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1. Can my child try the
Piranhas without cost to see if he/she likes it?
Yes, the Piranhas offer two trial periods at the start of the practice
season. If your child decides not to join the team in the first 3 days
of practice, you will receive a full refund. A 50% refund is available
until the end of the first week of practice. After the end of the first
week, no refunds will be offered. Just fill out a team registration form
so we have emergency contact information and include your refundable
registration fee.
2. What are the
Piranhas registration fees? What does the team do with the fee money?
Fees
are $110 for the first non-high school swimmer from a family then $100 for each
additional non-high school sibling. High school swimmers are $35, and there is a $260 family out-of-pocket maximum no matter how
many swimmers are in a family. The Piranhas use the money to rent meet pools, pay the
head coach’s and lane assistants’ compensation and purchase trophies,
ribbons, insurance, equipment, etc., for the team.
3. What if my child
doesn't know how to perform all of the strokes well?
Training intensity and duration varies by skill level, age, maturity,
etc. The head coach and age group leaders will help make this
assessment. Everyone was a beginner once. Our people remember that and
will help your child improve his/her technique.
4. If I have
children in different age groups, will I have to go to different
locations for practice?
No,
each group has a dedicated leader during each practice at the same
practice pool. However, they may practice at different times.
5. Can my 9-year
old swim with my 12-year old at practices?
As a rule, no;
but it could change with the coach's opinion of swimmer's ability. A
swimmer may be swimming below age group level, or above age group level.
Swimmers normally receive the most effective age-group-specific training
when they practice within their age groups.
6. Will my child be
required to attend swim meets?
Yes.
Participation in meets is the reward for all those practice hours!
Swimmers must participate in two of the five regular-season meets to
swim in the post-season Champ Series meets and receive a Piranhas’
year-end trophy.
7. Will my child
swim with others his/her own age? What will they do during the season?
The
Piranhas are a team of 170+ swimmers, ages 5-18. Your child will
swim against his/her own aged swimmers. At practice sessions, swimmers
will be coached to improve their swimming skills and endurance. Your
child will practice with other swimmers of similar ability. At meets,
there is the opportunity to compete against swimmers from other Clear
Lake-area swim teams. The emphasis is on each swimmer's
improvement, not on scoring points. In meets, girls swim against girls
and boys swim against boys.
8. My child knows
how to swim, but is not experienced as a competitive swimmer. Are the
Piranhas right for him/her?
We
believe so. The Piranhas are committed to teaching/developing talent and
good technique in every swimmer, no matter what the starting point.
9. My child cannot
swim currently. What can the Piranhas do to help?
The
Piranhas require swimmers to be water-safe and to be able to swim the
length of the pool without assistance
after the first week of practice. You and the
coach should determine if swimming lessons would be a more appropriate
first step.
10. How can I get
involved with the Piranhas as a volunteer?
Don’t worry, we’ll ask!! One of the Piranhas’ greatest strengths
is its large group of talented parent volunteers. We welcome new
additions with open arms, and all parents are required to volunteer at
the home meets in some respect. Below is an excerpt from our Piranhas
Handbook which lists the duties and responsibilities of each volunteer
position. Some require free training which is provided by our
league, but most do not. We have a volunteer position suitable for
every type of piranha parent! Please feel free to ask any board
member if you have any more questions. The volunteer positions are
as follows:
VOLUNTEER POSITION DESCRIPTIONS
Equipment set-up or take-down
— For home meets, this
involves positioning tables, chairs and electronic equipment (Friday pm)
and benches and shade canopies (early Saturday am). “Many hands make for
light work” when setting up and then storing these necessary items after
the meet (early afternoon). For away meets, this job involves hauling and
building shade canopies (early am) and dismantling them after the meet
(mid-afternoon).
Concessions
— a key function to ensure our team’s solvency. Work only at home meets
setting up concessions, selling refreshments, or cleaning up concession
area after the meet. Everyone is asked to make food/drink item donations
during the season, so please look for the sign-up sheet at practice and be
generous.
Ready benches
— Assist the clerk of course by distributing entry cards and placing
swimmers in lane order on the ready benches for their heat; also, maintain
order in the ready area. Help ease concerns of younger swimmers by
delivering them to their appropriate starting block.
