Westwood Waves

Click HERE for the Greater Forsyth Swim League (GFSL) SwimTopia site, which has a lot of helpful information, including the GSFL swim meet rules. 

Most of the pools in our league are 25 yards long, but there are some that are 25 meters long. If you want to convert your times, this SwimTopia article will explain how to do it.

There is also a conversion calculator at swimswam.com, but it does not include 25 yards/meters.

My child is a new swimmer! Is that okay?

Most definitely. We work hard to make the Waves a fun and inclusive experience. The overarching goal is to foster a lifelong love of the sport of swimming, whether your child swims seasonally or year-round. All Westwood Waves swimmers must be able to swim one length of the pool.

Tell me more about swim meets.

We have a mix of home meets and away meets. Most meets are dual meets and held on Tuesday evenings. However, here are a few meets that aren’t held on Tuesday evenings. Check out our team website for the full list.

What is Clerk of Course (CoC)?

At home meets, we run a Clerk of Course (CoC) for 10 & unders, which helps organize our swimmers. Parents need to bring their child(ren) to CoC five events prior to their event. CoC is run by parent volunteers, and coaches help keep the swimmers organized behind the blocks. If your child is 11+, we ask that parents help ensure their child is behind the blocks for their events. No need to bring them to CoC.

What is Time Trials?

Time Trials is for Westwood swimmers only (no competing team). It’s run the exact same as a dual meet, so it’s a really helpful “mock” meet that kicks off our season. We encourage all of our swimmers to attend for many reasons, including

• It allows new swimmers to get comfortable with their events,
• It helps the coaches evaluate the swimmers and provides benchmarks for each swimmer,
• It gives parents the opportunity to volunteer (maybe for the first time) in a less hectic setting.

For swim meets, I’ve heard I should write my child’s events on their arm/leg. How do I do that?

Yes! It’s very helpful. You can ask one of the coaches to show you how to do it. While they can help you at a swim meet, it’s incredibly helpful if parents do it before arriving at a swim meet. Prior to the meet, heat sheets will be emailed to you so you will know what events your child/children are swimming.

If my child will miss a meet, do I still need to respond to the email about meet registration?

Yes! It is a huge help for the coaches to know who is coming and who is definitely not coming.

What should I bring to a swim meet?

We recommend that you bring a folding chair, as many pools do not have ample seating for the number of attendees at meets. Some parents bring snacks and drinks (and extra towels) to sustain their swimmer(s) during the 3-4 hour event. Many of the pools in our league have a concessions stand.

When should I arrive at dual meets?

For dual meets, arrive at the swim meet no later than 4:45pm, but not before 4:15pm. These meets start at 5pm with 15 minutes of warm-up per team. Traditionally, the home team warms up from 5-5:15pm and the visiting team warms up from 5:15-5:30pm.

What happens if there's lightning and/or thunder?

In the event of inclement weather, the GFSL representatives from each team will decide if the meet can proceed. You will be notified by 5pm via email if the meet is canceled. If you signed up to receive texts via Remind, we will also notify you by text. In the event of lightning and/or thunder after 5pm, everyone must exit the pool deck and wait 20 minutes after the last clap of thunder or last flash of lightning before proceeding with the meet. A meet may be delayed or re-scheduled. A meet is considered complete and may be called due to weather, without being rescheduled, if we have completed the Individual Medleys (100 IM).

Will I need to volunteer during swim meets?

Yes, it takes a village to run a swim meet, and the expectation is that every family volunteer throughout the season. Volunteer opportunities and swim meet registrations are opened simultaneously, so when you register your child to attend a swim meet, you can also sign up to volunteer. Many positions don’t require any training!

However, there are some particularly crucial roles which do require pre-requisite training that must be renewed each year. These roles are: stroke & turn judges, referees and starters. If you would like to learn more about any of these roles, please email [email protected].

Is summer league swimming more of an individual or a team sport?

It’s both! Swimmers should work on improving their individual times throughout the season. We call these personal bests (PBs). However, summer league swimming is more of a team sport than year-round/USA swimming. Coaches make decisions for meet entries based on what is best for the team as a whole. Sometimes this means that your child may not swim their favorite event(s).

My child is great at freestyle! Why don’t they swim it more often in meets?

Coaches fill breaststroke, butterfly and IM events with swimmers who can do breaststroke and butterfly legally (without getting disqualified for an “illegal” stroke). Versatile swimmers are entered in freestyle less often because the team needs them for the more difficult strokes (for younger children, breaststroke is difficult technically, and butterfly is difficult because it requires so much upper body strength). If there are particular events that your child wants to swim, enter those into the notes when you register them for meets. There is usually at least one meet during the season where coaches can work it out.

How does a swimmer get disqualified? Stroke & turn judges disqualify ("DQ") swimmers for "illegal” moves, as explained in the following USA Swimming videos:

• Backstroke: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5IjKFBIY18
• Breaststroke: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZXUEfP-Agc
• Butterfly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ajQQQnSKQ0
• Freestyle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baQJzcnG3oQ
• Relays: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BV2dAE0VXTE

All of these rules apply to the Greater Forsyth Swim League (GFSL), which is our league, with three exceptions: the backstroke turn, “head catchers” for 10 & unders and relay starts. You can view the GFSL rules here.

What happens if my child is disqualified (DQ-ed) for an illegal stroke?

Anyone who is disqualified will not score points nor get a ribbon (if they placed 1st-4th). The DQ slip should make its way to the coaches, who can then work with swimmers to make the necessary changes. Breaststroke and butterfly are quite difficult for most children ages 10 & under, so be patient. Some of them just need to grow before they can do these strokes well.

What does “IM” mean?

“IM” stands for Individual Medley. The 100 IM is one lap of each stroke in the following order: butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle.

What is the order of strokes for the Medley Relay?

Backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, freestyle.

What does 25 free or 50 free mean?

The numbers refer to distance.

• 25 free = 25 yards* freestyle = one length of the pool
• 50 free = 50 yards* freestyle = 2 lengths of the pool
• 100 free = 100 yards* freestyle = 4 lengths of the pool

*A few of the pools in our league are 25 meters long rather than 25 yards long.

What are the flags for?

For backstrokers, the flags indicate how close they are to the wall. Swimmers practice learning their stroke count during practice and warm-ups. Their stroke count measures how many strokes it takes them to get from the flags to the wall.

Why is practice so hard?

Swimming is not for the faint of heart! It may be difficult at first, but stick with it. The more you practice, the better you will get. Our coaches are mindful that Westwood swimming is not USA swimming. The workouts are appropriate for summer league. If it feels overly challenging, attend practice every day for 2 weeks. You’ll find that, at the end of 2 weeks, you are doing much better and it's not so difficult any more! If you only attend periodically, you cannot build up your endurance, so expect practices to feel challenging.

Why is practice so easy?

Most of our swimmers are summer-only swimmers, so we want to create suitable practices for them. If you want more challenging workouts, consider trying one of our local USA year-round swim clubs (Enfinity or TYDE). You can swim for a year-round team but still swim for Westwood during the summer!