1. www.swimaqua.org :
This is the address for this AQUA web site. You can find all sorts of
information here. To find out about swim meets, go to the
AQUANotes page and then click on
the meet you are interested in on the right hand sidebar of the page. By
following these links, you can find meet
dates and locations, entry due dates and meet information. Links to meet
results are posted as soon as they are available.
2. The AQUA email list:
Please, please, please submit your email when you register with AQUA
and CHECK IT regularly. By doing this, you will be able to receive entry
due date reminders, meet and practice times and schedules and more.
3. Meet Entries:
At the pools and on our web site you can
find a schedule of meets for the upcoming season. Entries for these
meets are almost always due about two weeks before the weekend of the
meet. It is very important that you pay attention to upcoming
meets and the entry due dates. If you have any questions about which
meets or events your swimmer should enter, you or your swimmer should
speak with their coach. You must get your completed entries submitted by the specified date so as to simplify the job
for our meet entry person.
He will process the individual entries received, then create a list of these preliminary entries to be sent to the
host team. If for some
reason you do not get your entry in to us in time, do not panic. You can
almost always "deck enter" at a meet, although it will cost you twice as
much.
4. Doing your meet entries:
We require use of our electronic entry forms which are posted on
this website for each meet. Go to
this page to see which are
the latest meets for which we have entry forms. The forms are very easy
to use and are automatically emailed to the registrar for processing.
On the entry form, please make sure to put both the meet event number
and name, i.e., Event #11, 10 & U girls 50 free, and
your swimmer's best time in that event. This will
sometimes mean putting in a Short Course yards time for a Long Course
meters event of the same distance. That is OK if the meet invitation
indicates thus (i.e., entering with a 50yd time for a 50M event you are
entering; just put a "Y" after the time). The invitation might say
something like, "Entry times must be submitted in the course at which
the best time was achieved – short course yards (Y), short course meters
(S),
or long course meters (L)," although we rarely if ever swim short
course meter pools.
Both USA Swimming and Gulf
Swimming take all the worry out of historically tracking your swimmer's
past swim times. They compile it for you. You have your choice of
online data sources:
Gulf Swimming
times database (then click Athletes to begin).
My USA Swimming - a personalized database tailored to your own
swimmer after registering. Take full advantage of USA Swimming's site by
creating an account. If you are a USA Swimming member, you can link your
web account to your USA Swimming membership. Click
here to create an account and learn more. If you've already created
an account,
log in here.
Some benefits of linking your web account to your USA
Swimming membership:
Individual home pages for all swimmers and coaches.
Display of personal best times and meets participated
in.
Graphical display of times information.
Seasonal and lifetime best comparisons of times by
percent and second change.
Member only shopping benefits and promotions.
USA Swimming quick times database search - search for a time for
ANY athlete in USA Swimming; all you need is a name (for example, there
are four swimmers named Michael Phelps; select Club Wolverine for the
Michael Phelps' times).
All of the databases are automatically updated just a
few days after a swim meet.
If you are a transfer swimmer from another USA team (not summer
league), then you need to supply both your coach and the entry
chairperson with a copy of your best times and the dates and meets where
you made them. This is so we may enter the times in our database and
also have information for proof of times when needed.
Also, on all meet invitations, you will see somewhere near the Order
of Events page a box or table listed "Entry Rules." This is where you
can find out any specific things that you need to know about the meet
such as if you can enter with NT [no time] or not. Some of the terms you
should know about are:
Three-event rule –
(Does not apply to an Open meet) - For an A-up meet: This means that a
swimmer with three (3) "A" times from previous meets may swim all other events offered in
that division entered at his best time; e.g., if a swimmer has an "A"
time in the 50 Free, 200 Free, and 100 Back, he may swim the 100 Fly,
100 Breast, 200 IM, etc., if offered in that age group or division.
The exception is that the swimmer must have a 500/400 Freestyle "A"
time to swim the 1650/1500 or 1000/800 Freestyle events. The same rule
applies to the "BB" division times; if a swimmer has three (3) "BB"
times, he may swim all other "BB" events entered at his best time,
etc.
For an 8 & under swimmer to swim all events as a 10 & under at a
"BB" or "A" meet, the swimmer must have at least three (3) 10 & under
"BB" or "A" times. For a swimmer to swim all events as a Senior at a
"BB" or "A" meet, the swimmer must have at least three (3) Senior "BB"
or "A" times.
The three-event rule will not be in effect at any championship or invitational meets
.
Up/Down rule
–
In an "A-up" or "BB-up" meet, swimmers
must have an "A" time or "BB" time to qualify to swim events in that
meet. BUT, If a swimmer has an "A" or "BB"
qualifying time in a particular stroke, he may swim the immediately
preceding or following distance event of that stroke in that
meet, even if he doesn't have the qualifying time for that distance.
Example 1: In a BB-up meet (normally requiring swimmers to have BB
times to be able to enter events in the meet), if
a swimmer has a 100 Free "BB" time, he may also swim the
50 Free and 200
Free "BB" events in that meet, even if h doesn't have BB
times in those distance events. Example 2: A swimmer who has
previously achieved an "A" time in the 50
Fly may also enter the 100 Fly in an "A-up" meet.
For an 8 & under to swim a 10 & under event at a "BB" or "A" meet,
the swimmer must have at least one 10 & under "BB" or "A" time. For
example, if an 8 year old swimmer has a 10 & under 50 yard "BB" time,
then the swimmer could swim the 10 & under 100 yard "BB" event. For a
swimmer to swim as a Senior at a "BB" or "A" meet, the swimmer must
have at least one Senior "BB" or "A" time. For example, if a 10 year
old swimmer has a Senior 50 yard Free "BB" time, then the swimmer
could swim the Senior 100 yard Free "BB" event.
ALL 10 AND UNDER SWIMMERS ENTERING SENIOR EVENTS MUST PRE-PROVE
THEIR TIMES BY WRITING THE NAME AND DATE OF THE MEET WHERE THE TIME
WAS ACHIEVED ON THE BACK OF THE ENTRY CARD. FAILURE TO DO SO WILL
PREVENT THE SWIMMER FROM ENTERING THE SENIOR EVENT.
A swimmer who qualifies to swim an event in more than one age group
(i.e., 8 & under or 10 & under, 10 & under or Senior, etc.), may swim
the event in either age group, but MAY NOT swim the same event in both
age groups in the same meet. This rule applies to both individual and
relay events.