Timers
— Time swimmers using stopwatches and record times on the swimmer's entry
card. Three timers are in each lane, and the head timer will have backup
watches in case you or your stopwatch goofs. A great “up-close” location
to see some swimming, especially if you like wet feet!
Runners
—
Collect entry cards and disqualification slips from timers
and take them to the scoring table. During the 25-yard events, runners
earn their title: first collecting entry card from swimmers on the blocks
then getting them to their respective timers at the other end of the lane.
Scorers
—
Verify official times and places of swimmers in each heat;
help with computer data entry during the meet and help verify scoring.
Ribbon writer
—
identify the appropriate place ribbons and attach a label
with each swimmer's results (recording the swimmer's name, event and
official time). File ribbons for distribution at Monday practice. May be
among the last to finish at a swim meet but always in the shade!
CERTIFIED MEET OFFICIALS [CCSL training required]
The CCSL provides short clinics to train parents to fill
these positions. Familiarity with competitive swimming and a working
knowledge of CCSL rules are essential and available through the league
handbook provided with training. To maintain certification, officials must
attend training each year (unless a USA Swimming or TISCA official).
Piranhas swimmers are best represented when the rules are fairly
interpreted by Piranhas’ parents. Relying on other teams to supply
officials on our behalf leaves Piranhas’ swimmers at a disadvantage and
places our meets in jeopardy. Training to become a stroke & turn judge is
the first step for most of the certifications. Please consider stepping
forward to become a meet official and key member of your child's swim
team.
Referee -
The
senior official at a meet; has final authority in all decisions and rule
interpretations.
Starter -
Calls
swimmers to the starting blocks; starts each heat; and handles false start
disqualifications.
Stroke &
turn
judge -
Judges
the technical form of strokes or turns according to league and USA
Swimming rules; responsible for disqualifying swimmers and explaining
reason for disqualification to swimmer/coach in an effort to improve
swimmer's performance.
Clerk of course -
Determines eligibility of competitors, manages heat and lane assignments,
scratches and substitutions; oversees the distribution of entry cards, and
changes to heat and scoring sheets. Tracks the setting of team and league
records and certifies the meet record.
12. Do the Piranhas
require fundraising?
No,
our volunteer support and low cost structure allow the Piranhas to
thrive on modest registration fees and limited external, non-intrusive
fund-raising such as Randall's Good Neighbor Program and the Kroger
Share Card. We do have one voluntary fundraiser each year such as
a car wash or a swim-a-thon, but participation is voluntary.
Participation in the optional fundraiser does help to keep our
registration fees as low as possible.
13. How long does the
Piranhas’ season last?
Practice
begins in late April.
Practice
sessions are held after school until school is out for the summer.
During the summer practices are held in the morning until the end of the
season in late June or early July.
14. Where do the
Piranhas practice?
We practice at
the Bay Glen neighborhood pool on Mabry Mill Rd. During the
summer, we also use the Bay Glen neighborhood pool on Oak Chase on
Thursdays.
15. How often does my
child have to practice?
No one ever
has to come to practice; however, very few swimmers improve their
techniques and times if they don't come to practice. Practices are held
every weekday and swimmers are encouraged to attend as many as possible.
We know there will be instances to cause a missed practice occasionally.
16. Who manages the
Piranhas?
The Piranhas
are managed by an unpaid board of directors consisting of swimmers'
parents. The board hires the team's head coach, age group leaders and
lane assistants and takes care of the administration of the team.
17. How do I find out
if practice is cancelled?
With 170+
swimmers, making that many phone calls is impractical. We utilize group
email lists and our website as the main means of communicating with
parents quickly throughout the season. Thus, it is imperative to submit
your email address when registering and to check our
www.pinelochpiranhas.org website frequently. It is updated almost
daily during the season. “Practice cancelled” signs will also be placed
at the pool. You may also call the pay phone at the Mabry Mill practice
pool at 281-280-9261 and hopefully reach a coach or board member if they
are there. We do not practice if there is thunder/lightning, but DO hold
practice if there is only a mist or drizzle and it is not too cold.
18. Can my child be a
member of the Piranhas and still swim for a year-round USA Swimming
team?
Absolutely!
