SWIM MEET SURVIVAL GUIDE

To qualify for provincials you must finish 1st, 2nd or 3rd in an individual event at the Vancouver and District Regionals, be on a 1st or 2nd place relay team, swim a PQT Time in the finals of a race at Regionals or be added as a Wildcard. (2022 PQ Times will be added once they are public)

The following Meets have been confirmed for Summer 2024.

Most meets are over 2 days and start as early as 6:30am/7am for warm-up! Details are always sent out prior to the meets.

- May 25/26 - Squamish Pirates

- June 22/23 (Sat-Sun) - North Shore Winter Club (North Vancouver)

- July 6/7 (Sat-Sun) - Cruisers (Richmond)

- July 13/14 (Sat-Sun) - Vikings (Richmond)

- August 3/4 (Sat-Sun) - Regionals TBC

- August 16-18 (Thursday-Sun) - Provincials at UBC

Swim meets are typically held over two days. About 2 or 3 days ahead of a swim meet, the head coach will send out an email to all swimmers letting them know what time warm up starts for each of the days. Warm ups typically start as early as 6am up to 7:30am, with most meets starting at 8am to 8:30am. Warm ups are divided into group 1 and group 2/3.

When you arrive at the pool, look for the Pirates tents and flags. We try to arrive early to get the best tenting spots. Things to bring include a sleeping bag, warm clothes, 3 to 4 towels, pillow, cooler with plenty of healthy snacks, lunch, and water, chocolate milk, etc. All swim meets either provide a food truck, or make their own food on site, so bring cash if you want a burger.

Parents are reminded that they are ultimately responsible for getting their child to each race. Swimmers first talk to the their coach, and then head directly to marshalling where they check in. You may accompany your child to marshalling, give them a big thumbs up, and wish them well. Any swimming advice should be left to the coaches. Most often the coaches will want the swimmer to work on one particular aspect of their swimming during the race, and adding your own advice is counter productive, so just leave them with plenty of encouragement, and go to the parents area to watch the race and cheer them on.

Please read the parents code of conduct. This document was put together by the BCSSA and is worth the read. Click HERE.

After the race, the swimmer heads back to talk to the coach and is then free to head back to the tents. Make sure your child stays well hydrated between races.

At the start of each day, parents sign up for volunteer shifts, mainly to do timing, or if qualified, as a deck official. Most shifts are 2 hours in length and each club is assigned 1 or 2 lanes. As a smaller club, we normally get 1 lane with 3 parents per shift, and 3 shifts per day for a total of 9 shifts per day. Sign up sheets are usually found on the pool, and parents discuss who will what what shift at the beginning of the day. Being a timing volunteer means you get to sit pool side with a great view of the races. It's a good job. If you are a deck official, there is a separate sign up sheet.

Most meets finish anywhere from 3pm to 5pm. Relays normally happen at the end of the day, so check with a coach if your child is on a relay team. If you are assigned to a relay team, it is important to stay for that race, as other swimmers on your team are counting on you. If you cannot stay till the end of a day, you must let the coach know during warm ups on the day of the race.

Coaches will choose the events a swimmer will swim for each swim meet.

Relay events typically occur at the end of each day of a swim meet an swimmers are chosen during the meet based on performance at that meet. If a swimmer does not want, or cannot swim in a relay event, please let your coach know A.S.A.P, and preferably before the meet. If a swimmer is assigned to a relay team, he or she is expected to stay for the relay event. If a relay team swimmer leaves the meet before the relay, this costs the rest of the team the opportunity to race.

The BCSSA age group locator for 2024 can be found HERE

Summer swimming has 2 tiers of competition, ‘A’ and ‘B’. Swimmer compete in one of these tiers based on their times.

The Individual medley consists of four strokes, swum by one swimmer in the following order;

butterfly, backstroke, breastroke, freestyle

The Medley Relay consists of four different swimmers in one relay event, each swimming one of the four strokes. The relay is swum in the following order

Backstroke, breastroke, butterfly, freestyle.

The Squamish Pirates are part of the Vancouver & District Region.

The most important swim meet of the season for highly competitive swimmers is the BCSSA Provincial Championships, also known as “Provincials”. The 2024 Provincials will take place in Vancouver at UBC from Aug 16-18. You can learn more about provincials HERE

In order to be able to swim at Provincials, swimmers must qualify at the BCSSA Regional Championships, also known as Regionals. The Squamish Pirates are part of the Vancouver & District Region. Regionals are August 3rd and 4th. All swimmers can attend Regionals.

To qualify for Provincials, swimmers must finish top 3 in finals in an individual event at Regionals, or be part of a relay team that finishes top 2 in finals at Regionals.

Any swimmer who swims a Provincial Qualifying Time (PQT) in a finals at Regionals automatically qualifies for Provincials regardless of what place they finished in the race.