Last updated on November 11th, 2023 at 04:55 pm
Who doesn’t want to run a great swim meet? Most everyone who puts time and effort into planning, preparing and running a swim meet does it hoping for good results. However, what each sees as a “good result” may vary. There are many different outcomes that could be deemed good, or even great. Knowing where you want to go, will help decide the route needed to get there. Choosing goals, or what you hope to have happen as a result of the meet, can help make a good swim meet, great. A well-planned swim meet event list can help you get the desired effect. This post gives a few ideas of organizational goals, or reasons why a team, or other meet host, might choose to host a swim meet. There are also many personal reasons why athletes choose to compete in meets.
Contents for Swim Meet Event Lists: Reaching Team Goals
A Variety of Swim Meet Goals
A variety of goals? Isn’t the aim simply to help swimmers get times? Perhaps, but a swim meet can offer much more when well-planned.
Help Swimmers Get Times in a Wide Array of Events
- Offer a variety of events either at one multi-session swim meet, or through a series of shorter meets
- Reduce the downside of distance events
- Some meet hosts hesitate to offer distance events because of the time they take to run. A solely distance event meet often generates less income because of the limited number of participants. High pool rental cost may need covering. It can also be challenging to get enough officials and meet workers because of fewer participants.
- Many find it more practical to add a distance session to a meet, instead of simply holding a distance-only meet
- Note: Some meet hosts have a sustainable system in place which allows them to host a variety of swim meets, include distance-only events.
- Get more distance events into a swim meet by offering 200’s and above as mixed age and gender events (i.e. mixed gender Senior or Open events)
- Combine shorter and longer distance events together in a session or meet. This helps even out the overall timeline.
Obtain Baseline Times for Training
Athlete baseline times at the beginning of a season, or end of a preceding season, are valuable to a coach. One team, which grew from hosting one swim meet a year to hosting eight-plus, now hosts a small meet at the end of one season, or the beginning of another. These meets include short events in every stroke. The team instructs everyone to attend. The coaches use the results data to help plan athlete training for the upcoming season.
Update Relay Times
One team hosted a two-hour meet comprised solely of 50 and 100 Freestyle events towards the end of a season. Everyone on the team swam in it. The purpose? Get updated times to coaches planning relays for the approaching championship meets.
Introduce New Swimmers and Parents to Swim Meets
Consider planning a swim meet to introduce new swimmers and parents to meets. Shorter events and timeline are key for this type of meet event list. Looking for an easy way to get information about swim meets to new athletes and parents? Check out the Swim Meet Survival Guide For Newbies and First Swim Meet? Tips and What to Take. Swim teams may opt to share links to these posts or download the WORD files, modify them, and then distribute that.
Help New Parents Learn to Become Meet Workers
Planning a meet for athletes new to swimming? Intentionally helping new parents learn how to become meet workers increases the benefit of this type of meet. By doing so, parents start to see their role at meets includes being part of the meet hosting team and not just spectators. This can be a powerful paradigm shift.
Fun!
Sometimes we forget that swimming should be fun! The goal of your meet might just be to have fun. Even if it isn’t the primary objective, try to plan in some fun.
Conclusion
Many benefits come from hosting swim meets. Planning the meet event list with team goals in mind is one way of building a program that helps to achieve those goals.
Preparing for a swim meet? Check out The Ultimate Swim Meet To-Do List. Then, get a bird’s eye view of Who does What at Swim Meets. Both include easy-to-follow links to related information. Doing a smaller, simpler meet? Host a High School or Developmental Swim Meet will help.
Need more help? See 20+ Ways to Get Swim Meet Timers and Officials: 20+ Ways to Get them for Swim Meets.
Also, discover a few things you can do to Increase Safety at Swim Meets. Find ideas to implement before your meet as well as last-minute quick and easy tips!