A Parent Guide to Swim Meets!

POOL LOCATION: Home meets are at Lakewood Residents Club located at 15006 Lakewood Forest Drive, Houston Texas 77070 . Away Pool locations are listed on the calendar, click on "Meet Details" for more information.

ARRIVAL TIME: Please arrive at the pool on time for all meets. The start time of the meets can be found in the Meet email sent out on Fridays, usually parents and swimmers will be required to arrive between 6:00am - 7:00am. Please sign in with the Volunteer Coordinator as you enter. 

COACHING: During the meet our coaches will be on deck observing each child. These observations will be used in upcoming practices to help swimmers improve. The assistant coaches will be helping swimmer get set up for starts, reminding swimmers of specifics for each race (stroke type, sequence, etc...). Please allow them to focus on these activities. No parents should be in the ready bench area, start or finish areas that are not working a volunteer shift.

What to Bring

• Team swimsuit, cap, goggles (an extra pair of goggles is a good idea!), team tshirt, towel, and sunscreen. Make sure all items are well labeled with your child's name.
• Plenty of snacks and drinks to keep your swimmer hydrated and energized. (LWF Lightning also sells food & drinks during the meet).
• Games for your child for time in between meets. (travel games, books, DS etc)
• Folding camp chairs to sit on, and a canopy for shade if you have one.

Upon Arrival

• Be on Time! Warm-ups begin well before the meet start time.
• Ensure your swimmer has sunscreen on and is marked up with his/her event information. (Age group parents can help new swimmer parents with marking up their swimmer).
• Swimmers report to age group area and are checked in by age group parent(s). Once you have signed in with the volunteer coordinator, please be on the look out for the circle-in parents. YOU MUST SIGN YOUR SWIMMERS IN. If your swimmer is not signed in they will be scratched from their heats by the coaches. The same goes for the end of the meet, PLEASE inform the Ready Bench or Computer Operators if you are taking your swimmer home especially our 6 and under parents.
• VOLUNTEERS: If you have signed up to volunteer NO MATTER WHAT SHIFT, PLEASE check in with our volunteer coordinator as soon as you get to the pool. We LOVE our volunteers and like to know we have all our bases covered. Volunteer descriptions can be found here.

Marking up your Swimmer

• Find your child’s race information on the Event Reports/Heat Sheets.

• Label your swimmers with a black sharpie with their race details. On their back, mark their name ‘ J. SMITH’. On their forearm, mark their event infomation:

(E = event, S = Stroke). For relays, add a column for position on team, ie. 1,2,3,4

• See a photo and more on arm marking.

During the meet

• WHAT YOUR SWIMMER SHOULD KNOW: First and foremost have fun! Do their best and enjoy the meet. PLEASE leave the coaching to our amazing coaches and just encourage your swimmers. If you are volunteering and leaving your swimmer especially our younger swimmers, please make sure they know where all their "stuff" is snacks, goggles, money and entertainment.  Please lather your swimmers with sunscreen prior to arriving at the pool.
• FOOD AND REFRESHMENTS: As a general rule we like to promote “green” thinking so bring a reusable water bottle. Water containers will be available. At home meets breakfast tacos are for sale in the early morning. Also donuts, coffee, drinks, watermelon/fruit and snacks of all kinds will be available. Around 11:00 the food choices change to hot dogs and hamburgers with a variety of snacks available. You can bring in food and drinks, but we ask that people do not bring in glass or cans.
• READY BENCH: The announcer will call age event numbers to the Ready Bench.  It is the parent/swimmer's responsibility to get to report to the ready bench in a timely manner.
• RELAYS: Please don't cancel on relays, especially last minute - if your swimmer is signed up to swim the relay and for some reason you cannot stay, or make it, PLEASE INFORM the age group parents immediately. A relay is 4 swimmers and if one isn't there, the whole relay team has to forfeit. It makes everyone sad when this happens. When signing up for a meet, Swimtopia allows you to note your relay preference: Please indicate if your child won't be available for early or late relays. Read the Relay Policy! (link to be added).
• HEAT RIBBONS: In an effort to have more kids have a chance we give out heat ribbons to first place swimmers in their heat. This is a reward for working hard in practice and improving their time to achieve first place in their heat. Please explain to your children the intention of heat ribbons and the importance of being a good sport. Heat ribbons are given to the first swimmer to touch the wall, they may still be DQ’d depending on stroke judge.
• DISQUALIFIED: Swimmers will be DQ'd (disqualified) for improper strokes. If your child is DQ'd please assure your swimmer that it is okay and how proud you are of them for trying. The coaches do get a list of what the swimmer was DQ'd for and they will go over with the swimmers in practice!
• SPORTSMANSHIP: Seals swimmers stay in the water at the end of their races until all swimmers have touched the wall, it's respectful to other swimmers. Once all swimmers have finished the race swimmers may exit the pool.

Additional Thoughts

• Please MARK EVERYTHING with the swimmers name so we can avoid lost shirts, towels, caps, bathing suits, etc. The meet should finish between 1PM and 2PM. Again if you are leaving early please tell the age group parent. We encourage all parents and swimmers to stay until the end of the meet to cheer on all of our Lakewood Lightning swimmers.
• Wear sunscreen! (Get the hint yet?)
• Bring cash and small bills – The Lightning Cafe will not have change for anything over a $20.00!  Lightning families may use their pre-arranged TAB to charge food and merchandise items.
• Have fun watching all the kids experience summer swim. Most of all, the LIGHTNING want to be known for our good sportsmanship. Please congratulate the winner no matter what team they are on, please encourage all swimmers and please encourage your swimmers to do the same. Our swimmers will follow our example.
• T-SHIRTS:Wear Lightning team t-shirts or spirit gear to meets, if you would like to buy a t-shirt, please go to the gear page (link to be added).

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions. Our coaches and our parent leads will also be able to answer questions you might have at the meet. Most importantly HAVE FUN and ENJOY the day!

GO LIGHTNING!