disqualified, but those are the main ones.

Go to http://www.usaswimming.org/USASWeb/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabId=95&Alias=Rainbow&Lang=en and click on "Click here for a complete copy of the 2010 Rulebook". When the open file tab pops up, click okay. You need to read pages 17-21 (not the numbers on the thin bar on the right side, but the page numbers on the bottom of the big pages in the center of the screen). That will tell you more about disqualifications and more reasons that you would get DQ.

Did you know that most of the new fast suits (suits you wear to make you go faster in a meet) are against the USA and Illinois swimming rules. You can get scratched from your event if you break the rule and wear one!

Turn Fast, Swim Fast

Another way to make your times faster, even by a split second, is to have fast turns. For any event that will work. There can be a freestyle turn, backstroke turn, and butterfly/breaststroke turn.

The freestyle flip turn is the simplest. It's kind of like doing a somersault in the water except you are close to the wall and after around three-fourths of the somersault (flip turn), you put you feet closer to the wall and push off. When you push off you will still be on your back, but after you push off (but before you come to the top of the water) you turn back onto your stomach. When you reach the top of the water you continue swimming freestyle.

The backstroke flip turn is very similar to the freestyle flip turn. When you are swimming back stroke and you get to the flags that are hung above the pool you count your strokes until you get to the wall. One stroke less than your count, you are going to flip on your stomach and repeat the action I explained in the paragraph above. Instead on flipping back onto your stomach after you push off the wall, you are going to stay on your back. When you reach the top of the water, you will continue swimming backstroke.

The butterfly turn is the same thing as the breaststroke turn. You will swim butterfly or breaststroke into the wall and then touch with two hands and pull back with one arm, elbow first, lean to that side, bring your other arm with you and push off of the wall in a streamline. It is very important to touch with two hands because if you don't then you will get disqualified (DQ) from the event.

Next there are three more types of legal turns. Fly to back, back to breast (also known as the suicide turn), and breast to free. You would use those turns when you are swimming an individual medley (IM). An IM is just one event that would involve you swimming all four strokes. The fly to back, and the breast to free turns are very similar to the butterfly or breaststroke turn. For the fly to back turn you would swim fly into the wall and do the same thing with pulling back your elbow, but instead of pushing off on your side to stomach, you will push off on your back. When you get to to surface of the water you will start swimming backstroke. When you get to the wall that you have to turn to breast, there are two ways that you can turn. One way is easier, but slower, and the other way is harder, but faster. The first way you can turn is swimming backstroke into the wall and when you get to the last stroke and that hand touches the wall, pull your legs back and push off the wall with having your other arm follow. The second way you can do that turn is known as the suicide turn. It is called that because it's scary to do. When your hand hits the wall from your last backstroke stroke you will need to tuck into a tight ball and pull your self back and do a backward somersault. When you get on your stomach, you push off and do an underwater pull out. After that , when you reach the top of the surface, you start to swim breast stroke. The breast to free turn is the exact same thing as the breaststroke turn except instead of swimming breaststroke after you turn, you will swim freestyle.

In the video below, you can watch Natalie Coughlin, an Olympic swimmer, talk and teach more about flip turns!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyw4ftnyZ18&feature=related

Take Your Mark...Go!

When you are point something away from a cut, what will help you get it is a good start. A good start contains the way you prepare yourself before the official says "take your mark", where your hands and toes are after the officials say "take your mark", how you push off the block after the "bell noise" goes off for you to go, and the position you are in when your in the air before you dive into the water.

~~The way you can prepare yourself on the starting block before the official says "take your mark" is to get in a position similar to the picture above on t he left, except have your hands on your knees. That gets you ready to go in the final position right before you take off. When you get in that half-position you should still keep your head down so you can be focused for the race your about to swim.

~~Your hands and toes should be curved over the edge of the block. You should be in the final position I explained in the last paragraph above. Only your toes should be curved over the edge, not you feet. Also your fingers should grab the end of t he block while your hand is following your arm up where you shoulders are. That gives you more power when you dive and push off t he blocks.

~~When the go sound goes off, then that's when you have to dive into the water. You don't want to go straight down, you want to have a shallow dive. When you dive you want to go far also. You don't want to go into the water as soon as your off the blocks, you want to stretch and go far into the water. It will help if your hand and toes are where they need to be.

