Highland Lakes Swim Team

• The team has a weekly Wednesday night dual meet for 6 weeks starting the first week of July. There are three home and three away meets each season. 
• Meets begin at 7:00pm. Warm-ups begin 30 minutes prior to the meet start time at 6:30pm. Swimmers should arrive to the meet no later than 6:15pm and check-in with a member of the coaching staff.
• Swimmers must have their availability status set on SwimTopia by 11:59pm on the Sunday evening prior to the Wednesday dual meet. This will allow the coaches sufficient time to create a line-up. 
• Swimmers will be informed of their entries during the Wednesday morning practices. An entries report will be sent out via email by mid-day Wednesday.
• Swimmers should wear their team-issued team shirt to the meets and are encouraged to wear a team bathing suit (although not required to participate). The team issues team caps for anyone choosing to wear a swim cap. Goggles are recommended but not required. 
• Water and a light snack are good to have on hand. 
• A dry towel or two is good practice, along with a sweatshirt or other warm clothes for after sunset.

Invitationals

• Invitationals are held each Saturday throughout the LSC season, normally starting in Week 2.
• The invitational meets normally begin at 9:00 AM, with warm-ups beginning around 8:00 AM. The meets generally last until approximately 1:00-2:00 PM.
• Participation is entirely optional, based on interest and availability. 
• Entries must be submitted by the stated deadline using SwimTopia
• A small fee of ~$3 is charged, per event, by the host team. All entries will be paid via SwimTopia this year.
• Each invitational has its own 'theme' set by the host team:
  • Packanack Odd Age Invite- age groups are off-set by one year (e.g. 10/11 rather than standard 9/10 or 11/12 age groups).
  • Pequannock Individual Age Invite- swimmers compete in single-age events (E.g. separate events for 9 year olds, 10 year olds, 11 year olds, etc.)
  • Highland B- our event! A cut-time system removes the "A" swimmers from the main events, allowing the spotlight to shine on the "B" swimmers [Note: the Highland B will not be hosted by Highland Lakes this year in lieu of Highland Lakes hosting the LSC A Championships.  The 2025 B Invitational will be hosted by Wayne Township.]
  • Erskine C-  A cut-time system removes both "A" and "B" swimmers from the main event, allowing the spotlight to shine on the "C" swimmers. This is a GREAT meet for new swimmers!
  • A Championships- Final meet of the year, only swimmers who qualify, based on "A" cut times, may participate. 

Our team cannot exist or run without Parent Volunteers. Most parents are surprised at just how much help is needed to provide such a great experience for our swimmers. We can use help in all aspects and can work around your schedule. For example, we can use helpers for:

• timing at meets
• marshaling at meets
• scoring at meets
• Colorado timing system set-up and operation
• set-up and break-down of equipment
• Concession donations and sales (the single largest fundraising effort for our team!)
• social events
• clothing and swimsuit sales
• fundraising
• Bagel sales on Fridays during practice

A COMMITMENT TO HELP IS NOT A COMMITMENT TO BE THERE FOR HOURS. “Many hands make light work” has been our working philosophy. If you are busy with younger kids and can’t commit to staying in one place for too long, we can use help fundraising, printing and collating for the “B” program, even manning the information table while your swimmers are practicing.  At last year’s Invitational we put together “teams” of parents so one parent could help with scoring or timing and the other can watch kids for an hour, then switch places. Please consider where you can best help. It’s a great way to be involved with a terrific group of people and your kids as they participate in an activity that is truly a lifelong skill.

• LSC Officials – Each team is responsible for providing multiple officials each season. The league provides the training in a short, few hour program. Highland Lakes is desperately in need of new volunteers to become officials. Please consider becoming an LSC official in support of our kids, the team, and good standing in the league.
• Home meet setup/breakdown – flags, timing system, tables, etc. (1/2 hour on Wednesdays ONLY when there are home meets)
• Timing/Recording – one parent from each family is encouraged to time at meets or at the Invitational. We have an excellent timing system; all you have to do is press a button twice – once when the race starts and once when the swimmer finishes. Timing is a great way to help out for a shorter duration of time, requires no training whatsoever, and worked well with our Parent Teams as described above.
• Concessions – parents can work the snack bar on a rotating basis
• HL “B” Invitational – there are many jobs to get done including concessions, grill, timing, parking, runners, collecting money, marshalling (organizing the swimmers in their events and keeping the right swimmer in the right lanes, etc.)