NCS is hosting a swim clinic for students with disabilities Sunday April 7, 2024 in Raleigh, NC. If you have swimmers who may be interested they need to contact NCS Disability Chair – Colleen Gillan for more information. Email: csgillan9@gmail.com
USA Paralympic Clinics
Meet Officials:
Below are two flyers for virtual clinics scheduled by U.S. Paralympics Swimming in February. The first clinic is targeted towards Athletes, Coaches and Parents and the second clinic will be targeted towards coaching a Para Swimmer. Click below to view the PDFs with live registration links.
Para Coaching Clinic
Disability Swimmer Award Nomination Form
The Amazing Grace Award is in honor of Grace Bunke. Grace was a most gifted young lady, friendly to all and full of cheer in spite of her battle with cancer. She never gave up on anything, in the pool or out of it. The Amazing Grace Award recognizes a developing athlete with these same qualities.
Please use the form below to nominate a potential recipient of the 2019 Amazing Grace Award. The award will be presented at the 2019 U.S. Paralympics Swimming National Championships in Lewisville , TX . The nomination deadline will be November 30th, 2019.
Amazing Grace Award Nomination Form
Thank you,
Erin Popovich | Assoc. Dir., Para Swimming Sport Ops
United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee
1 Olympic Plaza
Colorado Springs , Colorado 80909
+1 719-866-2084[o] +1 719-238-9580[m] 719-866-2029[f]
Fred Lamback Disability Meet
Click the link below for information on the Fred Lamback Disability meet at the Augusta Aquatic Center in Augusta, Georgia on Oct 12-13, 2019.
July Can Ams cancelled
July
Can Ams cancelled as Para-swimming program evolves
Swimming Canada and U.S.
Paralympics Swimming have cancelled the upcoming Can Am Para-swimming
Championships in light of the rescheduling of the World Para Swimming
Championships.
The Can Ams were originally set for July 12-14 in Vancouver, just before the
previously scheduled world championships. Malaysia was stripped of the world
championships hosting rights after the Malaysian government failed to provide
the International Paralympic Committee with the necessary guarantees that
Israeli Para-swimmers could participate safely and free from discrimination.
World Para Swimming announced last week that London would host, with the dates
pushed back to Sept. 9-15.
“With the worlds being stripped from Malaysia, moved to London, and rescheduled
for September, the July Can Ams were no longer a fit for our athletes’ training
schedules,” said Wayne Lomas, Swimming Canada’s Associate High Performance
Director. “This significant change in the international calendar necessitated a
change in our domestic programming for Team Canada and our partners with U.S.
Paralympics.”
Canada’s teams for worlds, as well as the Parapan Am Games set for Aug.
23-Sept. 1 in Lima, Peru, will now target the Canadian Swimming Championships
as a tune-up opportunity. That fully integrated championship meet is set for
Aug. 8-11 in Winnipeg.
“Having a major domestic championships meet in close proximity to both the
Parapan Ams and world championships means that all 31 of Canada’s swimmers who
will represent us this summer will compete at the last meet of the domestic
year, offering swimmers and their coaches an important practice run before the
major events,” Lomas said.
Swimming Canada will continue to evaluate the role of the Can Ams, a series of
meets for Para-swimmers hosted in partnership with U.S. Paralympics Swimming.
These meets have provided high-level competition opportunities for Canadian and
American Para-swimmers, and attracted other international competitors. One of
the Can Am meets formerly served as the main selection meet for that year’s
major international competition, but Swimming Canada replaced this function in
2016 with full integrated Trials for its Olympic and Paralympic program teams.
Paralympic Swimming Clinics
Dear Coach,
Do you have any para-swimmers on your team or know of any in your area? If so, please check out the flyer below.
My name is Peggy Ewald and I am a consultant for U.S. Paralympics Swimming. My mission with U.S. Paralympics focuses on connecting, educating and recruiting more Para-Swimmers and Coaches.
As you are aware, Team USA had an amazing year at the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games. Over the remainder of the quad, many opportunities for student athletes with physical, cognitive or visual impairments will open up at every level of sport.
