Blue Ridge Barracudas

First Blue Ridge swim meet coming up, or need a refresher from last season? This page covers what you need to know to handle your first Barracuda swim experience.

This page covers the core essentials, but if you want the deeper treatment, we'd encourage you to check out this year's Parent Survival Guide slide deck, which has most of the below information and lots more!

1. How to Sign Up

Every meet requires a Swimtopia sign-up for each swimmer — no sign-up means "Undeclared," and coaches will plan the meet without your swimmer. Sign-ups close at noon the day before each meet. Full sign-up instructions here.

2. What to Pack

Must have: 1 suit, 1 pair of goggles, 1 towel.

Recommended: swim cap (team cap if you have it), extra suit(s)/goggles/towel(s) (young swimmers will almost certainly lose goggles, and a dry towel at the end of the meet is worth it), sunscreen, a parka or warm layer (evenings get cool), a change of clothes for after, a visor or sun hat, a water bottle and snacks, cash AND card for concessions (some venues are cash-only, others card-only).

Nice to have: a pop-up tent or shade structure, blankets or a sleeping bag for between events, headphones or music for waiting, games or entertainment (especially for 8&U — waits are long), a fine-point Sharpie for writing events on your swimmer's arm (see below) plus hand sanitizer to remove it after.

3. When to Arrive, Where to Sit, Meet Timing

Timing:

• Home meets: arrive 4:30 PM (walk if you can — parking is limited), warm-ups begin 4:45 PM (younger age groups first), meet starts 6:00 PM.
• Away meets: arrive by 5:00 PM (budget 30–60 minutes for the drive, depending on the pool — check Swimtopia for that meet's location and details), warm-ups begin 5:15 PM, meet starts 6:00 PM. See the maps to pools page for addresses of away meet pools.

Meets typically run 3–4 hours. You're welcome to leave once your swimmer's events are finished, or stay to cheer on the rest of the team.

Where to sit (Blue Ridge home pool):

• Blue Ridge Team Area — north end, upper deck
• Party Room — swimmers and families welcome, a great spot for younger age groups
• Spectators sit on the north, west, and south sides — stay behind roped-off areas and clear of the area behind the blocks
• Clerk of Course (south end) — swimmers and officials only, parents please stay back

4. Writing Events on Your Swimmer's Arm

Bring a fine-point Sharpie — it's one of the most useful things you can have at a meet.

Format: E | H | L (Event · Heat · Lane). For relays, add the leg number (1–4) after the lane.

Look up your swimmer in the heat sheet, write E/H/L on their arm before warm-ups, and add a new row for each event.

5. Flow of a Meet

Distances: 25Y = 1 length, 50Y = 2 lengths, 100Y = 4 lengths, 200Y = 8 lengths. 8&U swims 25s for most individual events; 9 and up swims 50s. The Individual Medley (IM) is 100Y for age 9 and up.

Medley Relay stroke order: Backstroke, Breaststroke, Butterfly, Freestyle.

Individual Medley (IM) stroke order: Butterfly, Backstroke, Breaststroke, Freestyle.

These are different orders — easy to mix up, so it's worth keeping them straight, especially if your swimmer is in both.

Aggregate event order (a dual meet has 72 events total, run in this sequence):

• 50 Freestyle (13-14 and 15-18 only)
• Medley Relays (all age groups)
• Free Relay (8&U only)
• Individual Medley (9-10 and up)
• Freestyle
• Backstroke
• Breaststroke
• Butterfly
• Free Relays (closes the meet)

Within each event, age groups swim in this order: Girls 8&U, Boys 8&U, Girls 9-10, Boys 9-10, Girls 11-12, Boys 11-12, Girls 13-14, Boys 13-14, Women 15-18, Men 15-18.

Get your swimmer to the seating area or their Age Group Coordinator about 7 events before their race — that's when marshalling for their event begins.

Want the full event-by-event list for a dual meet? See the event order reference page.

6. Volunteering

The ask: typically 1 shift per meet. Most roles need no experience — Timer, Runner, and Ribbon Distribution are all easy to learn and trained on the spot. Sign up and learn more about all roles on the Volunteer page.