Saw one of the more interesting articles about the past, present, and future aspects of competitive swimming on SwimInfo's website the other day from Wayne Goldsmith..
www.swiminfo.com/.../7720.asp
I think it provokes a great deal of thought in this arena and specifically within this group since many of us either participate, have friends/relatives who participate, or remember participating in competitive swim meets.
I particularly appreciate the parents perspective provided in the article. While I have little children (5 and almost 3 years old), the thought of going through what my parents did with me makes me hesitate to sign up for the first set of SwimAmerica lessons or summer club swim team to introduce them to swimming. While I swam through my school age years, I didn't really consider just what my parents had to go through right along with me.. I was always thinking about what i was going through. Wow!
Check out the article and see what you think...
Rob
Former Member
You are correct that it is not a USMS meet. But we plainly state in the meet info that "this is a USMS 'practice' rather than a 'meet'." By requiring all participants to be USMS registered, and clearly stating that this is a scheduled practice and having a USMS registered person (me) supervising all activities we are covered under USMS insurance, just as any other practice would be.
Here's what Sandi Blumit at Risk Management Services, Inc. (our insurance company) said in response to a complete description of our Mock Meet operation and query about coverage:
"The key to USMS being in place for an activity is that all participants are USMS members. The scenario you present would be considered an 'organized practice' which is an insured activity."
From a program director's viewpoint the question isn't whether the swimmers care about the insurance coverage, its whether we're upholding our end of the contract we have with the facility that requires us to have insurance coverage in force for all activities we undertake.
Originally posted by Rob Copeland
...There is no liability coverage meet director, officials and volunteers at a practice.
I believe they are all covered if they are USMS registered.
Howard, I can’t speak for the insurance folks, however, you are allowed to contest “nonconforming swimming events” at a sanctioned meet. So it is completely legal to have a 500 Backstroke at a sanctioned meet.
As far as this being a meet or a practice – in the eyes of USMS it is not a meet unless a sanction/recognition is issued. A meet by definition is an event or series of events held under a single sanction or recognition.
And finally, there are a few differences in insurance coverage between sanctioned/recognized meets and practices. In either case the swimmers are covered for liability and excess accidental medical. However only in the sanctioned/recognized meets are the meet director, officials and volunteers covered. There is no liability coverage meet director, officials and volunteers at a practice.
Originally posted by Bob McAdams
Keep in mind that it is not unheard of for a team to have a practice meet. The kids' swim team at the YMCA where I swim does this each fall, partly to give new swimmers a chance to get the feel of what it's like to be at a meet before going to one that counts. They divide their team into three groups, which are matched for age, sex, and swimming ability, and then have them compete in an unofficial meet.
So I don't think that calling it a "meet" would disqualify it as being "practice".
Seems to me that anything saying it has a meet director is a meet. I really don't care and if those running it, the pool management and the swimmers don't have any concern then there's no issue. At least until they serve hot coffee at the meet.
Maybe a better question to ask is why can't we sanction meets that don't adhere to the norm? I'm pretty sure it's got to do with insurance. What makes a 500 back or *** less certifiable than the 500 free? Anyone out there on the insurance committee?
Not exactly. If you want to run an event that will have on-deck participants (officials, timers, other volunteers etc) that are NOT USMS registered, then the only way for them to be covered under USMS insurance is to sanction the event.
I understand as well. Spectators are probably covered as part of the pools insurance?
I always thought we couldn't hold a meet with events that differed from the norm because of our insurance. This has cleared that up. I'm hoping we will add some other events to our meets.
