Gators Swim Team

POOL LOCATION: Home meets are at Great Hills Country Club located at 5914 Lost Horizon Drive, 78759. Directions are available under Meets and Events tab/ Pool info.

ARRIVAL TIME: Please arrive at the pool at 6:45am for home meets. Gators’ Age Group tents will be located in the courtyard between the main GHCC Club Building and the GHCC Cabana Building. Please sign in at the Volunteer Booth as you enter and then proceed to your child’s age group tent. Please arrive at 7:00am for away meets since we warm-up second. Please arrive at 6:30 for tri-meets.

SWIMMER DROP OFF: For swimmer drop off, you can follow the below flow diagram. Note the location of the Gators Swimmer Area where the age group tents will be set up year. The Gators Swimmer Drop Off location will be in the Northwest corner of the main parking lot nearest to the Gators Swimmer Area.

PARKING: With the Great Hills Country Club site under construction, on-site parking will be limited to golf club patrons only. Swimmer families may park on Lost Horizon Drive or on Bluegrass Drive, but we ask swimmer families to please not park on Crenata Cove or any of the other minor side streets off of Lost Horizon Drive or Bluegrass Drive. We will have volunteers running golf carts to aid those who have parked on the street.

We highly encourage carpooling to the swim meet wherever possible and are encouraging only direct family member spectators for this season due to the limited space available for family seating.

COACHING: During the meets Coach Hailey will be to the side taking notes on each child. These notes will be used during the next week's practice to help each swimmer improve on their times. The assistant coaches along with the Meet Director will be helping the swimmers at the ready bench prepare for their race. They will go over specific instructions for the strokes, dives, and relays. Please no parents in the ready bench, block area or timing area that are not working a volunteer shift.

AGE GROUP PARENTS: Once you are at the pool, please take ALL SWIMMERS to the appropriate Age Group Parent/Tent to sign him/her in. YOU MUST SIGN YOUR SWIMMERS IN with the age group parent even if they are not going to sit with the age group. If your swimmer is not signed in they will be scratched from their heats by the coaches. The same goes for the end of the meet; PLEASE inform the age group parents you are taking your swimmer home, especially our 6 and under parents.

READY BENCH: Age group parents are responsible for getting our swimmers to the ready bench so if you choose to keep your own swimmer you are responsible for getting your swimmer to the ready bench.

RELAYS: Please don't last minute cancel on relays - if your swimmer is signed up to swim the relay but for some reason you cannot stay or make it, PLEASE INFORM the age group parents immediately. A relay is 4 swimmers and if one isn't there, the whole relay team has to forfeit. It makes everyone sad when this happens. This year when you are registering for swim meets, Swimtopia allows you to note that your child won't be available for early or late relays. Our relay policy is on our web site under Gator Info/About Us.

FOOD AND REFRESHMENTS: As a general rule we like to promote “green” thinking so bring a reusable water bottle. Water containers will be available. At home meets Great Hills provides breakfast for sale in the early morning. Also donuts, coffee, drinks, watermelon/fruit and snacks of all kinds will be available. Around 11:00 the food choices change to hot dogs and hamburgers with a variety of snacks available. It is important to have small bills because Great Hills will not be able to give change for anything over $20.00. You can bring in food and drinks, but Great Hills has asked that people do not bring in glass or cans.

WHAT YOUR SWIMMER SHOULD KNOW: First and foremost have fun! Do their best and enjoy the meet. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE leave the coaching to our amazing coaches and just encourage your swimmers. If you are volunteering and leaving your swimmer, especially our younger swimmers, please make sure they know where all their "stuff" is: snacks, goggles, money and entertainment. Please remind your swimmers to stay with the age group parents and not wander off as this can create chaos when time comes to swim. 

There are many areas around the pool at Great Hills Country Club that are active construction sites this season. These areas will be generally marked with barricades and caution tape, but please ask your swimmers not to enter the construction areas or approach/climb on construction equipment or materials.

WHAT PARENTS NEED TO KNOW: The meet starts at 8:00am but we need your swimmers by 6:45am at home meets so they can promptly warm-up at 6:55-7:25 and then the visiting team warms-up from 7:25-7:55. Swimmers do not need to arrive until 7:00am at away meets because we warm-up second. We know how hard it is to wake up on a Saturday morning but please build in extra time. The swimmers are all a little nervous so arriving on time helps calm everyone.

