Of all the USA Swimming Grand Prix competitions, it’s clear the Charlotte Ultraswim tops them in service to the swimmers and the fans. VIP areas, great food, VIP trailers, VIP Gold Medal seating, an aquazone-esque area for fans and sponsors make the Ultraswim an experience everyone can enjoy. Please note, this all started before USA Swimming stepped up at the 2004 US Olympic Trials, creating a true event out of a swimming competition.
The Ultraswim, many years ago, was the Pepsi Open, the first big US-based invitational to bring in television coverage year after year. In the early days it was ABC Sports. Later ESPN came in to cover the meet. Now it’s a Universal Sports show because of USA Swimming’s television deal for coverage of the entire Grand Prix Series.
Over the years Jeff Gaeckle has developed the event, partnering with Ultraswim. It is, perhaps, the best swim meet partnership in swimming, certainly the longest running in the United States outside of the governing body model. Gaeckle has done it by hard work, passion and exceptional management. Also, the volunteer swim parents are unmatched in the Charlotte, North Carolina area.
If you have not studied the Ultraswim model, and you’re a swim meet organizer, you might want to make a trip to the event and see it for yourself. Gaeckle, if you don’t know him already, is a true ambassador of the sport. He wants to see all boats rise. In addition to his attention to Ultraswim, he makes trips to major meets to study how everyone else is doing it, alway striving to learn and share from his experience.
USA Swimming has done a fantastic job at the national level, but, and this is my opinion, it’s going to take a lot of hard work from local hosts, those with boots on the ground, to create impactful and exciting swim meets. YMCA Nationals and the Showcase Classic come to mind when I think of exciting meets at the age group level, and I’m certain there are many others… It is my hope that by 2016, all Grand Prix competitions will be true events all swimmers and fans can rally around. Studying the Ultraswim is a great place to start.
I, Mel Stewart, have two GOLD MEDAL SEATING TICKETS. The first person to find me at the Charlotte Ultraswim, take a picture with me, and then tweet it out @SwimSwamNews #2013Ultraswim, will get the tickets.
Many thanks to SwimMAC Coach David Marsh for hosting this video tour!
You can follow David Marsh on Twitter here.
