Welcome to the Riptide Swim Team!!! If you are looking for an activity the whole family can participate in, you’ve found it. Kids ages 5 through 18 all swim together at the same meets – in what other sport do you have such a wide range of age groups all working together as one team? Our goal is to have all swimmers support one another and to grow both physically and emotionally over the summer months. We are glad that you are part of our organization! 

Riptide’s Mission

Promote the Team All swimmers will show respect for all other team members and coaches. All swimmers will do their best to participate in practices, meets and special events.

Promote Good Sportsmanship All swimmers will respect competition rules, officials and other swimmers.

Create an Atmosphere of Learning and Fun All swimmers will learn basic skills and understand competition guidelines and rules. All swimmers should enjoy their participation as team members.

Create a Good, Clean, Competitive Spirit All swimmers will develop a personal sense of competition and understand that competition should enhance their own and others’ personal goals.

Provide a Safe and Healthy Exercise All swimmers will learn the benefits of exercise and physical improvement. All swimmers will participate in practices and meets under safe conditions.

Become a Proficient Swimmer All swimmers will progress with physical skills related to improving their swimming.

Eligibility

5-18 year olds residing in the Baraboo School District (We are allowed 7 families per year who are non-residents).

All swimmers must be able to swim 25 yards without touching the pool bottom.

All swimmers MUST have returned permission slips with a parent’s signature before swimming.

All swimmers must be paid in FULL prior to the first meet.

Publicity

Swimmers photos and race results may be published in the local paper. Photos may also be used for other promotional purposes, including our new website and team DVD’s.

Website @ www.barabooriptide.com

Meet Schedule

Competitive meets are scheduled on the following dates unless otherwise noted. Home meets are held at the Baraboo outdoor pool, Campbell Park. We will sell concessions at all home meets. 

Concessions

The concession stand at home meets is the main income for the club. All families are required to donate food items to the concession stand each year. The number of items to be donated will vary each year depending on the number of home meets that we host that year. There is also a $20.00 “buy out” option for families that do not choose to donate food items. Choosing to do the “buy out” does not mean that you do not have to volunteer to work at meets; this only covers your requirement for food donations. All families are required to fulfill their concession donation requirements as well as work at home meets. The sign-up sheets for donations will be available at the special kick-off potluck.

See the outdoor pool bulletin board for all late breaking news!

Board Members

See the CONTACT US page for the list of board members

Meets

· Swimmers will be notified the day before the meet of what events they will swim – the information is posted on the pool window.

· Each swimmer may swim up to 3 individual events and 4 events total per meet.

· For a list of all events, in the order in which they are swum at meets, see page 7.

· Not all pools in the Tri-County League are of the same length. See the Pool Conversion chart on page 6.

· Suggested Swimmer Survival Kit: Extra towels, sweat suit, blanket or sleeping bag, sun block (swimmers are responsible for application), healthy snacks and/or money for concessions.

· 10 and Under swimmers must have a responsible adult present at all meets.

· Lane Assignments: 1-3-5 GUEST swimmers, 2-4-6 HOME swimmers

· Scoring

Individual Events

1st place 5 pts.

2nd place 3 pts.

3rd place 1 pt.

Relays (Each team may enter 3 official relays per event)

1st place 7 pts.

2nd place 0 pts.

Home Meets

· Run by parent volunteers – many hands make light work!

· Warm-ups at 7:00 AM.

· Start time is 8:00 AM.

· End time varies based on the number of swimmers, usually around 12:30 PM.

· There may be an occasional night meet that would start at 6:00 PM.

· Occasionally the team may swim a Non-Conference meet (which doesn’t count towards the 3 required for the final Conference meet).

Away Meets

Bus leaves: Announced by coach, usually at 6:30 AM.

Bus returns: Varies, usually by 1:00 PM.

Swimmers are expected to ride the bus to all away meets. Parent permission slips need to be signed if parents are giving kids a ride home from the meet.

Clerk of Course

Events are announced and swimmers must report here for lane assignments

Races are swum regardless of whether all swimmers are at the blocks – be there on time!

Dual meet races are hand timed and the Judges decision is final.

All swimmers should leave the deck area after their races.

Disqualifications – Swimmers will be disqualified by officials on deck for illegal stroke technique. Officials and/or coaches will talk with your child to explain what was wrong. Assure your swimmer that DQ’s happen and not to get too upset about them …. Just learn from them!

Exhibition Heats – Heats that are run first and do not count for team points. Unlimited entries.

Regular Heats – 3 swimmers swim each event for points.

Awards

1st through 6th place ribbons

Exhibition ribbons for non place finishes

Tri-County Conference Meet

tricountyswimming.net

Eligibility – Must have swum in 3 conference dual meets throughout the season to be able to participate in this end of season meet.

Preliminaries – This is a pre-seeded meet, which is scheduled the Saturday following the last weekend of dual meets. Warm ups are 7:30 – 8:40 AM, the meet starts at 9:00 AM. Teams are allowed to enter 3 individuals and 2 relays in each event.

Finals – Places 1 to 8 will swim finals, places 9 to 16 will swim consolations, and places 17 to 18 are alternates in case of missing swimmers. These are held on Sunday, as well as the relays, which are timed finals.

Awards Medals for 1st through 3rd place finishers.

Ribbons for 4th through 16th place finishers.

A Sportsmanship Award is presented to the team awarded the most votes for showing good sportsmanship throughout the season.

Swimming Vocabulary and Definitions

Competitive Swimming Strokes – freestyle (free), breaststroke (breast), backstroke (back), butterfly (fly).

Individual Medley (IM) – One person swims a set length of all the strokes in the order of fly, back, breast, free.

