FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

WHAT IS MY FINANCIAL OBLIGATION AT LESD?

 1.     REGULAR EXPENSES:

Each family is assessed a monthly coaching fee.  The statement is sent around the first of each month.  The fees are due on the 15^th of that month. Coaching fees go primarily toward the coaches’ salaries but are also used for some equipment purchases.  Every LESD swimmer must be a USA registered athlete.  This annual charge appears on the fall statement.  New swimmers must provide a copy of their birth certificate along with their registration form and fee.

Each LESD family using the facilities at any time at Hawken Schools and CSU are required to pay annual dues of $200.00 to the LESD Parent Booster Club.  Satellite Teams only using their own facility and college swimmers training in the summer are required to pay $50.00 each year. This is a separate billing from the monthly fees. These are sent to JoAnn Arnold, Booster Treasurer, directly. This money, along with other funds raised by the Booster Club through a variety of activities, helps to pay for pool rental, expenses for team sponsored meets, the clubs annual banquet, awards for swimmers at LESD sponsored meets and team functions, and major equipment purchases.

      Booster Club dues are payable in 2 installments:

      Failure to do so by these deadlines will result in swimmers not being entered in meets

 2.       MEET ENTRY FEES:

Families are responsible for paying entry fees for each swimmer in each meet entered.  The specific amounts required are noted on the information sheet provided for each meet. A check for this amount must be included with the meet entry form or the swimmer will not be put in the meet.  Relay fees from meets will be added to the following month’s billing. Always use the Swim Meet Entry Form (on website) when entering a meet.

3.       LESD TEAM SUPPLIES:

All LESD uniform items are purchased through SwimVille Swim Shop.  The team  uniform includes a Speedo LESD black team suit and an LESD cap. 

Other team apparel can be purchased including, t-shirts, parkas, sweat suits, towels, swim bags, parent shirts and more.  Team members are expected to wear an all black  Speedo suit, LESD cap and only LESD team clothing while on deck at competitions.

WHAT IS THE LESD BOOSTER CLUB?

           The Booster Club consists of 12 members, each of whom serves for three years.  The head coach appoints four   new  members every year and                             announces  these new Board members at the annual team banquet in the spring.  Booster Club members organize various fund raising projects.                         They also  lead volunteer groups to do the many jobs at the team-sponsored meets.  The Booster Club dues and the due date are published above.                          Booster Club membership is required of all LESD Families.

WHAT IS THE LESD MESSAGE LINE? 

Parents and swimmers can call 216.561.3423 to hear recorded announcements about practice schedules, approaching deadlines, upcoming meets, and other team functions.  The message is usually recorded by 10:00pm the night before. Also, check the website for updates and team news www.LESD.org  

      WHAT ARE THE PARENTS’ RESPONSIBILITIES?

                1.        To encourage the swimmer at all times

                2.       To get the swimmer to practices regularly and on time

                3.       To provide the swimmer transportation to swim meets, unless included in the meet arrangements (example: zones or national meets)

                4.       To encourage proper rest and diet

                5.       To try to plan vacations such that they do not conflict with the busy part of the season practice schedule.

                6.       To perform volunteer work at all LESD sponsored meets that your child is entered in.

                7.       To avoid criticism of the swimmer’s techniques and workout performance, leaving this exclusively to the coaches.

Parents are asked to raise questions that they may have about any aspect of the LESD operation with the individual team coach first and follow up with the head coach if necessary.  Parents should make inquiries of the coaches either before or after his coaching session so as not to avert his attention from practice and the swimmers.  Phone calls or emails are also suggested.

   HOW DO I ENTER MY SWIMMER IN A MEET? 

Announcements about meets will be made at practice and through the message service and website.  Meet information sheets are made available for each meet and are put in the “mailboxes” for each swimmer. The meet entry information sheet will indicate a deadline dictating when the entry form and fees are to be returned.  A completely filled out meet entry form and the money must be received by the deadline in order to be entered.  All entry forms and fees may be returned to the designated envelopes in each group mailbox where they will be picked up for processing.  Have your swimmer check his/her mailbox a couple times a week for handouts.  Any questions about which events your swimmer should compete in can be addressed to the coach.  The Swim Meet Entry Form is available to download and print from the website. Click here for detailed info on How to enter a swim meet.

  SWIMMING GLOSSARY

   Clerk Of Course:  an area where swimmers are to report when they are "on call" before their events; heat and lane numbers are assigned.

   Deck Seeding:  a procedure by which swimmers are assigned to appropriate lanes/heats just before an event.

    Finals:  a second session of swimming for those swimmers who have placed in the top rank (somewhere between 6 and 16 swimmers, depending on             the     size of the pool) of the PRELIMINARIES, or qualifying heats, of a meet.  TIMED FINALS means everybody swims an event once in a                  meet,  with order of finish determined by just the one swim per event.

  Heat Sheet:  a list of all the swimmers with their heat number and lane assigned; often confused with a PSYCH SHEET, simply a list of all the entries in an event arranged by times submitted (SEED TIMES) by the teams.

 Lake Erie Swimming, Inc.: our district, which includes the Cleveland area, metropolitan Akron, Canton, Youngstown, Mansfield, Wooster, Sandusky, and areas in between.  The rest of the state (Columbus, Toledo, Dayton, Cincinnati) comprises the other district in Ohio, OHIO SWIMMING, INC.

  Long Course: the venue for summer swimming, a 50-meter pool; the standard length for international swimming.

 Nationals:  the highest level of US Swimming with extremely rigorous time standards, which must be met for entry.   USA Sectional Meets are a highly competitive meet conducted in each Zone, while the USA Junior National Meet and the USA National Championships (Seniors) is a single national event.

 Officials:  the starter, the referee, and the stroke judges who have the authority over a meet.

Quads:  the Mid-States Quadrangular Meet (Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, and Illinois), is an elite-level meet inviting the four fastest swimmers in each age group event in each state to compete in a timed finals format in Indianapolis. It is held at the beginning of each January.  Ohio Swimming and Lake Erie Swimming join forces to compete for the entire state of Ohio.  Swimmers are invited to participate based on their best times achieved during the current short course season.  Information and applications can be found on the Lake Erie Swimming website.

Seed Time:  a swimmers time in an event as listed by his/her coach upon entering in a meet.  PROOF OF TIME is required in some high level meets, whereby the coach must be able to verify that a swimmer has done the time listed in the entry.

 Short Course:  the venue for winter season swimming, a 25-yard or 25 meter pool; the standard length for Ohio high school swimming.

 Split:  a time for a part of a race; for example, a coach may suggest that the 100 split was too fast or too slow on a 400 meter event.

Touch Pad:  electrically operated equipment at the end of the pool, which is activated by the swimmer's touch, thus recording an electrically obtained time for an event.  Stopwatches are usually used for a back-up time in case the swimmer does not activate the timing system with an accurate touch.

 USA Swimming:  United States of America Swimming, the governing body for competitive swimming.

  Zones:  the top-level age group meet; Lake Erie Swimming is a member of the Central Zone in our country (Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, South Dakota, North   Dakota, and other mid-western states).  Swimmers who achieve a AAA or better time are eligible to be a part of the Lake Erie Zone Team.