HEAT SHEET: (n.) The printed "program" for the swim meet which lists the swimmers competing in the meet by chronological appearance of events, subdivided by heats. The heat sheet will list for you which events your swimmer will race, in what order they will complete their events, which group (heat) they will be racing with within their event, and in which lane your swimmer will swim each event.
Heats within events usually get progressively faster, meaning, the first heat to swim in an event will be the group with the slowest times and the last heat to swim in the same event will be the group with the fastest times. Heat sheets include swimmers' names, teams, and fastest previous times for easier location and reference.
Heats within events usually get progressively faster, meaning, the first heat to swim in an event will be the group with the slowest times and the last heat to swim in the same event will be the group with the fastest times. Heat sheets include swimmers' names, teams, and fastest previous times for easier location and reference.
How to Read a Heat Sheet
The first thing you need to understand about heat sheets really revolves around how meets are organized.
EVENTS
In order to ensure fairness of competition, swimmers are divided into groups for competition based on age and gender. The age groups are:
Each age group is divided in half between Boys and Girls.
If the stroke is freestyle, the event could be #1 8 & Under Girls Freestyle. Another event could be #4 10 & Under Boys Freestyle.
HEATS
Because there are usually more swimmers than the 8 lanes to swim in, not everyone can swim their event at the same time. Heats are groups of swimmers within their events. Generally, the first heat is the slowest group and the last heat is the fastest group. Heat placement is determined by swimmers' best times, submitted by coaches to the host team. If a swimmer has not swam an event before, they will be seeded in the first heat with an NT, or "No Time."
If the event is 8 & Under Girls Freestyle and only 8 girls are signed up to swim the freestyle, there is only 1 heat needed to make sure all girls get to swim. If there are 88 girls signed up to swim the freestyle, then there will be 11 heats of 8 & Under girls swimming the freestyle. If you have an 8 & Under girl swimming at the meet, she could swim in the first heat if she has No Time or a slow time, or she could swim in one of the later heats if she has a faster time.
Heats will usually be listed as "Heat 3 of 8."
So, to put it all together, if you have an 8 year old girl who is swimming the freestyle and her time places her in Heat 3, you will find Event #1 8 & Under Girls Freestyle on the heat sheet first, and then you will look at the groupings (or heats) under Event #1 until you find Heat 3 of 8.
LANES
Under the event number, under the heat number, beside your swimmers' name will be a number. This number correlates directly with the lane in which your swimmer is going to swim their event. Typically, the fastest swimmers are seeded in the lanes in the middle of the pool (3,4,5,6) and swimmers with slower times are seeded into the lanes towards the outer edges of the pool (1,2,7,8).
AGES, TEAMS, SEED TIMES
The age of the swimmer, what team the swimmer is from, and what their seed time (or fastest time achieved before entering the meet) is will be listed to the right of each swimmer's name for identification and reference.
EVENTS
In order to ensure fairness of competition, swimmers are divided into groups for competition based on age and gender. The age groups are:
- 8 & Under
- 10 & Under
- 12 & Under
- 13 - 14
- 15 & Over
Each age group is divided in half between Boys and Girls.
If the stroke is freestyle, the event could be #1 8 & Under Girls Freestyle. Another event could be #4 10 & Under Boys Freestyle.
HEATS
Because there are usually more swimmers than the 8 lanes to swim in, not everyone can swim their event at the same time. Heats are groups of swimmers within their events. Generally, the first heat is the slowest group and the last heat is the fastest group. Heat placement is determined by swimmers' best times, submitted by coaches to the host team. If a swimmer has not swam an event before, they will be seeded in the first heat with an NT, or "No Time."
If the event is 8 & Under Girls Freestyle and only 8 girls are signed up to swim the freestyle, there is only 1 heat needed to make sure all girls get to swim. If there are 88 girls signed up to swim the freestyle, then there will be 11 heats of 8 & Under girls swimming the freestyle. If you have an 8 & Under girl swimming at the meet, she could swim in the first heat if she has No Time or a slow time, or she could swim in one of the later heats if she has a faster time.
Heats will usually be listed as "Heat 3 of 8."
So, to put it all together, if you have an 8 year old girl who is swimming the freestyle and her time places her in Heat 3, you will find Event #1 8 & Under Girls Freestyle on the heat sheet first, and then you will look at the groupings (or heats) under Event #1 until you find Heat 3 of 8.
LANES
Under the event number, under the heat number, beside your swimmers' name will be a number. This number correlates directly with the lane in which your swimmer is going to swim their event. Typically, the fastest swimmers are seeded in the lanes in the middle of the pool (3,4,5,6) and swimmers with slower times are seeded into the lanes towards the outer edges of the pool (1,2,7,8).
AGES, TEAMS, SEED TIMES
The age of the swimmer, what team the swimmer is from, and what their seed time (or fastest time achieved before entering the meet) is will be listed to the right of each swimmer's name for identification and reference.
If all else fails...
When at a meet, who better to ask for help than the parents around you? Most of the Barracudas parents have been reading heat sheets for at least a season or more and would be more than happy to show you the ropes. Get to know other swim parents while you get to know the heat sheet!