USA Swimming, the national governing body for the sport of swimming in the United States, today announced a new virtual competition format for its members, allowing swimmers from across the country to compete against one another from the comfort of their local pool.

The new competition style, which marks the first time USA Swimming has held virtual meets on a national scale, allows swimmers to return to racing while reducing the risks of travel and large gatherings in venues. Athletes who compete in these virtual meets will swim in their local pools and submit their times to USA Swimming just as they would for a traditional meet. These results will then be showcased on a virtual meet leaderboard, in a unique time search database and in a newly designed meet simulator widget on usaswimming.org/times/virtual-offerings/virtual-meet-simulator.

While created to address short term concerns caused by the global pandemic, the virtual competition tool is a long-term investment for the sport that can help bridge the gap between summer league competitors and premium year-round members, and introduce competition to beginner-level club swimmers. The virtual format will allow for both sanctioned and non-sanctioned meets.

For more information on virtual meets, please view the following resources:

• Virtual Meets Flow Chart
• Sanctioned vs. Non-Sanctioned Competitions
• Meet Manager Demo Guide

All training and competition must conform to local, state, and federal public health guidelines. Questions regarding this new format can be directed to virtualmeets@usaswimming.org.

Send in your nomination for the 2020 Phillips 66 Outstanding Service Award!

Below is the form for submitting your nomination for the 2020 Phillips 66 Outstanding Service Award. Each year North Carolina Swimming has the opportunity to select a recipient for this Award.  The award, sponsored by Phillips 66, is presented to a volunteer in each LSC in recognition of service to swimming.  Recipients of the Outstanding Service Award are selected by the LSC and receive the award and an Outstanding Service Award pin.  Please email your completed nomination form to pfrith@mac.com  by August 15, 2020. The winner of the Phillips 66 Service Award will be selected by the Awards committee and announced during the NCS Awards Banquet and at the HOD meeting the weekend of October 3-4.

2020 NCS Phillips 66 Outstanding Service Award Nomination Form

Help recognize those who go above and beyond in their service to the sport of swimming.

Submitting Legislation:

REMINDER:

If you would like to propose legislation for the NCS Fall HOD meeting on Oct 4, 2020, please mark up the existing Rule or By-Law with the proposed wording and submit your proposal to Wayne Shulby  wayne.shulby@gmail.com using the  HOD Legislation Template below.  The deadline for submitting legislation is August 15, 2020.

HOD Legislation Template

* Any legislation submitted for the Spring HOD, which was not held, will be considered at the Fall HOD. There is no need to resubmit that legislation.

When you click the MEET SCHEDULE tab you will notice a new look.  Our meet database software was updated to be compatible with recent web host upgrades. The upgrades promise to improve both speed and website security. Please give Richard Pockat a big “thank you” for his work on this project!

The meet database includes NCS meets from 2007 thru meets bid for the 2020-21 long course season. The new meet schedule has the same information as the previous schedule but in a slightly different format.  The best way to find meets is to use the “Quick Search” box in the upper right-hand corner. 

A season column has been added so that meets can be pulled up by season.  For example, if you would like to view just those meets in the 2020 long course season, you would enter “LC 20” in the search box.  All meets in the 2020 long course season will pull up in reverse chronological order.  To view in chronological order, simply click “Event Start” at the top of the Event Start column. (Note: season codes have been entered only for the most recent seasons: 2019-20 short course (SC 19-20), 2020 long course (LC 20), and 2020-21 short course (SC 20-21).  Season codes will continue to be added as future meets are posted.

If you would like to find a specific meet, the easiest way is to enter the meet year and the host club in the search box.  For example, if you are looking for a Marlins of Raleigh meet from 2019, you would enter “2019 MOR” and all Marlins of Raleigh meets from 2019 would pull up.  Meets can also be pulled up by entering the sanction number in the search box.  Again, the meets will pull up in reverse chronological order but can be reversed by clicking “Event Start” at the top of that column.

Clicking an event under the Events column will pull up a detail view of that event.

Clicking the “EVENTS” title on the upper left side will return you to the entire database.

Additional features are being considered.  In the meantime, please check out the new Meet Schedule.

Several NCS athletes and coaches were named to the 2020 Southern Zone Select Camp. Amy Faulk (SwimMAC), and Kristina Bond (Team Charlotte) were named to the coaching staff. Female athletes representing NCS include: Lily Welsh (TAC Titans), Sofia Plaza (ATOM), Paige Thome (SwimMAC), Nicole Zettel (TAC Titans), and Lily Willis (TAC Titans). Male athletes selected were: Henry Lee (TAC Titans), Ross Noble (YOTA), Andrew Li (TAC Titans), and Max Marrujo (TAC Titans).

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, these camps were pivoted to a virtual format to provide the athletes who’ve earned this distinction a unique learning experience. The sessions, facilitated by James Leath, founder of Unleash the Athlete, are scheduled for Saturday, May 30, and will include discussions on leadership, including navigating change, setting and adapting goals, mental resiliency and character development. Athletes will also attend a virtual panel discussion with current and former National Team athletes, including Kelsi Dahlia, Hannah Moore, Sean Ryan, and Tom Luchsinger.

Congratulations Swimmers and Coaches!

Click here to read the entire USA Swimming article.