Swim Meets and Other Important Information
The swim team participates in the Northern Virginia Swimming League (NVSL) for competitive meets and the McLean Developmental League for Monday night developmental ("B") meets.
Saturday Morning ("A") Meets
NVSL has over 10,000 swimmers on 102 teams, and is the largest summer swim league in the nation. The teams are ranked according to their strength (largely based on their performance in meets during the prior summer) and are then assigned to one of the seventeen 6-team divisions. The most competitive teams are in Division One, the least competitive are in Division Seventeen. The teams in each division compete against each other in dual meets, held on Saturday mornings. There are five dual meets each summer, starting mid-June and running consecutive Saturdays until the end of July. In each dual meet, there are 40 individual events (each of the four strokes--freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly, in each of the age-groups, with males and females competing separately) and 12 relay events. The five age groups are: 8 and Under, 9-10, 11-12, 13-14 and 15-18. Swimmers finishing first (5 points). second (3 points), or third (1 point), earn points for their team. Swimmers finishing in fourth, fifth or sixth place do not score points. Following the individual events are the relays. The 8 & Under swimmers compete in a 100m freestyle relay. The 9-10, 11-12, and 13-14 age-groups race in a 100m medley relay. The 15-18 age-group swimmers compete in a 200m medley relay. Each winning relay is awarded 5 points. The losing relay receives no points. The team with the most points at the conclusion of the meet is the winning team of that dual meet.
Swimmer Selections for Saturday Meets
Coaches select swimmers for Saturday meets based on their fastest times (from time trials and previous A and B meets). However, they also take into account who will not be available and who they are expected to swim against from the other team. The selections are made a few days before and need to be finalized by Thursday morning, and are later announced to the swimmers and parents. It is VERY IMPORTANT that parents who are aware that their swimmer(s) will not be available for upcoming meets, notify the team as promptly as possible. Declarations of availability can be done on this site under Events & Meets tab.
Time Trials
About three weeks after the start of the season, the team has mandatory time trials where each swimmer swims all 4 strokes (or as many as they can swim "legally"--that is, without being disqualified for improper technique). This is done so the coaches have baseline times for the swimmers, as that allows them to measure everyone's progress through the season. This is also needed to help coaches decide on who will be swimming in the first Saturday meet the next weekend.
Monday Night ("B") Meets
Five Monday nights in June and July, developmental (or "B," as they are commonly known) meets are held. They are un-scored and fun meets where the main goals are allowing swimmers to get accustomed to competing against their peers and in front of an audience, trying the new strokes they have been working on in practice, and, hopefully, improving their times (know as achieving a "best time" or "personal best"). In these meets, every swimmer can swim one or two events, including Individual Medley (IM) event, which is not swum on Saturdays. Swimmers who participated in the preceding Saturday meet and scored points (1st-3rd), may not swim those same events at the next B meet. Ribbons are awarded to all competitors.
