Tips for Surviving Prelims

Sunday - July 11, 2010 10:36 AM

Prelims are crazy busy meets.  We are used to dual meets with about 200 kids.  Prelims bring together swimmers from all 18 teams in the Rocky Mountain Swim League and one race can have upwards of 200 swimmers and 30 heats! (especially the 6 and under races).  So it's a madhouse.  Here are some survival tips:

Plan extra time - parking will be tough and so you'll need extra time to walk from your car to where our tent is.

Study the area map of your prelim pool ahead of time so you know where to look for our tent.

Bring a lawn chair or two.  You'll want something to sit on at the tent.

Bring a cooler full of healthy food, water, drinks.  I see a lot of parents with coolers full of fruit and buttered pasta (carbs).  The week is going to be HOT HOT HOT so make sure you and your swimmer are drinking enough water or sport drinks.

Try to keep your swimmer under the tent and in the shade.  The 8 and unders especially love to go play on the playground but nothing will drain their energy more than being in the sun.  Bring quiet activities to keep them under the tent - books, board games, cards, etc.

Keep abreast on when things are heating. Remember, at a prelim we only swim the events in that age group.  For example, at the 8 and under prelim we will swim Events #1 and #2 then skip to #11 and #12 etc.  There are just more heats for each race than we're used to in a dual meet.

Bring plenty of sunscreen.

Bring money for conesssions, a meet program and/or T-shirts.  Out of Breath sports will be there with special T-shirts that the kids can personalize through lettering.  $16 for the shirt plus a little extra for personalized lettering.  The T-shirt sales support the league and help keep costs down.  Meet programs are sold at the meet for $4.  Bring a highlighter so you don't have to buy one.

Plan on being on-deck only when your swimmer is in the water.  It's too crazy otherwise.

You might want to wear tennis shoes.  Sometimes the grass can be very long in the big green areas where the tents are (and wet if they didn't turn off the sprinklers).

If you have a LONG time between races (e.g. your swimmer is only in the opening and closing relays), you might want to consider going somewhere that's air conditioned to get them out of the heat for a while.  Einsteins, Starbucks, etc.

Please plan on helping to take down the tent and clean up our area at the end of the prelim.  It takes four people to get the tent down, but only a few minutes. No experience necessary.

The parent reps will have extra caps on hand ($10) in case you need one.  It would be great for all Tsunami swimmers who wear caps to wear a Tsunami cap.