Selinsgrove Stingrays

As we travel to other teams’ pools throughout our league, please bring along the necessary comfort items needed to make your extended visit enjoyable. 

Recommended items: Team suit, Team T-Shirt/gear, 2 to 3 towels per swimmer, cap and a spare per swimmer, comfortable chair, an umbrella, sunscreen/bug spray, and a spare set of swimmer’s goggles per swimmer. 

Optional items to bring: Whatever you need to help the time pass for you and your swimmer(s), cold beverages, blanket, an easy-up, sweatshirt – it cools off quick when the sun goes down, snacks and/or funds (CASH) for the concession stand.

Arrive early: at least 15 minutes prior to our team warm-up time.

Warm-up times will be communicated prior to each meet. As a general guideline, warm-up times are always earlier for home meets. 

Swimmers should stay in or close to team area as possible. Listen for your event and be ready to go to blocks. 

11 & Older Swimmers - It is your responsibility to get to the blocks. 

10 & Younger Swimmers – Be where your Parent Helper knows where you are or will be.

We NEED Your Help! - Volunteers run our swim team!!! 

Home meets require a minimum of 40 volunteers from our team.  Away meets require a minimum of 20 volunteers from our team. 

There are many ways that parents must help. Many parents get their feet wet (literally!) as timers. Direction is given, and it’s the best way to see the action.

Our SwimTopia swim team management program utilizes an on-line sign-up function for parent volunteering. Each duty/task has an associated volunteer point value. For example: 1/2 of a meet of volunteering equals 2 volunteer points. Each family/parent is asked to accumulate 20 volunteer points throughout the regular season. 

Parents volunteer but can have anyone in their extended family actually perform the duties volunteered for. You, the parent get the points credited to you for volunteering. 

As a team, we need to provide as much cross-training as possible so that our team has flexibility in filling positions and retains the knowledge base, especially when “experienced” parents move on as their swimmers age out. 

There are a variety of volunteer positions available. Examples include: Starter, Stroke/Turn Officials, Runner, Set-up, Food Preparation, Break-down, Parent Helper’s, Timers, Scorers, Concession Stand, Data Entry, and Ribbons.

Parents please convey to your swimmer that we represent Selinsgrove Stingrays as we travel to other pools.  Please be respectful and clean up after yourself.

Before leaving a meet, check with a coach as your swimmer may be in a relay. Police your area for trash and equipment. Parents at a home meet; your assistance is needed as we have to tear down the entire pool, concession area, chairs, etc.

Personal Best Times – win or lose, swimming a personal best is the goal. We have many experience levels within one age group.  

Sharpie coloring of teammates -  Small slogans, a small stingray, fish, etc. are quite appropriate. Coloring ones’ entire skin surface is unsportsmanlike and shows disrespect to the other team. It is also helpful to mark their name J. SMITH’ on the back of one of their shoulder to assist in lining up. 

How to read Heat Sheets What is a Heat Sheet? The Heat Sheet is a program that shows all the participating swimmers and what events they will participate in as well as the heat number and lane number. The announcer will say the event and heat number. Changes to the Heat Sheet will be made right up until the beginning of the meet based on swimmers who don't arrive on time or do not attend. They can also "combine" races to speed up the meet. For example, if we have 3 girls and 3 boys -- we will combine them into one heat to save time. The announcer will say if heats are combined. Please pay attention when it gets close to the time your swimmer's event is. 

• Event Number: The number of events at a meet can vary. We want our swimmers to swim everything! Examples of events: Individual Medley, Freestyle, Backstroke, Breaststroke, Butterfly, Freestyle Relay, and Medley Relay. 
• Distance and Stroke: If you'd like to note the stroke and distance by the event #.
  • Distance
    • 25 = One lap of the pool
    • 50 = Two laps
    • 100 = Four laps
    • 200 = Eight laps
    • 100 Relay = each swimmer swims one lap
    • 200 Relay = each swimmer swims two laps
  • Stroke
    • FR = Freestyle
      BA = Back Stroke
      BR = Breast Stroke
      FLY = Butterfly
      IM = Individual Medley
      FR = Free Relay (All swimmers swim freestyle)
      MR = Medley Relay (Each swimmer swims a different stroke: 1st = back, 2nd=breast, 3rd=fly, 4th=free)
• Heat Number: In each of the events, there are HEATS. Each heat can have 6-8 swimmers - depending on the size of the pool. Depending on how many swimmers want to swim that event will determine how many heats are needed.
• Lane Number: This will tell you which lane your swimmer is scheduled to be in.

What is EHL? It is helpful to mark your young swimmer’s arm to reflect which event, heat and lane they are racing. This is used to help remind the swimmer of their events and age group parent or readying volunteers. Use the Heat Sheet or Swimtopia app to find your child's events. Write on clean dry skin with no sunscreen.  Heat Sheets will likely be posted on as early as possible. However, the lane assignments can change the morning of the meet if any swimmers participating in the meet scratch any of their events. Example of what to write: