Schedule

Each fall a meet schedule is drawn up for the entire region. Every club is required to host certain meets at certain levels as well as hosting championship meets. Every club is also required to attend certain meets. Swimmers are chosen to attend meets on the basis of their ability; with certain meets requiring specified qualifying times in each event. If your child is chosen by the coach for a meet, you will receive a permission slip in advance stating the location of the meet, the date of departure and return, the meet cost and the entry fee charges. It must be signed by a parent or guardian and returned with a cheque before the date specified or the child will not attend. Parents are advised to check with the coach if there is any question regarding their child's eligibility or compulsory attendance for any meet. Compulsory meets consist of Long Course and Short Course Regional Championships as well as the Ontario Team Championships. Please discuss with the coach if you have any questions or concerns.

Away Meets

There are two types of away meets, billeted and hotel. The meet manager will provide the necessary information for each of these when necessary.

Most NEOR Meets will provide billeting for swimmers nine years old and over. Regional rules state that children under nine years cannot be billeted, and therefore must stay with a parent or adult if they attend an out of town meet. This however does not apply to meets outside the region or invitational meets within the region.

It is preferred that swimmers of billeting age be billeted and not remain at a hotel with parents that choose to attend an out of town meet. It can be a lot of fun and the swimmer gets to meet families from other clubs through which lasting friendships are made. Those parents that choose to keep their children with them are responsible for them during the entire length of the meet. If billeted swimmer becomes ill during a swim meet and must be accommodated in a hotel room, the parents of swimmer will be billed for these hotel expenses. If a parent chooses to transport and keep their child with them at a meet for which accommodation and transportation have been provided, full meet fees must still be paid.

Your child needs a sleeping bag and should be prepared to sleep anywhere from a private bedroom to the floor of a recreation room. Host families provide breakfast and sometimes a snack lunch as well as an evening meal and a bedtime snack. Your child should carry enough money for at least one restaurant meal each day, depending on the length of the meet and for some snacks between swims. Children twelve years and younger should be provided with a clearly marked wallet containing small bills which must be given to the chaperone at the beginning of the trip. This money will then be doled out as necessary. Older children who are uncomfortable carrying large sums of money may choose to do this also.

In addition to money and a sleeping bag, swimmers will need towels, bathing suits, their team clothing and other warm clothing for between swims and a pair of running shoes or flip-flops. They will also need their street clothes and personal hygiene equipment. A readily identified duffel bag, a plastic bag for wet things and tie or sack for their sleeping bag will make things much easier for the child, the driver and their chaperone. Swimmers are asked to check with the coach regarding suitable snacks or lunches for the bus. They are also reminded that any garbage they create is their responsibility to clean up.

We recommend that your child bring a small gift (such as a box of chocolates) for host parents and send a thank you note to the billeting family as soon as the swimmer returns to Sault Ste Marie.

Rules for Hotels/Billets

• Obey curfews set up by the coach.
• No wandering the halls after curfew and no unauthorized guests in the room at any time.
• Keep rooms tidy (garbage in pails, pick up clothes on the floor etc). Swimmers are responsible for any damages.
• Never be alone, always travel in groups between rooms. Never leave the hotel.
• Noise level should be acceptable.
• No visitors in the rooms unless approved by the coach.
• The second key to each room will be given to the chaperone.
• No playing in the hallways.
• All phone calls are made collect and are the responsibility of the swimmers' family.
• Rooms must be located together. If not possible, upon arrival the head chaperone must ensure that the groups of rooms if located elsewhere must have a room designated for the chaperone. Another room may need to be rented and a swimmer may need to sleep in the chaperone's room even though there may be extra cost involved.

• Be courteous towards the billet person.
• Clean up after yourself. Be respectful of the surroundings and the belongings of others.
• Curfew from the coach should be obeyed even at the billet's home.

Host clubs must billet at all NEOR sponsored meets. Host clubs do not have to billet at Invitational meets although it may increase attendance from swimmers in the region.

Transportation will be arranged by the away meet manager and all swimmers will be expected to travel with the team. Bus trips will be arranged when more than 30 swimmers attend out-of -town meets. When a swimmer requests an alternate transportation method to and from the meet, the swimmer will be charged the normal transportation fee. Meet fees are non-refundable. It is pointed out that meets fees cover the costs of transportation, accommodation, and meals for the coaches and chaperones, as well as costs for incidentals such as telephone calls and Purolator services.

In the event that only a few swimmers are going to a meet, it is expected that the parents of the swimmers will take their turns at driving to these meets. When the vehicle of a parent is volunteered and used to help transport swimmers, some financial arrangements can be made between the parent and the meet manager prior to departure to help defray costs.

If a swimmer is unable to attend a meet, hotel and transportation fees are non-refundable. However, extenuating circumstances such as illness will be dealt with on an individual basis by the Club Executive.

The following directives will be distributed to parents, coaches, swimmers and the bus operator so that clear expectations of standards of behaviour are observed on the buses.

Code of Conduct on the Bus

Parents and swimmers are reminded that when swimmers misbehave on a bus, this conduct could be distracting to the bus driver. The safety of all the other swimmers and chaperones on the bus is in jeopardy.

