In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the aquatic community, USA Swimming is pushing a different model of competition for events sanctioned by the governing body for swimming in the United States – USA Swimming Virtual Meets.
The idea is not new, and was used for years under the guise of “postal meets,” but with the need to socially distance and limit the size of crowds, these meets are coming back into focus. Postal meets are still held in some places, including for some US Masters Swimming National Championship events, but are not as common as they once were.
Virtual meets allow club teams to swim locally, but to compete against other teams within their own Local Swimming Committee (LSC).
The guidelines also include instructions for how to set up virtual meets in the Meet Manager software that is used to run most swim meets in the United States.
Although these meets will be held “virtually,” they must meet some requirements.
While these meets can extend through various sessions, they must all be held as a single event. Different swim teams can partake in the meet while essentially swimming as intrasquad meets with results being combined to score meets, similar to the old postal meet system (though, more commonly now this won’t be done through the actual postal service).
USA Swimming has suggested that a host team be determined, with responsibilities extending from developing meet announcements, establishing an order of events, or merging the results from different intrasquad or smaller site meets for scoring purposes.
The new project would also allow for different LSCs to virtually swim against each other. A team would still host the event and be responsible for duties such as results management.
We reported that after it extended its moratorium on sanctioned events through April 30 last month, USA Swimming is now saying it will not sanction any events until at least May 31 and revoke any existing sanctions through that date in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
While USA Swimming has limited powers to forbid meets from happening, they can refuse to approve, sanction, or accept the times from such meets.
The new trial, if proven to be successful, could change the landscape of both high school and collegiate swimming for this forthcoming 2020-2021 season.
According to the website worldometers.info, the United States stands first in the world in terms of total cases associated with COVID-19 as they have reported a total of 987,100 infections and 55,412 deaths. Another 118,779 have reportedly recovered from the virus.
None of us know when (or if) the pools will open to swim teams this summer, let alone when swim meets will resume. In the big picture the most important thing is balancing keeping everyone healthy (both mentally and physically), and making sure all the schools open in the fall. With the Federal guidelines of no gathering of 50 or more people all in one location, I would not be surprised to see “real” age group meets cancelled until the fall (October). In my own house and for my college swimmer, I see them starting to lose their motivation for pushing themselves in daily workouts, they miss routine. Zoom workouts are great, but my kids miss seeing their friends every… Read more »
It’s not right. A for effort. To many kids are being hurt by these stay at home orders. Why hurt them more by doing virtual swim meets. If people are afraid to be around other people stay home don’t go. I think I know what is good for my sons well being.
I don’t think you know what is good for the rest of the world that has to interact with you and your son.
i mean its a virtual meet or no meet at all. pretty clear choice
If you think about it, the Eddie Reese “suit up and race at practice” thing was ahead of it’s time. Make those type of swims count. Put the pads in, get the timing system setup and get an official on deck. Create some ideal racing situations, with regards to warm-up/warm-down…
Race when you’re ready. It’s a new world. Let’s go!
This will be great for clubs to start making money again, but let’s be honest this is not swimming. The excitement of watching kids race will be lost. How much fun is waiting for results to be loaded from each location and then have to look on a computer?
not really any different than checking rankings every week to see how other teams around the state are doing who you didn’t race
I dont have any answers but going forward with these virtual swim meets will be very unfair as some smaller teams facilities are just not optimal for racing. Sure some facilities are state of the art – great blocks…deep… “fast pools”. Some are 6 lane tiny no window dungeons. Some teams won’t have a shot in any real cuts. 😞
Racing is racing, I’d swim in a wave pool just to get back in the water and compete again.
Not fair!? Well, I guess you could just not swim at all and then you still wouldn’t have to worry about any real cuts.
I agree that pools can be faster than others due to size and available funding, but I think that the sport has taken a more communal turn while we are all apart from each other, so cuts don’t really stand out during the pandemic as much as the actual competition:)
One of the biggest issues in any meet situation is the amount of people in close proximity on the deck and/or in the facility. While you can reduce the need for timers by having the swimmer in the next heat time, has there been any discussion as to reducing the number of officials required for the meet to be recognized as having “official” times?
The minimum number of official positions for a meet is four (4) which can be filled by three (3) people if the starter rotates from starting to stroke & turn. I do not advocate hosting a meet with that little coverage, but it can be done and still considered legit according to current rules.
PS – I meant wet-side officials.
Good to see them attempting to move forward.