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Meet FAQs

What Division are we in? 

What other teams are in the Southwest Houston Recreational Swim League (SHRSL)?

What is a Stroke Clinic and who should attend?

How are parents expected to help at meets?

Who should be notified if I know my swimmer(s) will miss a meet?

Are there Swim Meet rules I should know about?

Why can’t swimmers play on the playground during meets?

What is the order of events at a swim meet?

What are Time Trials and why do I need to help?

What is the Meet of Champions? (MOC)

What is the All Star Meet?


What Division are we in?

Division assignments happen in March of each year. Visit https://shrsl.org/ to see division breakouts once they're assigned.

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What other teams are in the Southwest Houston Recreational Swim League (SHRSL)?

There are teams located all over Southwest Houston and Fort Bend county, serving thousands of youth swimmers in the summer swim league program.

Click here to visit the league website to see the latest list of teams in the league.

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What is a Stroke Clinic and who should attend?

Stroke Clinics are for ALL parents! Anyone can attend and learn more about stroke rules and how the league works. Be a better cheerleader for your swimmer! Also, these clinics are a requirement for Stroke Judges, Starters, and Meet Directors who must take the Long Clinic every 3rd year and the Short Clinic in between.

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How are parents expected to help at meets?

Expect where noted, all positions are needed at all meets including preliminaries, finals and at all-stars.

STROKE JUDGE – Four from each team needed for each half of meet. Prereq: must attend annual League clinic.

  • Determines if swimmer completed entire swim event according to league rules and concerning the relay start, body position, arm stroke, leg kick, stroke order, turns and finishes.

EVENT STARTER – Home meets only, minimum of one for each half of meet. Prereq: must attend annual League clinic.

  • Determines that all lanes are properly filled with eligible swimmers for the event
  • Determines that all swimmers are in proper start position in each lane
  • Starts the event with an air horn or some other type of alarm. (Whistles are no longer allowed)
  • Determines that all swimmers properly begin the event, disqualifies swimmers who did not. (False Start: Each swimmer 6 to 12 are given two chances, swimmers 13 & up are disqualified after only one false start.)

EVENT ANNOUNCER – Home meets only – minimum of one for each half of meet.

  • Announces individual events, plus disqualifications, as they occur and facilitates the meets.

SCOREKEEPER – Two or three from each team needed for each half of meet.

  • Keeps track of score at meets

TIMERS/RECORDERS – Nine from each team plus one backup timer for each half of meet

  • Operates a stop watch on each swimmer in a lane
  • Records time on a time sheet and records DQ if applicable

READY BENCH ORGANIZER – Every Meet

  • Places swimmers for each event in order as listed on heating sheets
  • Notifies Team Parent that swimmer is not at ready bench position

TEAM PARENT – Two to three for each age group, depending on size, works the whole meet

  • Keeps swimmers together in age groups
  • Gets age group swimmers to ready bench before start of event
  • Locates swimmers who are not in ready bench order

CONCESSION WORKER – Home meets only

  • Helps sell food to the swimmers and parents at each home meet
  • Helps with set up and clean up of concession area

SET-UP WORKER – Home meets – Sunday PM – Away meets – crew needed to set up at 3:30 pm

  • Be available at pool to set up for meet, string flags, wire speakers, set up chairs, canopies, etc.

CLEAN UP CREWS – Home meets only, Monday PM approximately 30 minutes.

  • Families with a last name beginning with A – I will stay for 1 st home meet, J – R will stay for 2 nd home meet and S – Z will stay for 3 rd home meet.
  • Take down flags, speakers, straighten tables, chairs, etc. Pick up all trash, lost and found items, put away canopies, etc.

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Who should be notified if I know my swimmer(s) will miss a meet or several practices?

If your swimmer is unable to attend practice due to vacation, camp or other planned absence, please update your swimmer's Meet Entry status on the Season Calendar for attendance as soon as you know the dates you will be gone. Attendance is taken at each practice. If a swimmer misses more than 3 practices a week without a written excuse, that swimmer will not be eligible to swim in the “A” heat for the next meet.

Click here for information about reporting meet absences.

It is really important to notify us in advance if your swimmer is unable to attend a meet– this affects the heat sheets which are difficult to adjust at the meet itself, and causes confusion with the other swimmers. Please notify us about meet attendance by updating your swimmer's Meet Entry status on the Season Calendar. 

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Are there Swim Meet rules I should know about?

