Parents Page
Welcome to the PCAT Parents page. This page is intended to be a resource for parents looking for information about swimming. The best resource of competitive swimming information is on the USA Swimming website on the Parent tab. Definitely check out Swimming 101 (covers The Basics, Swim Meets, Glossary and Basic Rules).
PCAT Vision, Mission, Values and Beliefs Statement
Articles
Why my child should be a swimmer - as posted on the USA Swimming website
Winning Strategies by Wayne Goldsmith & Helen Morris
Food for Thought - For Parents and Swimmers
10 Ways for the Swim Parent to Sabotage their Child's Swimming Career
Questions & Answers (coming a bit at a time)
Q: Why is practice required 3 times per week?
A: Swimming is a sport that takes lots of time and dedication. Time and experience have shown that swimmers that come 3 times per week develop and improve MUCH faster than those that do not. Swimming is a technical and specialized activity involving extensive skill development.
Q: How come parents are not allowed on deck?
A: In order to provide a successful learning environment, we try to eliminate as many distractions as possible that cause disruption to the flow of practice. Most of the swimmers are aware of exactly where their parents/guardians are at all times and can lose focus of what they are supposed to working on. The reason for having the parents upstairs is NOT to alienate them, but rather to keep practice running as efficiently as possible.
Q: Why are the swimmers required to go at least 1 meet per month:
A: PCAT is a COMPETITIVE team. Meets are the fun part of swimming! This is where the swimmers have the opportunity to see how they are progressing and watch their hard work and dedication pay off. Meets are where the swimmers learn what areas they can improve in and try different races.
Q: What are the different types of swimmeets?
Swimming competitions are called meets. Meets are organized so that the kids are competing against other kids of similar ages and aiblities.
Developmental Meet / WAS (Wasatch Area Swimming) Meet - These meets are beginning level of meets and the best place to learn what competitive swimming is all about. Swimmers will try new events at these meets. NT's (No Times) are allowed at these meet. NT's mean that a swimmer has not achieved a legal time in an event. Developmental level meets are usually 1 day meets and are a Timed Finals format.
Invitationals - This is the next level of swim meet. These meets are usually require that a swimmer have a time in an event or have met a qualifying time for that event and/or time. These meets can be from 2-4 days long depending on when the meet is. The Invitationals can be broken down into different types (B/C, Non-Qualifier, Championships) of meets based on how fast a swimmer is. Also, these meets can be a PreLims/Finals format .
B/C Finale - One of the two types of season ending meets for Utah. This is the season ending meet for swimmers that have achieved 3 or less state qualifying time standards.
Age Group JO Championships / LC State Championships - This is the big meet of the season for most swimmers. Swimmers must achieve a qualifying time in an event to compete in this meet. The state meets run for 4 days.
Western Zones, Sectional, Jr. Nationals, Nationals - These meets are top end championship meets with challenging time standards. Also, these meets are regional and national level meets with participating swimmers from all over the country, and last anywhere from 3-7 days.
Q: What are the main focuses of each season? What about the 'bigger' meets other that state championships?
Every practice session and every meet is designed to help the swimmers have the best possibly performance at the end of season meets. The state championships are the main focus for the season for majority of the team. Some swimmers will have the opportunity to go on to other meets besides the state championships and these individuals focus will be adjusted accordingly.
If a swimmer gets a cut right before one of the "bigger" meets, it DOES NOT mean that the swimmer will go or that they are ready to go.
Q: What is the difference between a Timed Finals format and a PreLims/Finals format?
A: In a Timed Finals format, swimmers swim each race only one. Most invitationals, developmental meets and dual meets are Timed Finals meets.
In a PreLims/Finals format, swimmers compete in each event in the Preliminary session and the top swimmers advance to the Finals session. Evening sessions can be made up of a Championship Heat, Consolation Heat and sometimes a Bonus heat. Some invitationals and all state championships are PreLims/Finals formatted meets.
Q: What are time standards? (Time Standards)
Time standards are times that a swimmer achieves at swim meets that meet a specific criteria. Swimmers are grouped into different age groups by gender for different time standards. The Utah Age Group State Championship time standards are the times that a swimmer must achieve in order to participate in the state championships (i.e. 10-Under girls must go 35.19 in the 50 yard freestyle).
USA Swimming has come up with the Motivational Time standards that swimmers can use to monitor and gauge their progress. The Motivational Time standards are based on a percentage of national reportable times and them broken down further into divisions. The first division is B, followed by BB, A, AA, AAA, AAAA. Most of the Utah championship qualifying times are between BB and A times. The largest percentage of swimmers in the country are less than an A time standard in any given event. Western Zone time standards are close to a AAA time.
Q: How can I be involved with my swimmer and with PCAT?
Be active with the team booster club. The booster club helps run fundraisers, timing assignments, concession stands, team activities and helps out in so many other ways at away meets, PCAT hosted meets at activities.
Also, volunteer to be a swimming officials. Officials are always needed and major key to being a club. In order for a team to host a meet, they need to have at least one official on the team. PCAT is working toward having several officials so that we can be host and run our own meets as efficiently as possible.
Q: What do I do if my swimmer has a rough swim and/or meet?
The most important job for a parent/guardian is to be supportive of the swimmer AND the coach. Parents should always be a POSITIVE force for the swimmer and NEVER judgemental. No matter what the outcome of a race or meet, the parent is positive and understanding. There will ALWAYS be times when things just don't go well. It's the nature of competition. Part of growing and maturing is learning how to deal with not so great performances and learning situations. Bad races, disqualifications and unforseen obstacles are part of life. How a swimmer learns to deal with these challenges determines how can develop mentally and emotionally.
Parents need to be 110% supportive of the coach. The coaches are professionals and make decisions and actions based on what is best for the swimmer AS WELL AS the team. And it's not easy making some of those decisions. Ask yourself the question we all hate to hear, "How do you feel when someone doesn't have the training and experience that you have and they question your judgement and philosophy that you have spent so much time developing?" Swimmers and children are very intuitive and pick up everything. If they sense that a parent isn't happy with the coach, then their performance and attitude will be negatively effected. If there is a question or concern, please bring it immediately to the coach.
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