Originally published November 16, 2020.
The YMCA of the USA, which is the national resource office for America’s 2,700 YMCAs, has announced the cancelation of both the 2021 YMCA Short Course National Championships next spring, and the 2021 YMCA Long Course National Championships, which would have taken place next summer. Both meets were scheduled for the Greensboro Aquatic Center in Greensboro, North Carolina, which had been contracted to host the YMCA’s 2020 Long Course Nationals, 2021 Short Course Nationals, 2021 Long Course Nationals, 2022 Short Course Nationals, and 2023 Long Course Nationals.
In early March, the YMCA canceled its 2020 Short Course Nationals due to the pandemic; it was the first YMCA swimming championship to be canceled since 1947. Two weeks later, the organization announced it would not be holding its 2020 Long Course Nationals either.
In a letter to its constituents, Y-USA emphasized its priority was to ensure the health and safety of its families. It noted the continued increase in COVID cases across the nation and the fact that we are still awaiting a vaccine as factors that played in its decision.
The 2019 YMCA Short Course Nationals took place in April 2019 in Greensboro with over 1400 swimmers competing. The 2019 YMCA Long Course National Championships were held in July/August at the University of Maryland in College Park, MD.
The Y-USA announcement read:
As the COVID-19 crisis evolves, YMCA of the USA (Y-USA) remains focused on supporting YMCAs through the pandemic and ensuring the health and safety of our Y communities.
Unfortunately, the pandemic continues to impact sports and athletic activities at all levels across the country, including college and professional team events. In light of the continued and unpredictable risk posed by the spread of the COVID-19 virus, Y-USA has made the difficult decision to cancel all national competitive sporting events for 2021, which includes the YMCA Short Course and Long Course National Championships.
We recognize that this is the second time we are sharing what is very disappointing news for the athletes, teams and families who were hopeful that the YMCA Short Course National Championships would be held next year. However, Y-USA made this decision weighing several factors, including the continued increase in COVID cases nationally, the ever-evolving state and local guidelines and restrictions, the anticipated widespread availability of a vaccine or other treatments and guidance from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). At this time we are not in a position to know if we can guarantee the safety and well-being of participants, coaches, spectators and staff at our national sporting events in 2021. We will share updates on 2022 national events as they become available.
We applaud the hard work and dedication of the many athletes – especially those who would compete for the last time at this level – and the coaches of the YMCA competitive swimming community. We are incredibly grateful for the hours of preparation from our dedicated national event planning committee volunteers.
If you have any additional questions about national events, please e-mail [email protected].
Thank you for your understanding as we continue to manage through these unprecedented times.
Sincerely,
YMCA of the USA
Very disappointed in this decision. How are other National meets competing in smaller meets around the country? Swimming is the safest sport right now . This decision only cuts through the heart of those kids (including mine) who will miss Nats again this year. They work hard for so many years to miss the most important meet of their lives!!
why is the swimswam comment section political now?
Now? You must have not been here for the last 9 months….
As we all know, Y Nats are fantastic events, with exciting high-quality swimming. More important, it gives a lot of swimmers who aren’t “elite” or who are unable to make US Open/Winter Nats/Winter Jr. cuts a chance to perform on a national stage and the opportunity for exposure to college swim programs. While I understand and respect the decision, I fear the broader impact this will have, especially for swimmers who have the drive but perhaps not the resources/networks to continue to their development as swimmers, as opportunities continue to diminish in these tough times. For many, Y Nats is “THE meet”, the big goal that they have worked so hard for many years to achieve. And the proverbial rug… Read more »
Our mental heath has been deteriorating since it began, it’s upsetting knowing u can’t do the things u love and ur life goes on as u miss key things in life and u can never get them back
Well said. This is devastating for the kids and the coaches that have been supportive, and relied on, the YMCA National championship meets. May we beat this virus and the YMCA people get to go back to Fort Lauderdale where the meet really belongs!
Complaining in the comment sections gets us nowhere. In general, it only brings in more complaints. There are solutions out there and hopefully YMCA teams will figure out how to run smaller “national-like” meets and keep these kids competing. As pointed out in some of the comments above, USA Swimming meets are much smaller now, but are working.
Our team has been working closely with our YMCA and things have been looking much better for us as we are now able to run our own “closed” meets. This has allowed us to better serve our customers, bring in more YMCA memberships, and build better relationships with our community.
People aren’t going to have time for you if you… Read more »
Shut up
Concise.
It’s a joke btw, coach is way to reasonable for this site
narc
A separate article indicated this was a result of financial struggles.
link?
this article has vanished from SwimSwam….perhaps the YMCA pressured SwimSwam to remove it.
No it hasn’t. It’s right here – https://swimswam.com/insights-ynats-cancellation-tied-to-orgs-broader-financial-struggles/
weird. it was missing for me.
Were you accusing the great SwimSwam of censorship??? How dare you! I’ve never been censored by them.
The Y is a business with a bottom line…just like every club, every university, etc
Restrictions begin to ease around the country in the spring at best…maybe summer, maybe even farther out. Who knows. But going with best case scenario of spring, how long does it take business to begin to recoup some of loses or begin to be able to pay back some loans to remain open (I haven’t seen any more PPP loans coming down the pipe yet)?
Gotta trim fat where fat can be trimmed. It’s sad, but these are the corners we’ve painted ourselves into.
It’s too bad that an appropriate middle ground hasn’t been defined or established yet in all of this. You’re… Read more »
Agreed. Part of the problem on the “fat trimming” is that the very people that are making the cuts are saving their own jobs/salaries, or are unwilling to make the necessary sacrifices, at the expense of programs and vital personnel. This is happening at YMCAs, colleges and also happened at USA Swimming when they basically axed the entire club development department.
Literally happening at my job. Hours slashed, part-timers let go, oh and our boss hasn’t been in the building since April, but he’s still around
I don’t disagree with you at all
I’m just here for the comments!
Ivy League cancels swimming in 2021, Y Nats cancelled in 2021….soon will be the NCAA meet and then the Olympics. Ryan Lochte for Congress!!!!!