~~After you dive off the blocks, but before you get into the water, you need to be squeezing in as hard as you can. When your in the air it will help if your in a streamline position. It will be lass resistance and will better you time.

~~That was just a fast way to sum up a good start. The video below will explain starts more.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgXmHzitiU0

Are You Ready to be Committed?

Attendance at swim practice is very important. The way you swim in practice will effect the way you swim in your next meet. For example, if you mess around and don't try, then you will probably wont swim fast at a meet, but if you try and work really hard then you will probably drop time. It's not just how hard you work, but also how much you go. Say you only go to practice three days a week out of six, then if you have high goals, they probably won't be reached with that attendance.

What you need to focus on in practice is what you or your coach noticed you did wrong in the previous swim meet. Sometimes it could be that you didn't have a strong enough kick or a good enough pull, your head moves around too much, when you breath you lift you head up too high, your streamline may need to be tighter, or many more possibilities. The way that you can solve that is by one, coming to practice so you can work on what you need to work on, and stay in shape, and two, by drilling! There could be numerous different drills to do to work on what you need to work on.

Drills can be different things. It can be kicking or pulling, or an actual drill. Drills that are kicking could just be kicking with a kick board, streamline kick, or underwater kick. You can flutter kick, dolphin kick, or breast stroke kick. The flutter kick is used in freestyle (free) (people know it as the front crawl) and used in backstroke (back). The dolphin kick is used in butterfly (fly). Obviously the breast stroke kick is used in the breast stroke (breast). Drills for pulling could just be using a pull buoy and pulling whatever stroke you need to work on. Free, back, breast, and fly pull looks like what they are doing in the pictures below. The first picture is someone swimming free, the second picture is someone swimming fly, the third picture is someone swimming back, and the fourth picture is someone swimming breast stroke.

There can be many different drills for you to do. Most of the drills that you do are to help your stroke technique. Like I said before, your coach would, or should tell you what you need to work on for you to decide what drill you should do. An example of three drills to swim is in the video below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUULNJEdKU8

Hungry Much?

Do you get hungry often and go grab a snack to eat? Do you ever have a craving for McDonald's? Do you ever go to a birthday party and have birthday cake? Well before a swim meet you can't have any of that. If you want to swim fast then you will need to have a strict diet. Eating junk food won't cut it!

In a good diet you need carbohydrates, and protein the most. It is very important for you to get that. Carbohydrates gives you energy and protein replenishes your muscles.

It's not just important to watch what you eat, but also to watch what you shouldn't eat. At least two days before you swim an actual event, you should not eat meat. Even though meat has protein it doesn't have what you need to have good races. You should have other foods with protein in it at least two days before the meet. Another thing you should watch out for is dairy products! If you have any dairy before you swim, like milk, yogurt, smoothies, or any other dairy, it will upset your stomach, and will not make a good race, or a happy swimmer!

How long should you eat like this? Well you should eat extremely healthy around a week before your meet. Even when there are no meets, but still in training, you should eat healthy, but you can be more laid back. If you want to have GREAT health, not just for swimming, but for life you could always eat healthy, but laid back like you should when your in training, but have no meets going on at that time. It would also be good when your in a break because you won't be able to burn off the junk that you eat, even though a little is okay!

What you eat before a swim meet will effect the way you swim, so you should be cautious about what you eat!

All About Paige

Hey, I'm Paige. I am fourteen years old, in eighth grade, and competitively swim on the Blue Devil Swim Club (BDSC). Before I was on the Blue Devils, I was on the YMCA Hasting Lake Stingrays. When my head coach transfered to that team, almost the whole intire Stingrays did too, including me! So since I love to swim so much, I have decided to blog about how to prepare for a swim meet. I picked that because like I said before, swimming is what I love to do. I am qualified to write about this topic because I have been competitively swimming since I was ten years old, and I have had previous experience about what to do before a swim meet, and know alot about it. Around once to twice a week I will be posting new topics of how to prepare for a swim meet. I will expand and write more about each topic until you know how to prepare for a swim meet! Please keep reading my updates and comment if you would like. Maybe in a month you will know how to prepare for a swim meet!