I will be conducting a FREE clinic on Sunday, March 24 for para-swimmers, coaches, and parents. More details on this clinic and future clinics can be found below. Please pass along the information to anyone you feel may be interested.
Intro Clinic Findlay, OH March 24, 2019
Intro Clinic Towson, MD May 5, 2019
Intro Clinic Huntsville, AL Aug 17. 2019
Intro Clinic Fresno, CA Sept 8, 2019
I look forward to sharing what I have learned from being a part of the Team USA staff at the Beijing , London and Rio Paralympic Games!
U.S. Paralympics Swimming Officials Newsletter
Swim Meets
Officials who are looking for swim competitions conducted under the WPS rules, the calendar for 2019 is currently as follows:
Indianapolis WPS World Series , IN April 4-6
Bill Keating Jr. Memorial, OH May 11-12
Jimmi Flowers, CO June 1-2
Fred Lamback , GA Oct 18-20
Ithaca Nov 1-3
California Classic, CA TBD
2019 U.S. Paralympics Nationals December (TBD)
The applications to officiate for these meets will be posted before the end of January on the U.S. Paralympics Swimming Events page at: https://www.teamusa.org/US-Paralympics/Sports/Swimming/Events
Officials Uniform
2019 will be a transition year on the officials deck uniform. The meets associated with U.S. Paralympics swimming will now consist of a White Polo Shirt, Black pants/skirts and black shoes and socks. If a belt is worn with the pants/skirt, then that should also be black.
For meets below the National level , 2019 will be a transition year and officials will be given the choice to wear Navy Blue or Black bottoms as these appear similar from a distance and, depending on their LSC uniform, some officials may have purchased this color specifically for U.S. Paralympics Swimming meets, but the shoes and socks will change to black immediately. For the National Championship and World Series meets hosted in the U.S., the black bottoms and shoes uniform is effective immediately.
Regional Officials Coordinators (ROC’s)
When we introduced the ROC’s in 2016 to provide a more regional focal point and facilitate communication with the officials, we envisaged that nominations would be called for each November with elections and appointments following in December. As our existing ROC’s (Doug Griswold – Eastern, Char Sorensen – Western, Susan Mechler – Central and Glenda Orth – Southern) assumed their roles and help define the expectations and the requirements for these positions, it became obvious that the original premises could be improved upon.
Moving forward the ROC nomination, election and appointments will now be made every odd year and the appointment will be for a two year term. This will give the officials appointed time to settle into the role as they fulfill their requirements without having a steep learning curve repeated every year.
U.S. Paralympics Swimming Officials Certification Courses
The U.S. Paralympics Swimming Officials Certification course is currently scheduled to be held at the following competitions:
Bill Keating Jr. Memorial, OH May 11-12
Jimmi Flowers, CO June 1-2
Fred Lamback , GA Oct 18-20
California Classic, CA TBD
If you are wishing to obtain/renew your certifications, the application for the course will be included on the Application to Officiate on the web for each of these competitions. If you know of anyone interested in attending this course, please pass this information on to them.
USA Swimming Disability Time Standards
Below are two documents associated with Disability Swimming Time Standards created by the USA Swimming National Disability Committee. The first explains the standards and the second lists the time standards.
Paralympic Swimming Clinic
I will be conducting a clinic at the ASCA World Clinic titled Advanced Para Swimming and speaking on the Business Track on why we should offer para-swimming opportunities in club, high school and collegiate swimming. Please pass along the flyer if you know anyone who would benefit from attending.
My mission with U.S. Paralympics is to grow awareness of para-swimming and facilitate advancement of both coaches and athletes in the para-swimming world.
We are looking for para-swimmers. You may have one in your club or in the surrounding area, if so, please let me know and I will reach out to them or feel free to provide my contact info to them,
Thank you in advance for helping us grow the para-swimming world!
Peggy Ewald
Consultant for U.S. Paralympics Swimming
Cell: 330-903-0566