Bow MarS Sharks

About the Team

The Bow MarS Sharks swim team is a long-standing summer tradition shared between Bow Mar and Bow Mar South - hence our name - Bow MarS Sharks! We are a summer league swim team aimed at offering 5-18 year olds an opportunity to develop their swimming skills and gain a positive recreational swimming experience through friendly competition with other teams in South Metro Denver.

The purpose of this handbook is to help you, as parents, gain an understanding of what is required of you and your child throughout the swim season. The Bow MarS Sharks team is a member of and regulated by the Rocky Mountain Swim League (RMSL).

Our Season

Our season runs from late May through mid-July. Meets take place on Saturdays and practices take place Monday-Friday during the week. RMSL requires swimmers to compete in at least two regular swim meets to be eligible for Prelims and Finals.

Eligibility

Children ages 5 to 18 (as of June 1 in the applicable year) of Bow Mar South and Bow Mar residents in good standing with their respective HOAs are eligible to participate on the Sharks swim team. For liability reasons, there are no exceptions made to the age requirements for participation. If you have a question about your child’s eligibility for Sharks, please contact a Parent Rep.

Pre-Team “Pups”

For 5+ year olds not quite ready for competitive swimming, our team offers a pre-team program called “Pups” that is geared toward developing the skills needed to participate in meets successfully. Pups swimmers will experience all of the team aspects of being a Shark - including participation in daily practices, Big Shark/Little Shark activities, and are encouraged to attend meets to cheer for the Team. Pups swimmers are registered as part of the team through the standard registration process. Parents of Pups swimmers will still have a volunteer commitment to the team. To assess your child’s readiness for the Pups program, please see the guidelines on our website.

Coaching Staff

Our Coaches are typically lifelong participants in the Sharks program! The coaching staff are the only paid positions on the team. Collectively they have many years of competitive swimming experience. Each year coaches must sign the Rocky Mountain Swim League Coach Code of Conduct. The head and assistant coaching staff also take training as swimming coaches annually. Junior coaches will assist the coaching staff at practices and meets.

The Coaches are directly responsible for all activity that occurs at the pool once practice begins and at all meets. If your child will not be able to attend a meet that they signed up for, please notify the Head Coach in advance. No shows at swim meets cause significant headaches for our coaches, relay teammates and volunteers. The coaching staff has no responsibility for general administrative activities other than meet entry issues. Please call the Parent Reps or Volunteer Coordinators for administrative or volunteer questions and/or concerns.

NOTE: If you need to talk to a Coach for any reason, please do so after practice so as to enable them to focus on conducting practice effectively.

Parent Responsibilities

Please see the Parents’ Code of Conduct.

Swimmer Responsibilities

Swimmers are expected to be on time for all practices, meets and events and conduct themselves in a sportsmanlike manner. Most of all, swimmers are expected to come to practice with a smile, ready to have FUN!

Communication

The Parent Reps make every effort to provide general team information on our website. Please consult our website for general information about practice times, meets and special events. Please direct questions about eligibility, registration, volunteer expectations, special events, sponsorship opportunities, or general feedback, to the Parent Reps. Questions about meet entries, or day to day questions about practices and meets should be directed to the Coaches.

For information about the Rocky Mountain Swim League, visit www.rmsl.org

Swim Meets

How Does a Swim Meet Work?

Swim meets are a great opportunity for your swimmer to put all their hard work on display, hang out with their friends, and have fun! There is a learning curve with swim meets though--- All meets have 90 events and will last the majority of your Saturday morning. The four official strokes- freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly- are broken down into events of different distances and combinations of age groups. The different age groups at a swim meet are: 6 & Under, 7-8, 9-10, 11-12, 13-14, and 15-18 years old. Boys’ and girls’ events are separated. Swimmers are encouraged to try different events at each swim meet once they have a reasonable chance of swimming the event legally. This allows swimmers to build their confidence in a meet setting and build experience but remember this should always be fun for your swimmer!

