United States Aquatic Sports (USAS), the overarching governing body that oversees aquatic sports in the United States, has cancelled their 2020 convention. The event was scheduled for September 22nd-27th, 2020 in Jacksonville, Florida.
In the wake of that decision, USA Swimming has decided to move forward with a virtual convention.
“Many factors have weighed on this decision, namely the overall uncertainty of the circumstances, the likely inability for us to gather safely as a large group or travel across the country, and the effect this ongoing situation has on our ability to plan, coordinate and execute this extensive and interactive in-person assembly,” USAS said in a statement.
The annual convention is a huge annual gathering of stakeholders in swimming, water polo, synchronized swimming, diving, and masters swimming. The convention includes networking events, educational opportunities, and the House of Delegates event that votes on proposals to shape the future of USA Swimming.
USA Swimming says that the virtual event will include, at a minimum, the House of Delegates meeting, legislative action, and the Board of Directors election. USA Swimming says that affected committees are ‘encouraged to reschedule their meetings to best suit their needs.’
The move comes as USA Swimming has already discussed plans to launch its own convention in 2022 independent of the USAS convention. When proposed, USA Swimming says this would allow them to better control meeting space, logistics, schedule, and special events tied to the convention, and would allow them to source the convention location through their partnership with Marriott.
The American Swimming Coaches’ Association (ASCA) previously announced that they too would take their convention virtually. SwimSwam reached out to ASCA last week for comment, but ASCA has not provided that as of publishing.
Much of the state of Florida has begun a gradual reopening, including beginning to reopen restaurant dining rooms at 25% capacity. Duval county has 990 confirmed cases of coronavirus with 19 deaths.
It’s a free country. Do what you want to do. You can’t trust the politicians and media and their narratives.
I’m so upset 😭. I am a athlete who went last year, and met some amazing people. I also learned a lot about how USA Swimmings runs. I’m so sad I can’t now before I go to college. 😭
Our NGB is trying to find college facilities to host meets in August, but we cannot meet at the end of September? I understand making a decision for the safety and health of others, but why are we making a decision on something that is nearly 5 months away?
Convention is a lot of work on the staff, but the dialogs during Convention are critical leading into voting at the House of Delegates or electing new Board Members. Hopefully our elected Board of Directors will look into hosting something independent of the other aquatic disciplines.
There’s a lot more money at stake with the convention if it winds up not working. I’d guess that’s the primary reason.
The regional meets are also designed to be driveable for most people, whereas the convention will require a lot more people to fly.
I can think of a few other reasons (including demographics of attendees and vulnerable populations, and the relative viability of virtual events), but I don’t get the sense that you’d accept those.
I would understand if the decision was made 3 months out. I think May 1 is too early to make a decision on something almost 5 months away.
Think $350M hotel cancellation fee after May 1.
Guessing most teams and LSC’s are not going to be in a financial position to pay for flights, hotel, etc. I would guess most teams will be looking to use money to keep their teams afloat and coaches on payroll.
I understand that financials or contracts could be a concern, but if that’s the case, communicate that. This was USA Swimming’s statement in the email that went to membership- “We support this very difficult decision and agree that this is in the best interest of the health and safety of our members and all those scheduled to attend Convention.”
USA-S makes their 4 Year budget on the revenue from Olympic year probably was another key factor. I think 2021 is last year USA-S participates with Us aquatics and then separate usa-s meeting