HOME OF THE GATORS!

Weekly Swim Meet Positive Sign-In Policy

Positive Sign-In means identifying which meets your child(ren) will attend. Positive sign-in is a commitment to attend the meet from start to finish. Even if your child is finished swimming, the team needs to support of all swimmers to foster camaraderie and encourage swimmers to do their best.

The use of a Positive Sign-in decreases the number of last-minute changes to meet lineups for reasons other than emergency or illness. This is one of the biggest problems coaches face during a swim season. Coaches need to plan for meet lineups well ahead of a scheduled meet date. Any additional changes that occur after the meet lineups have been created take significant time and distract from ensuring a smooth meet and future swimmer placement.

It is important to understand when a family or a swimmer makes a last-minute change it does not only affect that family. One change has a ripple effect and can affect dozens of swimmers: think of it like throwing a pebble in the water. The swimmer is the stone and the ripples are the effects of that stone being tossed. It is the goal of the coaches to make sure every swimmer swims as many events as possible. It is the goal of every swimmer to swim as many events as possible. Please make sure you are giving the coach and your teammates every chance to meet their goals.

Every week the swimmer or swimmer’s family is required to positively sign-in for the following weeks’ meets online through our website. You'll need to log in and use the tool to sign-up for the meets that your swimmer will attend. The A Meets are slotted by the coaches. We expect all swimmers to stay through the end of the meet; the free relays at the end are one of the most exciting parts of the meet, and the swimmers need your support for a fast relay! The Coaches have final say in what events a swimmer will swim. This is to ensure swimmers have entered appropriate events and have a positive racing experience.

Remember it is the responsibility of the swimmer or the swimmer’s family to positively sign-in every week. If a positive sign-in is not completed for a swimmer, the coaches will assume that swimmer is not available for the meet and therefore will not be entered. YOUR CHILD WILL NOT SWIM IF YOU DO NOT SIGN IN THAT YOUR CHILD WILL ABSOLUTELY BE AT THE MEET.

The deadline for meet signups is Friday of the week before the meet by 8 pm.

After this time entries will be closed and you will no longer be able to make adjustments. The coaches will not allow additions to the meet after this deadline. It is possible that a swimmer can be deck-entered at the meet if there is an open spot(s) in his or her age group or above, or if another swimmer is ill. This is not a guarantee and is at the discretion of the coaches. Please take responsibility and remember to sign your child(ren) in for each meet.

If a swimmer was entered into a meet and either did not show or withdrew after the above deadline for reasons not considered acceptable by the coaching staff and/or Gator Board (i.e., emergency, serious illness) there will be a $50 fee assessed to the swimmer/family. The swimmer will also not be entered in the following weeks’ meets. In addition, a swim meet "No Show" is considered a code of conduct infraction and will be dealt with in a manner outlined above in the Code of Conduct section. Penalty fees must be paid prior to a swimmer being entered in any future meets. All penalty fees will be deposited into the Kingsgate Gators Swim Team Scholarship Fund.

If you forgot to enter your child(ren) by positively signing in, you are still required to be present at the meet to cheer on the Gators. Be sure to let the Coach or a Board member know you are there so any vacancies can be filled with your swimmer. Even better, be sure to sign your kids in on time to ensure they are swimming! 

Home Meets

The pool will open at 4:15pm for set up of personal areas. Arrive at the pool in time to park and get your swimmer(s) in the pool by 4:45pm for warm ups. Remember to bring extra towels and warm clothes.

Deck Space: We ask ALL Gators to gather in the parking lot. Place all your canopies in the lot. There will be several parking spots open for coaches and these will be blocked off. Otherwise, the parking lot will be open for Gator Families. Visitors can utilize space on the pool deck along the fence, expanded to include the entire wall, as well as the parking lot. Bleachers will be placed for good view of the pool and covered during rainy meets. No canopies may be placed in the baby pool area. This area will be reserved for swimmers only. 

Parking: There is no parking on 144^th street by the pool in the bike lane (north of the pool) – police will ticket you if you park there (traveling East on 144^th). Do not park in front of driveways or mailboxes or in the first cul de sac to the southeast of the pool.

Changes and combining of events: This is handled by the starter and meet referee – questions or concerns should be directed to the meet referee who will be near the starter/office during the meets.

Swimtopia and events: Swimtopia does not show the actual events your swimmer is swimming in the meet. It is showing what you have selected for your swimmer when you sign them up as attending, which may not be the actual events your swimmer is entered in. Be sure to check your Swimmingly Fan app the day of the meet.

Illness or other emergency taking your swimmer out of a meet: The Coach needs to be notified immediately if your swimmer will miss an event he or she is signed up to swim. If you missed the deadline to sign up, you need to email the coach so he knows you would like to be deck-entered at the meet. This does not guarantee your swimmer a swim in the meet, but lets the coach know they are available so he or she can be added if there is space. The Coach will make every effort to do so, but it is your responsibility to sign your swimmer in each week to the meet. Keep in mind when you have signed up as attending a meet, both meets are seeded by Sunday night by our coach for the Gators if a change needs to be made it affects multiple swimmers – not showing for your races or relays affects more than just your swimmer. 

Please remember not to ask the coach for help with deck entering or other event issues during warm-ups – arrive early and take care of this before warm-ups.

Warm-ups: Home meet warm-ups start at 4:45 pm sharp.

Away Meets

Information from other teams: We will update the Away Pools page with pertinent information as it is shared with us.

Warm-ups: Away meet warm-ups start at 5:15 pm sharp.