Swim Meets (2): Fly-over starts? Chase starts?

Before a swim meet, I would highly recommend that you read the Meet announcement document in advance so you can understand some of the basic logistics of how it will be run.  It's not a bad idea to go through it with your swimmer as well so they too are aware of it, instead of trying to figure it out on the day of the swim meet.  The coaching staff of your swim club may probably send out a memo with some of the key points to note about the meet, but don't always rely on that to be the case.  Assume you will need to figure it out yourself.

The first picture below is the Texas A&M Student Recreation Center set-up as a LCM pool.  The one below that is the same venue, but set-up as 2x SCY pools during Short Course season.  Do you see the white strip of barrier in the middle that is separating the pool into 2 separate SCY pools?  That is called a "bulkhead" or sometimes called the "turn-end" and this enables the conversion of a LCM pool into 2x SCY pools.

<LCM (50-meter) pool setup at Texas A&M Student Recreation Center>

<Same venue, but set-up as 2x SCY (25-yard) pools with "bulkheads" in the middle>

When you read the Meet announcement, it is quite common for the pool or the different side (end) of the pool to be described using a certain landmark of the facility.

For example:
- The "Lobby" end (it's the pool that you see from the lobby of the facility)
- The "Diving" end (if there's a diving platform on one side of the pool)
- The "Scoreboard" end (if there's a large electronic scoreboard on one end of the pool)
- The "Field" end (if the pool is outside and there is a grass field next to the pool)
- The "Locker" end (if there are locker rooms directly opposite the pool)

The possibilities are endless 😄

In a LCM pool (refer to the first photo above), it is physically just one pool but there are two "ends" of the pool (e.g. Lobby end & Diving end).
It is common to find within the Meet Announcement document that the "odd" heats (or girls heats) start from the "Lobby" end and the "even" heats (or boys heats) to start from the "Diving" end.  So it would be good to know in advance what heats will start from which end of the pool prior to the meet.  

During a LCM meet (or in a SCY meet where it is just a single 25-yard pool), to speed up the proceedings, it is common to have a "CHASE" start.
For example, during a 100-Meter Free event, you could have the odd heats starting from the lobby end and the even heats from the diving end.  
When Heat 1 (starting from the lobby end) is returning back to their starting point in their final lap to finish their race, Heat 2 (starting from the opposite diving end) will start their race and it will seem as if they are "chasing" the Heat 1 swimmers.  Usually the officials will wait for the swimmers in the earlier heat to pass the mid-point of the pool before making the next heat to start their race.  In a meet with a "chase" start, it is important to let your swimmers know that they should immediately exit the pool after finishing the race, as they literally have another swimmer chasing them! 😊

In the second photo above where you have 2x SCY pools, each of the pools are distinguished using the facility landmarks (e.g. Lobby-end pool and Diving-end pool).  Similarly to the above, the meet organizers would assign one pool for certain heats or for a certain gender (e.g. Diving end pool for the girls or odd heats).  In these formats, it is common to have a "FLY-OVER" start.  When a group of swimmers finish their heat, they are asked to remain in the water - it is recommended that they stay close to the wall and near the corner of their lane.  The swimmers in the next heat would have already lined up and they will start by diving in or "flying over" the group of swimmers who have just finished their race and are in the water.  For obvious reasons, you cannot have a "fly-over" start for events that requires a backstroke start (e.g. backstroke or medley relay events) as you cannot fly-over someone on a backstroke start! 😊  If it does happen, it would surely look impressive but it probably would not be very safe 😊

You may also find a simple diagram of the pool within the Meet announcement document that shows which end or which side of the pool is for what heats (example shown below).  So familiarize yourself with that info prior to the meet, so you can tell your young swimmer where he/she needs to be for their events.

Until next time, keep on cheering for your swimmers! 🏊🏊🏊