Please mark your swimmers either before they arrive or when they get into their age group tent. Remember it is Event/Heat/Lane that they mark on their arms.

2021 COVID MASK PROTOCOLS FOR HOME MEETS: Masks will be required for anyone who is on the deck area, including the splash pad spectator viewing area. We ask that all on-deck volunteers and spectators wear their mask over their nose and mouth whenever they are inside of the pool area. 

Swimmers will be required to wear their masks while they are in the Gators Swimmer Area and as they proceed through the ready bench until they are just about to move to the starting block area. 

Hooks will be provided near the last ready bench position where swimmers will be able to place their masks during their heats. 

For 10 and under events, Mask Runners will collect & transport swimmer face masks from the start end of the pool to the finish end of the pool where swimmers will be able to collect and reapply their masks after completing their heat. 

For 11 and over age group events, Mask Runners will collect & transport swimmer face masks to an area behind the starter where swimmers will be able to collect and reapply their masks after completing their heat.

SWIMMER FLOW for HOME MEETS (see diagram below): During the meet, swimmers will enter through the west deck entrance and exit via the east deck entrance. As swimmers are preparing for their upcoming heats, they will enter the pool deck on the west side of the pool near their team area and enter the Ready Bench area. 

After swimming their heats, swimmers will collect their masks and exit the pool deck via the east deck entrance and continue north and west around the pool clubhouse to return to the Gators Swimmer Area.

SPECTATOR FLOW for HOME MEETS (see diagram below): Due to the construction at Great Hills Country Club and COVID-19 protocols in place for this season, there will be very limited space available for family seating. 

We will have a spectator staging area available where family members who wish to be able to see their swimmer swim their event can stage themselves to be able to hear and see the current events and heats in the water. 

• As their swimmers’ heat approaches, family members wearing masks will be able to use the eastside pool entrance to enter the spectator viewing area located on the splash pad. 
• We are asking that family members only enter the splash pad area just before their swimmers’ heat and then immediately exit the facility via the eastside pool entrance after the heat has ended.

HEAT RIBBONS: In an effort to have more kids have a chance to earn ribbons, we give out heat ribbons to first place swimmers in their heat. This is a reward for working hard in practice and improving their time to achieve first place in their heat. Please explain to your children the intention of heat ribbons and the importance of being a good sport.

Please MARK EVERYTHING with the swimmer's name so we can avoid lost shirts, towels, caps, bathing suits, etc. The meet should finish between 12:00-1:00. Again if you are leaving early please tell the age group parent, they are the glue that holds the age groups together!!

Wear sunscreen! Bring cash and small bills – Great Hills will not have change for anything over a $20.00! And have fun watching all the kids experience summer swim. Most of all, the GATORS want to be known for our good sportsmanship. Please congratulate the winner no matter what team they are on, please encourage all swimmers and please encourage your swimmers to do the same. Our swimmers will follow our example.

VOLUNTEERS: If you have signed up to volunteer NO MATTER WHAT SHIFT, PLEASE check in with our volunteer coordinator as soon as you get to the pool.. As soon as you have dropped off your little Gators, go and check yourself at the Volunteer check-in table. We LOVE our volunteers and like to know we have all our bases covered.

T-SHIRTS: Wear your gator shirt to meets. Our team gear folks will have some extras available at the meet. There will also be other Gator merchandise on sale. Cash or credit will be accepted.

HEAT SHEETS: Heat sheets will be available online Friday night before the meet; the Coaches will let us know. PLEASE print out your heat sheet and bring to the meet. There are no extras at the meet and none for sale. For our new parents, the heat sheet is the master key to the meet. All the events and swimmers are listed on the heat sheet. For our new swimmers, they will have NT next to their time which means NO TIME. Our returning swimmers will have their time from the previous year on the sheet.

DISQUALIFIED: Swimmers will be DQ'd (disqualified) for improper strokes. If your child is DQ'd please assure your swimmer that it is okay and how proud you are of them for trying. The coaches do get a list of what the swimmer was DQ'd for and they will go over with the swimmers in practice!

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Our coaches and our parent leads will also be able to answer questions you might have at the meet. Most importantly HAVE FUN and ENJOY the day!

GO GATORS!!!