Dual/tri swim meets are generally held on Saturday mornings, and begin promptly at 8:00 am and can last until 1-2 pm. Swimmers need to arrive well in advance of the meet start, in time for warmup (optional) and the meet scratch deadline (mandatory). Precise meet timeline/instructions will be distributed to team members prior to each meet. Swimmers should bring extra towels, sunscreen, healthy snacks, drinks, and sleeping bags to stay warm as Colorado mornings can be chilly. Concessions are available at all meets, and we encourage you to support the home teams by purchasing concessions. Games or other activities for your child to play with during the meet are encouraged as well. Please label all personal items with the swimmer's name.

Some lingo to know ahead of time:

Event - This is for meets and it describes the race. Example: Boys 50 Yard Freestyle

Heat - Some events will have many swimmers competing, as result there will be different sets of swimmers for that particular event. Example: Event #19, Heat 2, Lane 4- You swimmer is the 19th event, in the 2nd heat, swimming in lane 4.

Relay - A team race swam with four swimmers. One swimmer swims at a time, once that swimmer touches the wall, the next swimmer starts their leg of the race. 99% of the time Freestyle is the stroke swam during a relay

IM - Individual Medley- One swimmer will swim all four strokes in one race. The IM order is Fly, Back, Breast, Free. Example: 100 IM is 25-yard swim of Butterfly, 25-yard swim of Backstroke, 25-yard swim of Breaststroke, and 25-yard swim of Freestyle.

Medley Relay - A team race swam with four swimmers, each swimmer doing a different stroke. The medley relay order is Backstroke, Breaststroke, Butterfly, and Freestyle.

Dual Meet - A swim with two teams present and competing. The majority of our meets will be dual meets.

Tri-Meet - A swim meet with three teams present and competing. These are typically held at larger pools that accommodate the number of swimmers.

Meet Entry Sheet - This is a list of every swimmer’s entries for the swim meet. Each swimmer will be listed in alphabetical order with their individual and relay events listed under their name.

Heat Sheet - This is the timeline of events and heats for a swim meet. Events will be listed in chronological order. This is where you can find your swimmer’s event, heat, and lane number as well as any relays they are part of.

Warm-Up Schedule

Pre-meet warm-up for swimmers will typically be at 6:45am (home meets) or 7:15am (away meets), although precise meet timeline/instructions will be distributed to team members prior to each meet.. Participation in warmups is encouraged for all age groups, but can lead to kid getting very cold so please bring plenty of towels, warm clothes, and/or blankets.

Weekly Meet Registration and Event Selection

Swimmers (or parents) must self-register for each meet. This registration must be completed no later than 12:00 noon on the Wednesday prior to each meet. Registration information and links will be sent directly by the coaches. A registration reminder will be emailed on a weekly basis during the season. The coaches will make every effort to balance entries based on a swimmer’s preferred events and events the coaches believe a swimmer will do well in. Swimmers are informed towards the end of the week which events they will be swimming.

“Heat sheets” will be emailed the night before the meet and will be posted the day of the swim meet. Check these sheets to see what events your child is swimming. A swimmer can swim in a maximum of three individual events and two relays. Heating generally occurs 8-10 minutes prior to the running of that event. "Heating" volunteers will not go searching for swimmers, so please make sure your swimmer knows his or her events and is paying attention so they don’t miss their events. For younger swimmers, we rely on parents to help make sure kids are in the right place at the right time. Typically parents write the event, heat and lane numbers on their child’s arm or thigh in waterproof sharpie for quick reference.

Stroke Judging

We are a recreational swim league but believe in teaching kids to swim their strokes legally. Stroke judges will be present at all meets and are required to disqualify (DQ) swimmers who are not swimming a stroke legally regardless of age or ability. A Stroke Judge should call any violations that he or she sees, and err on the side of the swimmer if he or she is not sure of the violation.

USA Swimming has many resources for more information about the requirements for each stroke.

Spectators

As a spectator, please stay behind the ropes around the pool deck. The Starter/Referee, Stroke Judges, Timers, Runners, and Coaches are all busy doing their jobs inside the ropes. We ask that you cooperate and encourage you to cheer on your swimmers from behind the ropes!

