USA Swimming has begun to develop guidelines for serving alcohol at senior-level swim meets, according to a draft of meeting minutes from the latest USA Swimming Board of Directors meeting on February 3rd, 2018. They have also opened the door to having alcohol companies as sponsors, again only for senior-level events.
Editor’s note: this meeting happened before Ariana Kukors publicly accused Sean Hutchison of grooming her since she was 12, which reignited questions into USA Swimming’s SafeSport program.
From the minutes:
“Matt Farrell reported that the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Gambling Task Force is working on guidelines for serving alcohol at events, as well as guidelines for alcohol-related sponsors. Mr. Farrell added that the task force will not be making any changes to existing language regarding tobacco and gambling within the Rulebook but may add language regarding marijuana (Attachment 16).”
The motion to approve the task force to continue working on guidelines was approved.
The task force includes Olympic gold medalist Anthony Ervin, USA Swimming marketing executive Matt Farrell, and USA Swimming CEO Tim Hinchey.
The recommended guidelines include restrictions for alcohol on the pool deck or in athlete areas, and athlete seating areas. The committee recommended that alcohol only be served at senior, national-level events and “adult-focused areas of the venue at non senior, national-level events or non-competition events with approval from USA Swimming staff.” Examples of senior, national-level events include the Pro Swim Series, Open Water Nationals, Nationals, Winter Nationals, and the U.S. Olympic Trials.
They also recommended guidelines for alcohol sponsorships, which “should not include the pool deck of any non senior-level national event,” nor should it include any logos on suits, caps, and goggles. The recommended guidelines also recommended that certain alcohol-adjacent companies be allowed sponsorships in all aspects of USA Swimming. Specifically, companies ‘primarily known for being a restaurant that serve(s) alcohol,” with Chili’/s and Applebee’s being examples given, or if “alcohol, liquir, bar, pub, distillery, etc., is not directly referenced in the name of the establishment”, (ex. Springfield Beverage) would not have restrictions if the guidelines were approved.
Besides USA Swimming, this would also allow teams to seek sponsorship from the above-mentioned companies, where they could be promoted on team websites, adult-targeted communications, adult-focused venues and activities.
Team names will still not be allowed to include alcohol references, as has been done with other brands, like Tucson Ford Aquatics in Arizona. Alcohol sponsors will also not be allowed at non-senior, national level events in heat sheets. USA Swimming staff would be allowed to approve exceptions for a “unique or extenuating circumstance.”
The last swim meet I went to had alcohol . It also had a music event at another part of the stadium & both food & drinks & alcohol were available from the shared stalls to anyone 18 & over . A US team was competing & they all made it safely back to the US .
“A shout out to the sponsor of this swim meet….Jack Daniels. Y’all come and get a $5.00 stiff Jack and Coke during the diving.” I’m done. ? lol
April Fools Day isn’t for another two weeks, Braden.
I don’t think you need a committee to work on this issue. If a venue is licensed and sells alcohol on a regular basis then fine it’s no different than any other sport. So summer nationals is in Irvine this year on the grounds of a high school. I can tell you it’s not worth the effort to get this set up from scratch at this location. The first thing the permit requires is the signature of the property owner. I doubt the school district is going to sign off on this. Maybe other locations would work better but what I remember from 2014 is that it’s not that big of an attendance maybe 2000 or so and most are… Read more »
Parent: Go to practice. Listen to your coach.
Coach: This sport will teach you about life lessons. You will learn goal setting. You will learn discipline and the fruit of hard work. You will learn how to handle pressure. You will learn how to be a contributing member of a team. You might have to make sacrifices. And remember, your success depends solely on the choices you make and the effort you put in. If you violate the rules of the team, you will be disciplined. There is absolutely zero tolerance for alcohol use or drugs on this team. If you want to become the best athlete you can be, you will need to stay away from these things.… Read more »
I always enjoyed the timers with their vodka and whatevers while I was officiating. I guess it made those really long summer meets go faster.
First of all I’m not a swimmer.. obviously. However, to catch the attention and bring attraction to the sport, I feel like this a viable move. Easy to tell most people who commented on this forum are parents. To which I would like to say get a grip. Every major sport that brings in money to expand its reach and your to childrens’ tuition is being sponsored by some sort of industry like alcohol. Watch it on your computer or TV if you can’t handle seeing someone with a drink in their hand.
I guess I will start coaching again. Sounds like it will be more fun. Alcohol at meets! What about alcohol at practice?!?!