Pearland Swim Team Timer Information Note
Important Info for ALL timers:
It is important that both first and second shift timers meet at 7:30 am for the timer's meeting to go over rules& instructions. At Home Meets (Alvin High School) this meeting is in the Ready Bench Area Hallway between the pool and the offices. At Away Meets, this meeting is usually at one end of the pool. Listen for a loud speaker announcement made around 7:25am, or else look for a person(s) with stopwatches around their neck. All timers (both morning and afternoon shift) need to check-in with the Lead Timer at 7:25 am to make sure everyone is present, or else we will have to find alternate timers. It is very important to keep your full time slot commitment! It is very hard to scramble up parents to time at the last minute. Also, I would like to give everyone their name tag at that time. I will give the morning timers their stop watches at that time.
Morning Timers (for Pearland Swim Team) start promptly at 8:00am and should be at the starter blocks. You will time until either event 39 or 10:30am, whichever comes first.
Afternoon Timers start at the beginning of event 39 or 10:30am, whichever comes first. Please start arriving at the end of event 38. This gives us a little time to transition out the morning timers and explain the rules again if needed. The afternoon timers usually time until around 1:30pm. They usually combine the older kid’s freestyle relay events so the last 10 events go quickly.
Some of the rules are as follows:
Children who are not swimming or parents who are not timers or runners should not be in the starting block area. This is for swimmers, timers and runners only! It is crowded enough's it is and you don't want to miss a swimmer's start/finish. Please politely ask non-swimmers or non-volunteers to remove themselves from the starter block/ready chair area.
There are three timers per lane:
Away meets: Pearland Swim Team (PST) has 2timers in the odd lanes and 1 timer in the even lanes.
Home meets: PST has 1 timer in the odd lanes and 2 timers in the even lanes.
Listen for the whistle at the beginning of each race, and then listen for the starter, and watch the light flash on the starter equipment. When the light flashes not the beep sound, that is when you push the start button. When the swimmer touches the wall, that is when you stop the watch. The swimmer MUST touch the wall.
If you miss the start, raise your hand and the PST Head Timer (Dave Wilson) or the other team's Head Timer will hand you a stopwatch to finish the race. Hand the stopwatch back to the Head Timer upon completion of the race. This happens a lot on the 25 yard swims (1 lap of the pool).
For the younger kids(8 and under), during the 25 yards races the timers are positioned at the opposite end of the pool.
It is important to listen for the whistle and listen / watch the starter for the start (the light on the starter board) as these races run fast.
When the child comes out of the water (one of the timers should help the little kids out of the water), ask the swimmer their name, and then compare it to the card to ensure the runner didn't mix up heats/lanes (Do not ask the child's name "Are you Cathy Thomas"? because they may have water in their ear or a cap on and can't hear and just shake their head "yes". Have the child tell you their name and compare to the card).
The runners will give each lane their swimmer's score card. One timer will be responsible for writing down the times.
Check the cards closely to make sure the swimmer is in the right event, right heat, right lane and also whether it is a 25 yard swim (1 lap), 50 yards (2 laps), 100 yards (4laps) 200 yards (8 lap) or relay (100 yard relay, each child swims one lap; 200yard relay, each child swims 2 laps, 400 yard relay, each child swims 4 laps).
IMPORTANT! If you have the wrong card for the wrong heat, wrong lane or wrong swimmer, DO NOT cross out the swimmer’s name and write in a different swimmer’s name/time. Raise hand to have the Head Timer(s) find a Meet Official to stop the meet until the cards get straightened out.
All three timer's times per lane will be written on the card. The middle time will be taken as the final score. If a timer misses a race they should raise hand/call immediately for the Head Timer's watch, else write down only two times and the two times will be averaged by the clerk of course (not the timer).
The entire number on the timer must be written down unless the watch goes to the 3rd decimal pointing which point it can be rounded. For example, 50.137 can be written down as 50.14, 50.132 can be written down at 50.13. If you have trouble with rounding just write down all three decimal point numbers. Better safe, than sorry.
It is some times easier for the timers to show the person who is writing down the times the numbers on the watch; in other cases the writer likes them called out. Check with whoever is doing the writing what their preference is.
The runner will come by and take the cards at the end of the race.
Hit reset on the stopwatch and it clears the time and you are ready for the next race.
Usually the reset button is on the top left of the watch, and the start/stop button is on the top right side of the watch. Check with me if you need help.
The outside lanes tend to be a bit slower (no kids swimming in the lane, especially the older kids) at times so be sure to not get complacent - always look for a swimmer behind you waiting to swim. This is also a good time to practice timing even though you don't have a swimmer, especially if you have never timed before.
Bottled water is provided to all timers FREE. They will have people coming around with drinks.
I have tried to arrange alternate timers to come on the hour to relieve folks for restroom breaks. If you need a break, please raise your hand and either myself or the alternate timer will relieve you temporarily. Please return quickly as other timers may need breaks.
Have FUN!
Some hints for our swimmers that you can give them before the race (especially the younger children):
· Two hand touch on the wall for breaststroke and butterfly
· Don't dive off the block on a relay until the incoming swimmer touches the wall
· Don't hang, especially drag on the lane ropes
[All of these will get our swimmer's DQed (disqualified)]
Also, swimmer's must exit the water immediately especially on relays and they should not ever swim across lanes to exit the water.
Thanks for volunteering! Go Pearland Swim Team!
See you Saturday – Check in at 7:25 am!