I'm in the 35-39 age group and would like to enter some USA Swimming meets this summer. There are only 2 USMS pool meets in my area for many months. I know I can technically enter a USA-S meet (if I register), but what are everyone's thoughts on this?
To give you an idea of my times, I mostly have USA-S A-cuts.
Why not? There are a few people in our LMSC who will compete in at least one of these a year, including one swimmer who occasionally swims at her daughter's meets. You'll need to be a member of USA-S (I think there are some meets that are jointly sanctioned but I don't believe it is very common).
You probably already know what these meets are like. The swimmers may be curious but won't gawk too much!
Entering these meets is usually done through your USA-S club team; in fact, my understanding of USA-S rules is that you have to have a club coach on the deck. I once swam at a meet where I was the only representative of my team, and I had to be assigned a club coach. I never really saw him once the meet started, though he was kind enough to offer to let me swim with his team in warmups. (Sometimes at meets the lanes in warmups are assigned to various teams).
If you don't want to submit your times for USMS Top Ten consideration, then you don't have to worry about it. Otherwise you should contact the Top Ten recorder for your LMSC. Do it beforehand to make sure the pool measurements are on file; do NOT just assume that it has been measured by your LSC. Walt Reid maintains a list of all measured pools for USMS.
If the pool regularly hosts masters meets, it is likely to be on file. If it has movable bulkheads then it is supposed to be re-measured at each session of the meet.
Why not? There are a few people in our LMSC who will compete in at least one of these a year, including one swimmer who occasionally swims at her daughter's meets. You'll need to be a member of USA-S (I think there are some meets that are jointly sanctioned but I don't believe it is very common).
You probably already know what these meets are like. The swimmers may be curious but won't gawk too much!
Entering these meets is usually done through your USA-S club team; in fact, my understanding of USA-S rules is that you have to have a club coach on the deck. I once swam at a meet where I was the only representative of my team, and I had to be assigned a club coach. I never really saw him once the meet started, though he was kind enough to offer to let me swim with his team in warmups. (Sometimes at meets the lanes in warmups are assigned to various teams).
If you don't want to submit your times for USMS Top Ten consideration, then you don't have to worry about it. Otherwise you should contact the Top Ten recorder for your LMSC. Do it beforehand to make sure the pool measurements are on file; do NOT just assume that it has been measured by your LSC. Walt Reid maintains a list of all measured pools for USMS.
If the pool regularly hosts masters meets, it is likely to be on file. If it has movable bulkheads then it is supposed to be re-measured at each session of the meet.
