North Carolina Swimming has been authorized by USA Swimming to issue the sanction or approval of all swimming competition within its geographic boundaries, except that USA Swimming shall sanction national swimming competitions.
Sanctioned Meets – Approved Meets – Observed Meets
North Carolina Swimming issues three types of permits based on the membership status of participants and rules governing the meet. They are:
SANCTION – a permit issued by an LSC to a USA Swimming group member to conduct a meet in conformance wit all USA Swimming rules in which all participating swimmer are athlete members of USA Swimming, except as provided in Article 202.5.1.
APPROVAL – a permit issued by an LSC for meets conducted in conformance with USA Swimming technical rules in which both members and non-members may compete.
OBSERVED SWIM – a swim observed by assigned USA Swimming officials for conformance with the USA Swimming technical rules in a meet conducted under other than USA Swimming rules.
Requirements for a meet sanction, a meet approval, and an observed swim can be found in Article 202 of the USA Swimming Rule Book. Article 202.7 addresses specific requirements for NCAA approved meets.
Requests for Sanctioned Meets and Approved Meets
Requests for meet sanctions and meet approvals are outlined in Article 204.3 of the North Carolina Swimming Rule Book. USA Swimming authorizes meet approvals for YMCA-affiliated clubs hosting CLOSED – YMCA only competitions. Approvals can also be issued to non-member clubs or organizations for competition under USA Swimming Rules (i.e. State Games, Black Heritage Meet). For a USA Swimming member club (including YMCA member clubs) to host an approved OPEN competition (rather than a sanctioned meet), Form D must be submitted and approved by the NCS Sanctioning chair and then approved by USA Swimming.
APPROVED MEET REQUEST – FORM D (not needed for Closed YMCA member only meets)
Requests for Observed Meets
North Carolina Swimming authorizes certain USA Masters meets and High School Regional and Championship meets.
OBSERVED MEET REQUEST – Form A (non-championship meets)
OBSERVED MEET REQUEST – Form B (championship meets)
Requests for Open Water Sanctions and Approvals
Applicants for sanction or approval of an open water competition shall complete the application for approval by USA Swimming. Before an open water competition is approved by the LSC, the LSC sanction officer shall submit the completed sanction/approval packet to USA Swimming for review and approval.
