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Middle Atlantic Swimming
Meet Director’s Training Seminar
Course Contents
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Rules
Pre-Meet
During the Meet
Post Meet
Pre-seeded vs. Scratch Back
MA Meet Director Certification Process
Meet Director Rules
Rules
• Teams running meets and the meet director
are bound by the rules and policies of both
USA Swimming and Middle Atlantic Swimming
• You as the MD (or anyone associated with
your team) cannot circumvent these rules and
policies for any reason, without prior approval
from Middle Atlantic Swimming through the
Technical Planning Chair
Rules
• Meet Director’s Handbook – Online at MA
website. This is your swim meet bible!
• Sometimes changes are necessary for the
good of the meet and the swimmers
attending. However, no changes can be made
without consent of the Technical Planning
Chair.
Rules – All meets must have…
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A certified Meet Director
A certified Safety Director
A certified Administrative Official
At least 1 certified Deck Referee (per pool)
At least 1 certified starter (per pool)
Enough officials to cover all lanes, start and turn end
and sides of the pool
• Enough timers, computer operators, awards people,
hospitality people, admissions people, and deck safety
personnel to ensure a safe and well run meet
Example: A 2 pool Meet at GCIT
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Meet Director
Safety Director
Meet Officials Coordinator
1 Administrative Official per pool
1 deck referee per pool (usually multiple referees are at the meet
throughout the weekend)
1 starter per pool, same as above, usually multiple starters are on site
throughout the weekend
5-6 deck safety personnel per session
17 timers per pool (2 per lane plus 1 head timer)
1 Colorado operator per pool
1 Hy Tek computer operator per pool (can be same person as AO)
2 admissions people (they also double as our awards people)
1 hospitality leader
3-4 additional hospitality helpers
Pre-Meet Planning-Short Course
• Previous March: prepare your meet bids (secure venue,
prepare bid packet, sign all necessary forms, submit on
time)
• April: Attend HOD meeting and “bidder’s” meeting
• Once the schedule is set, begin preparing your meet
information and set up the meet in Meet Manager
• Submit Meet info, TM event file, sanction application,
and sanction fee to Middle Atlantic Office by August 1st
• Submit event sequence/session breakdown to
Technical Planning Chair for approval by August 1st
• Once the meet info and event sequence is approved, it
will be posted on the MA website
Accepting Entries
• Be prepared to start accepting entries IMMEDIATELY
• Beware: the 4 hour Rule! YOU are responsible for
staying within this boundary.
• Come up with a plan for periodically seeding the meet
and checking the timeline. If you are new to running
meets or are getting a lot of entries at one time, do this
after EVERY team you enter.
• Once you meet the 4 hour limit on a session: cut tha
music and effectively communicate this information to
the masses (posting on MA website, automatic
response on your email, etc.)
Session Timeline Rules
• MA Policy Manual 6.5.1
• Meet sessions must be planned to end within
4 hours of starting on a 20 second heat
interval
• In Middle Atlantic, long course meets with a
13 & over session can go to 5 hours
• Championship meets and designated distance
meets can go beyond 4 hour sessions
Session Breakdown and the 4 Hour
Rule
• Can break out certain events to create a new
session
• Sessions consisting solely of “Senior” or “Open”
events are exempt from the 4 hour rule
• However, when other sessions in the meet have
age specific events the senior events in that
session must be 400/500 or longer (you can also
restrict minimum ages, provide age specific
qualifying times, etc.)
Discussion
Changing meet format to provide
more opportunities for athletes to
enter the meet
Other Pre-Meet Items
• Make sure your key volunteer areas are covered
• Continual and effective communication with
teams attending
• Set up and communicate warm-up schedule
• Set up and communicate an emergency weather
plan
• Make sure all equipment is in working order and
print out all necessary documents (DQ slips)
• Make sure you have all necessary meet awards
During the Swim Meet
What are the Meet Director’s
responsibilities during the swim
meet?
PRETTY MUCH EVERYTHING!
The meet director's job during a meet
is to keep the wheels greased, the
engine tuned, and the vehicle moving
forward (with good music playing, of
course). You need to be prepared to
step in wherever and whenever it is
needed.
Discussion
The Meet Director – Meet Referee
Relationship
Meet Director Duties: Post Meet
Post Meet Duties
• Send results to teams IMMEDIATELY (TM results file,
HTML results)
• Send database backup to MA Office within 24 hours of
the meet ending
• See to it that all forms are filled out and sent in to the
MA Office
• Send rebate check to MA Office
• Communicate with the facility (if you do not own it):
what went well, what did not go well, what can be
better or improved upon next time?
• Go over your meet log (you kept one, didn’t you?) and
begin preparing meet information for next year’s meet
Scratch Back Seeding Process
Scratch Back Procedure
• Scratch back seeding can be used to estimate session timeline with
a scratch factor
• A scratch factor is an estimate of how many swimmers will scratch
at the meet
• Procedure can be used to cut down on empty lanes at the meet
• Be safe when doing this! You do not want to go beyond the session
time limit.
• Always discuss your entries with the Technical Planning Chair
ongoing before the meet.
• If it is your first year you should be conservative with your
estimates (5% for 12 & unders, 10% for 13 & overs)
• Many factors can affect the scratch factor
• Keep accurate notes year to year so you can properly estimate your
scratch factor
Scratch Back: How to Do It
• Make sure teams attending know the procedure
BEFORE the meet: everything from the scratch
deadline to how they declare their intention to scratch
• Rent a high capacity copier – you owe it to the people
attending the meet to provide them with a heat sheet,
especially if you are charging for admission
• Make sure teams and spectators know the procedure
for distributing heat sheets
• Have 2-3 people on hand accepting team scratch
sheets and inputting scratches
• Set the deadline and stick to it!
MA Meet Director Certification
Process
Certification: Education and Training
• Attend meet director’s
seminar
• Review meet director’s
handbook: know it back and
forth
• Attend the Administrative
Offical Class
• Take and pass the Meet
Director’s test
• Take and pass the AO test
• Maintain USA Swimming nonathlete membership
• Complete and pass Level 2
background check
• Train (pre, during, and post
meet) with a current MA meet
director for one full swim
meet
• Train with a certified AO for
two meet sessions (can be
done concurrently with #1)
Maintaining Your Certification
• Meet Director certification will last for two years
• Maintain USA Swimming membership with Level
2 background clearance
• Serve as a Meet Director for at least two club run
sanctioned meets during the two year period
• Work four sessions at MA hosted Championship
meets (Senior Champs, Elite Meet, Junior
Olympics, etc.) as a computer operator or Admin
Official