  • Alcoholic beverages, smoking, profanity or verbal abuse at League Meets shall be strictly prohibited. Use of such shall result in the offending party being removed from the meet premises.
  • Abuse of League rules shall be just cause for forfeiture of the meet by the offending team
  • No head-catching of swimmers shall be allowed
  • Coaches may not interfere with meet officials
  • All stroke judges, starters, meet directors and head coaches must attend a League or Divisional clinic to be eligible to perform at meets.
  • Completion of the Back Stroke event (all heats) shall comprise an official meet
  • Home team swims in the even-numbered lanes, and visiting team swims in the odd-numbered lanes
  • In order to participate in the Prelims and Finals, all swimmers must participate in at least 2 League Meets
  • A swimmer’s age for competition is determined by his/her age as of May 31 st
  • Age 6 & under may swim with the 7 & 8 age group in individual events not offered to the 6 & under group, but cannot swim the same stroke in both age groups. All others must swim with their respective age group except in the Open relays when up to two 13 & 14 age swimmers may move up to compete.
  • Age group 6 & under, 7 & 8 and 9 & 10 may compete in any two individual events and two relays per dual meet. 6 & under will swim only in the individual freestyle and the freestyle relay.
  • Age groups 11 & 12, 13 & 14 and 15-18 (Open) may compete in any three individual events and two relays per dual meet

Illegal Participation in a meet shall result in one hundred (100) points being taken away from the team for each meet in which the illegal swimmer participated.

POINTS FOR SCORING AT A SWIM MEET: (First or “A” Heat Only)

    • 7 points for 1 st place
    • 5 points for 2 nd place
    • 4 points for 3 rd place
    • 3 points for 4 th place
    • 2 points for 5 th place
    • 1 point for 6 th place
    • 1st place relays get 5 points, 2nd place relays get 2 points (no other points are awarded – 3rd thru 6th place receive no points)

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Why can’t swimmers play on the playground during meets?

Safety, Safety, Safety . The swimmers are not allowed on the playground during a meet because there is a chance that the swimmer could be injured and we want our children to be safe during a meet. Unnecessary exertion will drain their energy and could possibly cause a swimmer to miss an event. Swimmers should stay in shaded areas – rest and drink plenty of fluids between races.

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What is the order of events at a swim meet?

Click here to print the Order of Events

Click here to print the Order of Events Pocket Size

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What are Time Trials and why do I need to help?

Time Trials are a series of two practices where your swimmer will be timed in every stroke. The coaches use these times as a way to seed swimmers for the first meet and our Stars committee uses these times as a baseline to calculate your swimmer’s improvement over the season. When your swimmer improves their time on a stroke in a meet they get a gold star for their t-shirt!

Parent volunteers are crucial at this practice. The job is very simple! We need at least 3 parents at the end of each lane to time the swimmers. We ask for 3 per lane so that we get a good average of the three times that are recorded. Time trials take place during your swimmer’s regular practice time, so please make plans to stay that day if you normally drop off. Your help is very much appreciated!

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What is the Meet of Champions? (MOC)

The Meet of Champions is your swimmer's time to shine and show their best effort in all the strokes they've learned over the course of the season. This event is not only for elite swimmers, it's for every swimmer to swim their best in all their strokes so they can see their improvement since the first time trials. The results of the MOC are used to populate the All Star Meet.

The Meet of Champions is a competition between all of the teams in our division. It's broken up into two parts. The morning session is for swimmers ages 10 & Under and the afternoon session is for swimmers ages 11 & Up.

The MOC is typically held at the Don Cook Natatorium. Swimmers are eligible to participate if they have competed in two regular season meets and are able to swim any stroke they have been able to swim legally over the course of the season. (excluding time trials) This is your swimmer's chance to see how far they've come over the course of the season. We want every swimmer to swim every stroke they qualify for so they can see their improvement. There are a lot of swimmers so there will be time to rest between events. 

Swimmers in the morning session should plan to arrive no later than 6:45 am for warm ups to begin at 7:00 am. The meet will begin at 8:00 and the goal is to be done by noon. 

Swimmers in the afternoon session should plan to arrive no later than 1:45 for warm-ups to begin at 2:00. The meet will begin at 3:00 pm and the goal is to be done by 7:00 pm.

The MOC is a seeded meet. This means that heat sheets are computer-generated based on every swimmer's individual time over the course of the season. Once the meet is seeded, it cannot be changed. Empty lanes cannot be filled at the MOC because of the digital timing system and nobody wants to swim in a heat alone. Empty lanes make for an unnecessarily long meet. It is vitally important that meet entry deadlines are met for the MOC. If you know you're not going to be able to attend, you must use the Meet Entry system to let the coaches know your swimmer will not be at the MOC. 

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What is the All Star Meet?

All Stars is where the fastest swimmers and relays compete across divisions to cap off the season. Medals are awarded for 1st-16th place. Remember that it is something special just to make it to this meet. Getting a medal for being one of the top 16 backstroke swimmers for your age in a League that is made up of over 4,500 swimmers is really fantastic!!

Auto Advancers: FIRST PLACE winners from each division's MOC automatically advance to All Stars.

Call ups: THE TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS AND TOP 2 for RELAYS. from across the League move on to All Stars for individuals.

Number of Swimmers at All Stars:

  • INDIVIDUALS: 10 Call Ups (except for 1st Place ties) – TOTAL 16 swimmers
  • RELAYS: 2 Call Ups (only one heat) – Total 8 relays

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