Team Goals page

Basic types of meets in which the BlueFins participate:

1. Smaller Dual / Tri-team Meets
2. Invitational Meets
3. Niagara LSC Meets
4. Zone and National Meets

Participation in relays is at the coaches' discretion.

Dual / Tri-team Meets

These are smaller meets with a few local clubs which are run at a more relaxed pace and give our younger swimmers more experience.

Invitational and Niagara LSC Meets
There are numerous meets that are sanctioned by the Niagara Swim LSC, and all teams are invited to participate, so several teams compete together. A full list of meets can be found on the Niagara LSC website under Calendar, current year.

Swimmers decide which meets and events they wish to enter. Swimmers may leave when they have finished swimming their events unless they are in a relay. Please make sure they check with the coaches to see if they will be participating in a relay before they leave.

General Invitationals
These meets are open to all swimmers regardless of age or swim times. They are typically one day with an AM session and a PM session divided up by age group.

Niagara LSC Meets
These meets are open to swimmers with specific qualifying times. Some meets are for those swimmers with times slower than a certain time standard while others are for those faster than a certain times standard. Prior to the meet an eligibility report will be posted with the event listing on the website.

Some meets involve both a preliminary session (prelims) and a finals session, where swimmers who finish in the top group of their event will be eligible to come back later in the day to swim at the finals. Conversely, some events at these prelims/finals meets will only be swum once, with no separate prelim/finals session. If an event is designated as “timed final” it is that type of event, and it is only swum once. Final placement is determined by this one time swim. Frequently, it is the relay events and longer events which are timed final events, but this is no hard and fast rule. All meets are unique so please refer to meet packet for details.

If the meet is a prelim/final meet then, consistent with the Niagara LSC and USA Swimming policies and procedures (found on the Niagara web site under the Policies and Procedures), BlueFins scratches (not showing up for an event) at Niagara LSC meets is at the discretion of the coaching staff. An athlete or parent cannot scratch from a finals event without the coach signing off with approval; many meets directors require this. Most scratch tables are located on deck; this necessitates coach involvement since parents are not allowed on deck. In the event that a conflict or situation arises that a parent feels necessitates a scratch, the parent must get word to the coaching staff before the announced time period (usually 30 minutes from the announced results). Coaches make determinations on a case by case basis. Under no circumstances will the coach accept a scratch from an athlete without first touching base with the parent or guardian. Failure to scratch properly within the LSC guideline (a coach signed scratch form) will result in a fine from the LSC. The family will be responsible for this fine.

Parents of participating swimmers may also be asked to volunteer as timers for Niagara LSC Meets hosted by other teams. The club will be notified by the host if and how many timers or other volunteer positions must be filled. Job Signups will be made available via the website.

For Niagara LSC Meets that are team meets that are held outside the Rochester area, the club admin will try to reserve a block of rooms at a local hotel. In most cases families should plan for their accommodations. Some meets list preferred hotels in their announcement.
For multi day or Prelim/Finals meets, please consider that your athlete may be assigned to a relay and may need to attend a day or a session during which he or she is not swimming any individual events. This ties into a Relay 'Sunday Rule', where on the last day of the meet,  the top relays may have a choice to swim in preliminaries instead of the finals session. Please ensure the head coach is aware of any conflicts you may have that can affect the traveling team.
 

Team Meets
BlueFins swimmers are strongly encouraged to attend meets designated as team meets. These include all Niagara LSC meets, Dual / Tri local meets, BlueFin sponsored meets, as well as select invitational meets. At least one BlueFins coach, and possibly multiple coaches, will be available per session.

Note: Coaching coverage will be planned for all team meets. If there are less than 5 swimmers per session signed up, the head coach will arrange for BlueFins swimmers to be supervised by another club participating in the meet.

Entries and Fees
As invitational information becomes available, an email will be sent which will include a link to the meet information packet. Please read the instructions in these packets carefully. The announcement email also includes a BlueFins entry deadline for when the meet entries are due (do NOT go by the deadline in the meet entry packet). It takes time to assemble all the entries and prepare them for submission to the sponsoring club; therefore no late entries will be accepted. Swimmers who wish to swim in the meet will be instructed to submit their entries via the website prior to the BlueFins signup deadline. See "How to Sign Up" for more information on this process.

Relays – Do not request entry into relays. Coaches determine all relay entries. For non-LSC and non-Championship meets, you may indicate in the notes section during sign-up whether your swimmer is available to swim for relays. For Championship meets, relay availability requests from families will be considered, but the final relay makeup will be determined by the coaches.

Relay Fee Policy:

1. A swimmer does not show up for the meet but notifies a coach (email [email protected]) prior to the meet and no replacement is available for the relay, the BlueFins club will pay the relay event fee.
2. A swimmer does not show up for the meet and does not notify a coach prior to the meet and no replacement is available for the relay, the swimmer who missed the meet pays the entire relay event fee (i.e., $12 fee)

There is typically a flat rate entry (deck) fee for these meets as well as a charge for each individual event and relay. A meet surcharge of $10 will be added for participating swimmers. These fees will be invoiced monthly by the billing system.

Results
During the week following any meet, results will be posted on the meet listing page. You will receive an email notification. Some meet results take longer to be available than others. This depends on the host and their ability to confirm results. Some meets, during championship season, will be processed in a day or two so the new times are available to enter a higher level meet that may follow. GVSL meet results tend to take longer to be finalized.
Occasionally, when errors are found after the results have been posed on the Niagara Website/SWIMS database, an updated results are reposted.

Soon after the results are posted on the BlueFins Website, results will be available in the OnDeck app as well as in the member tab on the website.  For course consolidated report - please refer to the Eligibility Reports that may be available closer to meets which have qualifying times.

Deck Etiquette
No electronic devices are allowed to be used at BlueFins meets. Phones may be used by swimmers for communicating with family or to listen to music as needed but not for routine use.

Updated 8/30/2022