i know the age up date for meters is 12/31 of the given year.
has it always been that way?
(mostly i need to know if in 1997 the age up date would have been 12/31/97 or the date of the meet...)
thanks!
Parents
Former Member
OK, lets open up a can of worms here. Can anyone explain the rationale for the two different ways of determining age/up?
"Can of worms" is an understatement. :) I remember the year we debated this at Convention. In the 15 conventions that I've attended, I don't think I've ever heard such strong opinions on any other topic.
As you saw from my previous post, USMS's age-up date used to be the swimmer's birthday for all three courses. The rest of the world (FINA), however, went by the swimmer's age on 12/31 of a given year.
The rationale for changing the rule was so we would conform with the rest of the FINA members. I don't remember for sure, but the original proposal may have been to change our age-up date for all three courses.
As you have pointed out, there are advantages and disadvantages to both systems. Because we (the US) are the only country that swims yards, and keeps yards records, we can pretty much do whatever we want with those rules. I believe that keeping the swimmer's birthday for the SCY age-up date was something of a compromise.
Anna Lea
OK, lets open up a can of worms here. Can anyone explain the rationale for the two different ways of determining age/up?
"Can of worms" is an understatement. :) I remember the year we debated this at Convention. In the 15 conventions that I've attended, I don't think I've ever heard such strong opinions on any other topic.
As you saw from my previous post, USMS's age-up date used to be the swimmer's birthday for all three courses. The rest of the world (FINA), however, went by the swimmer's age on 12/31 of a given year.
The rationale for changing the rule was so we would conform with the rest of the FINA members. I don't remember for sure, but the original proposal may have been to change our age-up date for all three courses.
As you have pointed out, there are advantages and disadvantages to both systems. Because we (the US) are the only country that swims yards, and keeps yards records, we can pretty much do whatever we want with those rules. I believe that keeping the swimmer's birthday for the SCY age-up date was something of a compromise.
Anna Lea