Relay – Four swimmers of the same age group swim in succession, all the same stroke.

Medley Relay – Four swimmers of the same age group swim in succession, all swimming a different stroke, in the order of back, breast, fly and free.

Event Board – A chalkboard or similar set up which displays the events being swum and the event being called to swim.

False Start Rope – A rope that is dropped in the water to prevent swimmers from continuing in the event of a false starts.

Length – Swimming one direction, or the length of the pool. All races are swum in lengths.

25 – One length of a short course pool.

50 – 2 lengths of a short course pool.

Heat – One race. More than one heat may be needed for all the entries in a particular age group event.

Heat Sheet – A program listing all the events of a meet. It can include the event number and name, and also lists the heat and lane assignment of the swimmer based on seed time.

Seed Time – A time the swimmer has previously achieved for an event and which is used to place them to swim in a heat (race) against other swimmers with similar times.

D.Q. - Disqualification of a swimmer for a rule infraction, determined by the stroke and turn judge, or the starter/referee.

Meet Officials – Starter, referee, and stroke and turn judge.

Clerk of Course – Official who places events (swimmers) by assigning the heats and lanes.

Scratch – Cancellation of a swimmer from an event.

Split – Time for each individual in a relay or the time for a portion of a swimmer’s race.

Short Course – Refers to the length of the pool, 25 yards or 25 meters.

Long Course – Refers to the length of the pool, 50 yards or 50 meters.

False Start – Swimmer starts prematurely or unnecessarily delays a start, resulting in a false start call or disqualification by the meet officials.

Touch Pad – Electronic pad that is placed at the finish end of the pool that the swimmer touches to stop the timing system to record their time.

Pool Conversion Chart

Pool Length Yards to Meters

Baraboo 24 yards, 1 foot X 1.1

Cross Plains 25 meters

Mazomanie 25 meters

Mount Horeb 35 yards X .75

Sauk Prairie 25 meters

Spring Green 25 meters

Sun Prairie 25 meters

Wisconsin Dells 22.5 yards X 1.32

Tri-County Swim League Order of Events

Event # (Girls) Event Distance Event # (Boys)

1 8 & U Medley Relay 100 2

3 9-10 Medley Relay 200 4

5 11-12 Medley Relay 200 6

7 13-14 Medley Relay 200 8

9 15-18 Medley Relay 200 10

11 8 & U Freestyle 25 12 

13 9-10 Freestyle 50 14

15 11-12 Freestyle 50 16

17 13-14 Freestyle 50 18

19 15-18 Freestyle 50 20

21 8 & U Backstroke 25 22

23 9-10 Backstroke 50 24

25 11-12 Backstroke 50 26

27 13-14 Backstroke 50 28

29 15-18 Backstroke 50 30

31 9-10 IM 100 32

33 11-12 IM 100 34

35 13-14 IM 100 36

37 15-18 IM 100 38

39 8 & U Breaststroke 25 40

41 9-10 Breaststroke 50 42

43 11-12 Breaststroke 50 44

45 13-14 Breaststroke 50 46

47 15-18 Breaststroke 50 48

49 8 & U Long Freestyle 55 50

51 9-10 Long Freestyle 100 52

53 11-12 Long Freestyle 100 54

55 13-14 Long Freestyle 200 56

57 15-18 Long Freestyle 200 58

59 8 & U Butterfly 25 60

61 9-10 Butterfly 50 62

63 11-12 Butterfly 50 64

65 13-14 Butterfly 50 66

67 15-18 Butterfly 50 68

69 8 & U Freestyle Relay 100 70

71 9-10 Freestyle Relay 200 72

73 11-12 Freestyle Relay 200 74

75 13-14 Freestyle Relay 200 76

77 15-18 Freestyle Relay 200 78

Directions for Away Meets

Cross Plains – Approximate travel time 45 minutes. Take Hwy 12 south to Sauk. After crossing the river, turn right onto Hwy 78 south. Take 78 to Hwy 14 and turn left (east). This will take you into Cross Plains. Turn left onto Caesar Street. The pool is on the corner of Julius and Caesar.

Mazomanie – Approximate travel time 40 minutes. Take Hwy 12 south to Sauk. After crossing the river, turn right onto Hwy 78 south. Take 78 to Hwy 14 and turn right to Mazomanie. Turn right onto Brodhead and left onto Park. The pool is located on Park and Hudson.

Mount Horeb – Approximate travel time 50 minutes. Take Hwy 12 south to Sauk. After crossing the river, turn right onto Hwy 78 and take this to Mt. Horeb. Turn right onto Springdale, which will turn into Main Street, then right onto Third Street. The pool is at Third and Park.

Sauk Prairie – Approximate travel time 30 minutes. Take Hwy 12 south to Cty PF and turn left (east). Turn right onto 5th street – the pool is located at 5th Street and Grand Avenue.

Spring Green – Approximate travel time 50 minutes. Take Hwy 12 south towards Sauk and turn right onto Hwy 60 west. Take 60 to Neuheisel Road, which turns into Rainbow Road. Cross Hwy 14 into Spring Green and turn left at the stop sign and then jog right onto Daley Street. The pool is located at Daley and Lexington.

Sun Prairie – Approximate travel time 1 hour. The pool is located on Bird Street in Sun Prairie. Take Hwy 33 towards Portage and turn right onto I 90-94 east to Madison. Exit at Hwy 19 into Sun Prairie. Turn right onto Bird Street and stay on it until you reach the pool.

Wisconsin Dells – Approximate travel time 20 minutes. The pool is located at LaCrosse and Superior, behind the Post Office. Cross the bridge into the Dells, go under the via duct, turn right onto the LaCrosse, right onto Superior.