Does membership with USA Swimming (not USMS) require any sort of attachment to a specific club? Or, in other words, can I join USAS and go swim whatever meets they have as an "unattached" swimmer. The master's program I swim with only had USMS affiliation.
On a similar note, do times achieved in a USMS meet have any sort of merrit for making Q times for something like a Grand Prix meet?
You can swim unattached in USA-S. The only caveat to that is that you are limited to meets for all LSC registered swimmers as opposed to meets where only certain invited teams can participate. Not that big a problem. I switched to my daughter's team just to make it easier to enter meets, I just email the coach and he electronically sends in my entries. I'm lazy like that.
As for the times question? Not sure about that.
From what I have been researching about USA Swimming meets, it seems like a pain in the neck to swim unattached. Plus, there are extra surcharges. I plan to sign up with Villanova because they have a USA Swimming registered team.
Does membership with USA Swimming (not USMS) require any sort of attachment to a specific club? Or, in other words, can I join USAS and go swim whatever meets they have as an "unattached" swimmer. The master's program I swim with only had USMS affiliation.
On a similar note, do times achieved in a USMS meet have any sort of merrit for making Q times for something like a Grand Prix meet?
I heard that when you USMS Nationals, you can have your times submitted to the USA Swimming database if you are a registered USA swimmer, I think. I don't think that the meet director will do that at a Zone Championship which would be really nice.
You might want to do a A/BB/C Meet before the grand prix so you have the qualifying times in the books just in case you aren't feeling 100% on the day of the Grand Prix meet. I heard that you get fined now at these Senior Meets with specific Qualifying Times if you don't make the qualifying times. I wish that was around in my day because there were people who would go to the annual travel meet(ie Buffalo or Pittsburgh) and they didn't even come close to having the QT Times. They just went for the social aspect of the trip.
From what I have been researching about USA Swimming meets, it seems like a pain in the neck to swim unattached. Plus, there are extra surcharges. I plan to sign up with Villanova because they have a USA Swimming registered team.
Those surcharges are only for deck entering and for a high number of manual (10+) entries. I've entered meets as unattached and the per event charge is pretty cheap and there is no meet surcharge. Last USA meet I entered, it was $3.50 per event.
The only negative I can think of is that they don't usually have 50 stroke events we older folks are used to.:cane:
Yeah, those 100s can be a real drag. Especially against the kids. I can hold my own in 50s but I usually get crushed in the 100s.
Depends on the meet entry, but key phrases might be:
SENIOR
15 and OVER
But watch - some places have a 13 -14 then 15 and over; others have 13-14, 15-16, then SENIOR.
You just need to read the meet information carefully and thoroughly for each meet.
Are most USA-S meets open to "adults"? I thought they were mostly age group meets--not true? How can you even tell what meets permit non-age groupers?
Masters can enter any USA-S meet that has a "senior" division, "open" division, or "13 & over" or "15 & over" -- as long as you are registered with USA Swimming and there is no QT you need to meet. If it's a dual sanctioned meet, you don't need to be registered with USA-S, but most USA-S meets are not dual sanctioned right now. If you want the times to "count" for USMS, you need only submit the times to your LMSC Top Ten person.
Here's another factoid for you USA swimmers to be....
You can have relay lead-off splits count, even if they are non-standard relays. So assuming the 2 big rules are met:
1. USA sanction #
2. Meets USMS pool measurement criteria;
If you do a fun relay, like the 200 butterfly relay, 4 x 100 IM relay, or the crescendo relay, or whatever it is, and you lead off, then that split can count for USMS top ten.
Former Member
On the question, "Are you a member of another FINA Federation?" Does that mean put yes since I am in USMS?
"no", USMS doesn't count.
