The New Approach to Meets

Iâ€Tmm really gratified to hear that USMS is approving sanctions beginning in November. That doesnâ€Tmt mean that any and all can swim in a particular meet. Some of us “race horses” are looking for competition. In my area, a team has a sanction for “members only”...an inter squad meet. So exclusionary events are OK? I live close by, but canâ€Tmt compete because Iâ€Tmm not affiliated with that team. How can this be a USMS event? ....I assume that records and Top Tens will be available to participants. I understand the limitations of COVID, and donâ€Tmt begrudge a team from having an inter squad meet, but if it is in the name of the organization at large, to the exclusion of our members, I must question. Any thoughts?
  • I agree. I find it odd that USMS has not made any announcements about meets, top tens, All-Americans, etc. 8 months into this pandemic. It seems like every sporadic email randomly refers to stroke technique or virtual swimming and not a word about the proverbial elephant--covid and the future of meets or the conditions that need to be met to return to competition. Sanctioning private time trials is BS. I wish whomever is responsible would just say 2020 and 2021 is cancelled and put me out of my misery.
  • Our usual USMS SCM winter meet usually has less than 50 people, so I wonder if we will try to have it at some point... Though pretty much all the pools that can do SCM around here are owned by school districts and are mostly not allowing outside renters...
  • Me neither. If only USMS had like ... a place where they could post information ... maybe like a public commons where members could discuss things, share ideas, bandy about thoughts about how to make the organization better. It would be so great if USMS had some kind of forum for multi-lateral and multi-layered communication and debate :agree: ... Signed, Visionary for what USMS could become That would be really nice if it existed, Oh wait it does, or could or just ARRRRRRRRGGGG. I'd like to know who the email was sent to, it wasn't to me. As to the sanctioned meets, I think it is great for the few who can have them. If the times count for event ranking and on your "My USMS" results I'm fine with that. If they count for TT and AA, not so much. I think TT should be a real accomplishment, not that you were one of the 5 swimmers that had a meet. I have less of a problem accepting times for TT in SCY as that season has several more months to run and we will hopefully have some real meets by then. If they have sanctioned meets in Nov. or Dec. in SCM that count for TT, that seems really unfair to me.
  • I'd like to know who the email was sent to, it wasn't to me. Just looked at the bottom of the email: "This email was sent to all LMSC- and national-level volunteers and contacts for sanctioned events in 2019 and 2020." I'm the Ozark LMSC Top Ten Coordinator, so I guess that's why I got it.
  • Shouldn't anyone who wishes to compete at a USMS meet, at the very least, be a "contact for sanctioned events?" Like I get it that if you hold a position within an LMSC you got the email, but seems like the kind of information anyone looking to attend a sanctioned would want to know about!
  • It could be a sort of “dry run” for future meets, given the many Covid restrictions. I think itâ€Tms reasonable to limit the number of participants, but unreasonable to limit who those participants are. Giving the benefit of the doubt.
  • I don't see anything wrong with intrasquads, especially during pandemic time. That's how many USA-S teams have been having competitions recently. I mean, really, a sanctioned intrasquad meet is nothing more than a team lactate set with a USMS sanction...
  • Iâ€Tmm really gratified to hear that USMS is approving sanctions beginning in November...Where was that communicated? I agree. I find it odd that USMS has not made any announcements about meets, top tens, All-Americans, etc. 8 months into this pandemic. It seems like every sporadic email randomly refers to stroke technique or virtual swimming and not a word about ...... what their most committed members care about, COMPETITION
  • Weird. I did not get that email. For me personally, I rarely go to USMS sanctioned events anyways. I tend to swim at USA-S meets and then submit my times for USMS. I was lucky a SCY meet was offered in mid August, so I got at least one swim in, but since then, there has been nothing scheduled.