Marking Swimmers' Arms for Meets
What do you mean by marking arms for meets?
When we talk about marking your swimmers for the meets, we mean using a Sharpie to write the list of events they're entered in with heat and lane number, on their arm or leg. This is so swimmers know their events, and it helps bullpen volunteers, deck managers, timers and coaches make sure they get to the right events.
Use a Sharpie marker to write on clean dry skin after applying sunscreen. Please also write your child's first name and age group on their upper back shoulder.
How do I know what events, heats, lanes to write?
Beginning on the morning of day of the meet, you can use the Swimtopia app to determine which events your child will be swimming for the upcoming meet. From the home screen, select your child's name, then select the upcoming meet. You may need to turn your phone sideways to read all of the information. Your screen should look similar to the picture below. Note the event number, heat, lane, and - for relays - relay position.
The coach may also send out a list of all swimmers and their events on the day of the meet. You can find the event number, heat, lane, and relay leg position on this sheet as described below:
Swimmer Markup: Using the information above, mark either the swimmer's arm or leg as follows:
For younger swimmers, you can also write the strokes for the individual events as well as the relay events.
Strokes: If you'd like to note the stroke, do so after the lane designation.
- FR = Freestyle
- BA = Backstroke
- BR = Breaststroke
- FLY = Butterfly
- IM = Individual Medley (1 swimmer swims one lap of each stroke - order: fly, back, breast, free)
Relay Marking: This will designate the relay leg the child is swimming.
- 1/1 = Lane 1, first relay leg
- 4/2 = Lane 4, 2nd relay leg **If the Medley Relay this will be Breast Stroke