We are happy to have USA Swimming athletes as part of the team.
19. Do I have to be USA
Swimming-registered to swim?
No,
we do not require swimmers to be USA-registered. USA Swimming is an
organization based in
Colorado Springs,
CO. It is
the national governing body for competitive swimming in the United
States and selects the Olympic swimming team and its coaches. Although
the Clear Creek Swim League follows USA Swimming rules, joining that
organization is not a requirement.
20. Can my child swim
for the Piranhas and still play soccer, basketball, do dance or
gymnastics and play piano?
Yes! Many
Piranhas swimmers are active in other sports and activities. How much
you decide to practice is your decision.
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Questions About MEETS
21. Where are meets
held?
Most meets are at neighborhood pools and high schools in the Clear Lake
area. The best way to get an idea of exactly where meets are held during
the season is to check this website’s 2008 meet schedule
page.
22. When are the meets
held and how long do they last?
Regular-season meets are held every Saturday late May through late June
Post-season meets, the CCSL Novice Meet, Reserve Meet and the Champ
Meet, follow the regular season. Although the start times are pretty
consistent [8 am], the finish times vary widely depending on the number
of swimmers entered. The amount of events a swimmer is allowed to swim
in a meet depend upon the age of the swimmer and the size of the swim
team. The meets follow this standard
order of events.
23. How much does it
cost to enter a meet?
There is no additional cost for regular-season meets. Meet entries are
included in your regular-season registration fee. There are
usually meet entry fees for the “Last Chance” meet, if one is scheduled,
to be paid by individual swimmers. This meet is a post-season meet
sponsored by a non-CCSL organization as a fund-raiser, and as an
opportunity for swimmers for a “last chance” to achieve champ/reserve
times. We also ask our Piranhas to pay their individual meet fees
for the Novice, Reserve, and Champ meets. Relay entries fees for
these meets are paid for by the team.
24. Where do my times
come from that are on the meet entry sheets?
The team keeps a database of all times swum by each swimmer. When the
events you've chosen for a meet are entered into the computer, it
selects your best time for that stroke and distance to use as your seed
time.
25. What is the meet
called "Last Chance meet"?
This is the last meet of the season where you can get a reserve or champ
qualifying time prior to the Champ Meet entry deadline. Entries then
have to be sent to the team hosting the Champ meet. It's exciting to
watch swimmers trying to earn their way to the Champ Meet. This meet is
held before the Champ Series meets. The meet is held only if a
sponsoring team comes forward to host.
26. What are "novice,”
“reserve" and "champ" times?
The
CCSL publishes a series of (insert link to
times here) time standards for boys and girls by age group that are used
as a scale to gauge a swimmer's level of achievement in each event. They
are, from slowest to fastest, novice, reserve and champ
time. Trying to reach the next level in a particular event can be
motivational to swimmers. If the swimmer has not swum fast enough to
achieve a reserve time, then by default he has a novice time.
27. What are the
Novice, Reserve, and Champ Meets? Who attends?
These are
the post-season meets that allow our swimmers to compete against
swimmers from all 18 other teams across the CCSL in one meet. There are
sometimes as many as 800 swimmers at these meets. The novice is meet is
open to any swimmer that has not achieved a reserve or champ time.
If a swimmer has swum fast enough to achieve a reserve time, then he may
participate in the Reserve Meet. Only swimmers who have swum fast enough
to achieve a Champ time may participate in the league’s championship
meet, the Champ Meet, the last meet of the season. Frequently,
novice or reserve swimmers achieve champ times at the novice or reserve
meets and may then move onto the Champ Meet!! The Champ Meet is held
after the Novice/Reserve meets. The three meets combined — novice,
reserve and champ — are called the Champ Series. The usual sequence of
the Champ Series is: Saturday - Novice Meet in the morning, Reserve Meet
in the afternoon, Sunday - Champ Meet beginning in the morning.
28. How do I find out
if a meet is postponed due to rain, etc.?
With 170+
swimmers, making phone calls is impractical. We utilize group email
lists and our website as the main means of communicating with parents
quickly throughout the season. Thus, it is imperative to submit your
email address when registering and to check our
www.pinelochpiranhas.org website frequently. It is updated almost
daily during the season, and meet results are posted on the website.
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