• Swimmers will behave at all times in a courteous, respectful and polite manner. The swimmers will act appropriately towards the bus driver and chaperones.
• The following conduct is especially forbidden: excessive shouting and noise, throwing objects, spitting, pushing or shoving, littering the bus, fighting, smoking, vandalizing or willfully damaging the bus, using profane language. Any conduct injurious to the physical or mental well-being of others will not be tolerated.
• Chaperones will introduce themselves before the bus departs. The chaperones will control the actions of the swimmers. Swimmers are responsible for their conduct. When traveling to away meets swimmers' actions reflect directly on the image of the club. Therefore, they must respect the authority of the chaperones and accept the approved rules of behaviour.
• Only movies rated PG 13 or less are to be shown on bus trips.

Parents are asked to consider acting as chaperones at one out of town swim meet. They will be provided with hotel accommodations, transportation and a meal allowance of thirty-five dollars a day. Before the meet, the parent will be given the opportunity to discuss any questions with the away meet manager and the coach.

If suitable chaperone arrangements cannot be made for away meets, these meets could be cancelled. The coach's duties are to ensure performance of the swimmer on deck. The chaperone's duties are to ensure suitable performance at all other times. Only following serious misconduct should the coach be needed to act on disciplinary actions. The coach is often on deck no less than twelve hours each day of away and home meets and when not on deck should be given all opportunity to document results, plan and rest.

• To collect wallets from swimmers and to bring along a case or bag to carry them in (12 years & under unless otherwise advised).
• To have a list of swimmers and their health cards attending the meet.
• To have a list of those swimmers on medications including type, time and dosages (special arrangements need to be made with the meet manager).
• To ensure that while traveling, all swimmers are seated and using seat-belts if available
• To check with host club to make sure that all swimmers have been accommodated at billeted meets.
• To assist younger children with menu and payment at restaurants.
• To ensure that at hotel meets, all children are settled in proper rooms and that they adhere to the hotel rules and curfew set by the coach.
• To assist swimmers making long distance telephone calls and to collect the charges for these calls (it is preferable that long distance calls be made from a pay phone as most hotels charge for these calls even if the charges have been reversed).
• To assist setting up breakfasts, lunches and snacks if provisions for this have been provided.
• To ensure that upon returning home the garbage on the bus or other vehicle has been picked up.
• To give all receipts and any money remaining from funds given by meet manager for expenses of meet back to the meet manager within three days.

Meet fees do not represent a money making venture, but SSMAC certainly expects to recover all costs associated with attending meets. Thus meet fees are calculated to ensure we fulfill our contractual obligations with the coaches. We have to make the following assumptions:

To determine the number of coaches attending a meet we used, on most occasions, the following rule:

The travel cost for coaches is based on the amount given to the person driving a coach to a meet.
We have used the following rules:

Travel cost for the Senior Coach is based on contractual obligations.

Coaches are expected, but not required, to share a room. The cost is based on the price/night x # of nights.

According to contracts, each coach is entitles to a daily $35 meal allowance for days at a meet and for days in transit if these are different.

Because there are so many variables and unexpected expenses, our experience has been to plan for the worst and pray for the best. It has worked in most instances. This is a transparent process that will enable us to meet our objective of recovering by year?end all the meet costs without, on an annual basis, overcharging you. For each meet, we keep a record of the number of attendees per family and the amount of the meet fees paid. If there is a meet surplus or deficit, the amount of the surplus or deficit is divided equally among all attending families (based on the number of swimmers per family). Near the end of the season, some families will have overpaid, whereas others will have underpaid. For families with a surplus, the amount will be used as a credit, as long as there are no outstanding fundraising commitments. An invoice will be issued to those with a negative balance.

Home Meets

In the past SSMAC typically hosted 2 meets per year. We host an Invitational meet in November and a NEOR sponsored meet in the spring, either Dave Kensit or Developmental. The Dave Kensit hosting rotates between Sault Ste Marie and Sudbury.

Parents are responsible for providing all the officials and volunteers to run each meet, and for providing billets for out of town swimmers when it is a NEOR sponsored meet. Every family is expected to billet a minimum of two swimmers for each meet even if their swimmers (children) are not involved in the meet. Parents are encouraged to volunteer to billet more than two swimmers. Often, parents will be asked to billet more than two swimmers, depending on the number of out of town swimmers who are attending the meet. Our host families must provide sleeping accommodations (does not necessarily mean a bed - a sleeping bag is fine), an evening meal, breakfast and lunch time snack. Swimmers are expected to be in bed at a reasonable time if they are competing the next day. See that your billets are in a quiet atmosphere. All host parents must also ensure swimmers arrive for warm-ups on time. Billets in your care are your responsibility. If they indicate that they wish to participate in an activity at which you are not present (e.g. a swimmers gathering) the billet should arrange for you to contact his/her coach who may give permission and establish time limits. Failing this, contact your Billet Chairman or a member of the Sault Ste Marie Aquatic Club Executive. In addition, our Club often assists with officials and billeting for meets hosted by the Soo "Y" Dolphins. Their club in turn assists us with our meets.

Remember that we look to other clubs in the region to provide the same services for our children. Parents and their friends will be provided with the opportunity to attend brief clinics to learn the duties of a swim official and will be awarded badges and certification on completion of the clinic and service at a supervised meet. Your involvement will increase your appreciation and enjoyment of the skills and effort developed by the swimmer(s) in your family.

Meet fees do not represent a money making venture, but SSMAC certainly expects to recover all costs associated with attending meets. Thus meet fees are calculated to ensure we fulfill our contractual obligations with the coaches. For home meets we make the following assumptions:

Most home meets are attended by all 3 coaches.

Meals (or per diem): No meal allowance