Ribbons

Ribbons are given to Sharks swimmers who finish in First through Seventh place. Ribbons are not awarded for any place or event if a swimmer gets disqualified (DQ). Ribbons can be picked up by the swimmers the week after the meet in the family file box at our pool.

RMSL Weather Policy

Practices and Meets will be held if the air temperature is 55 degrees or above and it is not thundering or lightning. Notification of practice or meet cancellation will be sent electronically.

Parent Volunteer Responsibilities

Swimming is different from many other youth sports in that many volunteers are needed to run a successful meet. It is therefore imperative that every family on the team volunteers time to help at the meets and behind the scenes. Below you will find the volunteer requirements. Failure to meet these requirements may result in a probationary period or loss of team registration the following year. This policy applies to all Sharks and Pups team families.

1. Each Family is required to work a pre-determined number of shifts during the regular meet season.

2. If you have a child swimming in a Prelims meet, each family must work at least ONE VOLUNTEER SHIFT AT PRELIMS OR CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS. This is in addition to regular meet season volunteer hours. Swimmers must qualify to swim at Prelims and Finals, the dates of which are set by RMSL and will occur on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday between the hours of 6:00 am and 4:00 pm.

3. Volunteer sign up will take place after the registration period has closed.

4. Once you sign up for a volunteer shift, YOU are responsible for fulfilling that volunteer shift. Please DO NOT ask the Parent Reps or Volunteer Coordinator to release you from your volunteer shift. THEY WILL NOT RELEASE YOU FROM THE ASSIGNED SHIFT. If you are unable to fulfill your volunteer shift commitment, it is YOUR OBLIGATION to find someone else to cover your assigned shift. It is not the responsibility of the Parent Reps or Volunteer Coordinator to make shift changes for you. Once you do so, you must notify the Parent Reps and Volunteer Coordinator in writing of the change prior to the event. If you show up for the wrong volunteer shift, this does not release you from fulfilling the previously committed shift.

5. Failure to fulfill a volunteer shift will result in loss of team registration privileges the following year.

6. Volunteer shift assignments for the season will be posted on the team website. A team roster will also be posted on the website. Weekly assignments will be sent via email.

7. Descriptions of volunteer job duties are posted on the team website. You will be expected to be familiar with and fulfill ALL the duties for your volunteer assignment. You will also be expected to cover the entirety of the shift period.

8. Volunteers MUST check-in at the Volunteer Check-In Table on the morning of the swim meet between 6:30 am and 7:45 am. Please check off your name on the volunteer shift assignment schedule and claim your name tag.

9. Please pay attention to any announcements during meets regarding shift assignments and volunteers needed.

10. Occasionally an event must be canceled and rescheduled due to adverse weather conditions. If you were scheduled to volunteer at an event which is canceled due to weather, you will be assigned to volunteer at the re-scheduled event.

11. All disputes regarding volunteer issues will be resolved by the Bow MarS Sharks Board at their sole discretion.

Prelims & Finals

Preliminaries (“Prelims”)

RMSL organizes Prelims for each age group after the regular season to determine who will compete in the RMSL Finals. Prelims are for all swimmers in the League who have competed in at least two regular meets and met team practice requirements. Each age group has a meet at a pool in the league. Prelim swim meets begin at 8:00 AM. Usually swimmers will compete in their strongest events for Prelims. In mid-June, coaches will ask swimmers to indicate the events in which they would like to swim in Prelims. The goal is to give them the best chance to qualify for the RMSL Finals.

Entries for Prelims are due to the League by the end of June. The entry time for Prelims is determined by a swimmer’s fastest time at a regular dual meet prior to the League’s cut-off date. Generally, the fourth meet of the season is the final swim meet for a swimmer to post a qualifying time for Prelims. These times are used to seed them in a heat of swimmers with similar times. Our team pays an entry fee for each swimmer registered to swim Prelims/Finals. If a swimmer will not be able to swim in Finals, please do not sign them up for Prelims.

Finals

The fastest 16 swimmers (+2 alternates) in each event at Prelims qualify to participate in the RMSL Finals. Certain events may allow additional heats to swim in Finals.