Coach’s Note 10-04-10 Championship meet format is changing…Forget JO’s, forget STAGS, and well, changes at the TAGS level as well.
For those of you new to USA Swimming, perhaps new to South Texas Swimming (that is the “territory” or the LSC – which stands for local swim committee that Nitro belongs to), there are two seasons of swimming: Short Course and Long Course. To confuse you even further, short course season is longer than long course season, as it runs typically throughout the bulk of the school year. Whereas long course season (so named because the meets are typically swam the long ways, 50 meters) spans the late spring/early summer – end of April into August.
There are membership meetings held a couple of times per year where the various committees involved in swimming get together and discuss proposals, vote on items, and help steer the course of competitive swimming in our area as well as state wide, and across the country. This past weekend played host to the Texas Senior Circuit meetings on Friday; the Texas Swim Association (TSA) on Saturday, and the South Texas Swimming meeting yesterday, Sunday. Tim attended the Friday session. I attended Saturday’s session. Tim, Ryan and I attended the Sunday South Texas meeting. We were in our seats from 8:15AM until about 4:00PM. I have included below what was decided on by the membership and how it impacts how things had been done in the past. Read on if interested…
First off – TAGS (Texas Age Group Swimming Championships). The TAGS committee voted to go back to 10 & Under, 11-12 combined, 13-14 combined, “A” final only coming back at night for finals. In other words, if you are 11, you will be competing against the 12 yr olds to battle for a nighttime swim in the top 8. Same thing if you are 13 —- battling the 14 yr olds for one of the top 8 spots. No more “B” final swim for the 9-16th place finishers – at least not for this coming year. I am working on changing that back as I don’t believe timelines warranted a move to make the meet smaller than what it already was, and I liked the idea of bringing back more swimmers with more opportunities to swim at night in finals. But legislative steps take time, and I will do what I can on this. What this means for us in the short term is that RELAYS WILL BE KING !! Whoever owns the relays in the most age groups, will more than likely win the meet. So – NI-TRO RE-LAYS ! (clap, clap, clap-clap-clap) NI-TRO RE-LAYS ! (clap, clap, clap-clap-clap)…
LSC Champiosnhip meets: Get familiar with USA Swimming time standards — Specifically A, BB, B time standards. You can find these at www.usaswimming.org and clicking on time standards, then finding the 2009-2012 time standards. They will be grouped in three different categories: Long Course Meters (LCM), Short Course Yards (SCY) and Short Course Meters (SCM). The majority of the meets we swim are LCM in summer and SCY during the school year.
We are following the lead of most LSC’s in the country and going with a “Tiered” Championship meet approach. I will have the exact dates in a few days, but once the new year hits, there will be a “B” Championship meet, and the only swimmers eligible to swim in those events will be those who have a “B” time in that event, but not fast enough to have a BB time in that event. If a swimmer has a “BB” time or faster, they would not be eligible to compete in that event at the “B” Championship meet. Participation in these meets are not mandatory, and we will have other meets where our “B” level swimmers will be able to compete.
About two to three weeks later, there will be a “BB” Championship meet. This meet will be for those who have achieved a BB level time in a particular event. A swimmer who has achieved an “A” time or faster in an event would NOT be eligible to swim that event at the BB Championship meet.
The meet that technically will replace STAGS will be an “A” Championship meet, where “A” times or faster are required to swim in particular events. This will be held BEFORE TAGS during short course season (school year) – typically end of February. This meet will be held AFTER TAGS during Long Course Season, and I believe it will be first week of August 2011. The voting body decided to split up our LSC into a north half and a south half for this meet, and it will be all age groups at this meet together – our 10 & Unders, 11-12, 13-14, and 15-18. So no more splitting up the family, separate meets, driving headaches, etc.
8. Congratulations to Nitro’s own Lauren Davis, who was elected as one of only two swimmers in our entire LSC as an Athlete Rep !!
That’s it for now. When I get exact dates and more details, I will pass them along. Thanks for being part of Nitro ! Coach Mike.
Nitro Swim 