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Table of Contents
Rec. League meets vs. USA Swim meets, what's the difference?Rec leagues meets are all in Bloomington-Normal (in June and July), and are not sanctioned by USA swimming. Our local league is officially called the Twin Cities Swim Conference (TCSC). The TCSC meets have a standard order of events (80 events) but the distances are shorter. In rec league, the 9-10 year-olds swim 25’s (not 50’s) as they do in USA Meets. There are only five individual events offered in rec league with the 100IM being the longest event for all ages. USA Meets offer a wider range of events including long distance events including the 200IM, 500 Free (which lots of our 12 & unders will swim) and the 1650 (mile).
While Rec league meets have a standard order of events, the USA Meets have a variation of the events, and the host team sets the events and the order in which they will be swum. Also, there is not a 6 & under division, so the 6 & unders compete in the 8 & under age group. At USA Meets, swimmers compete in their respective age groups. Typically, you will swim in a heat with swimmers who have a time close to yours. The heats usually run slowest to fastest. Depending on the host team’s facility, there could be as many as 5-15 heats per events. Rec league meets only allow for three heats, and only one heat of the 100IM. Rec league meets are usually between 3-4 hours, but USA Meets are conducted over a 2 ½ day period. (Friday night; all day Saturday, and all day Sunday.) Of course, you do not have to sign-up to attend all of the days at a USA meet. · All USA meets use the Colorado Touch Pads timing equipment so the times are more accurate than watch times. Watch times are used only as the third back up source, but still are important. · USA Meets have certified officials, and only USA certified coaches and officials can be on the pool deck during the meets. No parents allowed. In some meets, the team is allowed to ‘camp out’ on the pool deck during the meet, and the parents are upstairs in the bleacher/stands. Some meets offer an adjacent gym for swimmers and families. · In a USA Meets you will get DQ’d if your stroke is NOT legal. There are no exceptions, like there are in the TCSC. Typically our coaches will not enter you in an event if your stroke is not legal in practice. Getting DQ’d is a part of the learning curve, and should not be considered a negative. If there is a DQ on deck, the USA Official must raise their hand, and typically, they inform the swimmer (or the coach) after the race. They also turn in a DQ slip to the scoring table, so there is no question as to the specific violation. The most common DQ for beginners is during the breaststroke races. Officials are highly trained, and do not enjoy DQing swimmers, so please support them. It will help your swimmer in the long run. · We are part of Illinois Swimming and you can refer to their website for information on time standards, meets, etc. Their website is www.ilswim.org · USA swimming has two seasons: Short Course where all of the meets are in a 25-yard pool (Fall thru mid March), and Long Course which begins after Short Course and continues through the end of July. Long Course Meets are all in a 50-meter pool, which we do not have in our community. Unfortunately travel is required. · The coaches typically determine which events swimmers are ready for, so you do not have to choose. The entries for the USA Meets is done on-line through our website. If you have preferences, please indicate in the comment section or talk to our meet entry coach who facilitates the entries. We will post the meet packets when they become available so you have all the meet details. Host teams can change the events and order of events, so we have to wait to see the meet packet to determine which events are on what days, etc. Often 8 & unders boys and girls, and 9-10’s swim in the morning, but that CAN vary. · Awards also can vary according to the meet. Some meets offer ribbons or medals for the Top 6 or 12 in various categories. You DO NOT get a ribbon for every event you swim like you do at Rec League Meets. · We usually have to submit the entries about 45 days in advance of the USA meet, and once you entered, you are responsible for the fees, even if you get sick, etc. and cannot attend. The USA Meets have a timeline they are to maintain and will only accept a certain amount of entries. If you cancel, you were already figured in their timeline, and they are not going to send out small refunds. We know from hosting meets, all the edits cause an incredible amount of work anyway. · Most USA Meets are 3-day meets, with Friday evenings having the long distance events. Most swimmers in Developmental and Bronze typically enter Saturday and Sunday only. And, you can just enter one day. There are meet entry fees, typically $3.00 per event and $1.75 per relay, and a $2.00 surcharge. · There are deadlines to enter USA Meets. Some meets fill up the first day, so we need to submit our entries early. We do not run the meet (like Rec League) and cannot get swimmers entered after their deadline. · The Long Course Meet schedule will not be available until the Short Course season ends. Long Course season run from late April thru the end of July, so during June and July some swimmers are competing in long course and TCSC meets. · We typically only enter 1-2 USA Meets per month. We need lots of practice to prepare for USA meets and coaches often prefer about three weeks in-between USA meets. When some swimmers only attend practice 3x/week (for example) that does not give us a lot of time to prepare their body to drop time. 3-day USA Meets are draining on a swimmer’s body. It usually takes a little time to recover from those meets. Back to TopWhat is the difference between long course and short course USA season?The Long Course season starts in the Spring (after Short Course Yards --SCY) and continues until the beginning of August. Long Course is 'meters' and is referred to as "LCM" in the time standards. The LCM season also has a championship season (like SCY), and those meets are posted on the Illinois Swimming website. Long course meets are swum in a 50 meter pool, which is approximately 55 yards. Therefore, there are NO 25 yard events, and the shortest events are all 50 meters. Unfortunately, our community does not have a 50meter pool, so those meets are travel. Facilities who have a 50m pool, typically divide their pool into 2...25-yard pools during the short course season. RKSA competes in both Rec League and Long Course meets in the summer, which can be confusing. However, rec league meets are not certified Illinois Swimming/USA meets. Training for long course is the most challenging and requires the highest level of commitment, but is also considered the highest level of swimming. Back to TopWhen will my child move up to the next level?The first consideration is if the swimmer can achieve the time standards for that training group. Those standards are posted on the website under the specific group. For example, one requirement for Bronze, is all strokes must be 'legal' so if a swimmer cannot be legal in a meet, they need to work that through before being considered. Age, behavior, and 'times' are also factors that are taken into consideration for all the training groups. The second issue is space. Is there space to move up? No one wants 7 swimmers in a lane, including swimmers who may want to move up. Quality is always an issue. Back to TopWhen and where do we pick up our ribbons from the rec. league meets?You pick up your ribbons at the first practice following the meet. The
ribbons will be in your bin. Please do not try and pick them up from the
awards table. Sometimes the people doing awards need to go back and change
things on the ribbons. If you pick them up, then they will not be there for
the awards people to correct. So, please pick them up at practice. Thank
you. Back to TopWhen and why do swimmers get stars in the summer?BNSC awards stars (this year red) for best times obtain by Developmental
and Bronze groups after each rec. meet. Based on the time improvement
report, any Developmental and Bronze swimmer who had not swam an event
before and obtained a new time or dropped time from a previous swim had a
best time. If a swimmer was DQ'd or had a No Swim, there is no star award.
On the envelope found in your folder, it will state the meet and number of
stars achieved for each meet. You may sew these stars on the BNSC summer
rec. team shirt or use them in another fun way.
No stars are given for Bloomington Park's meet at O'Neil park, since it is a
25 meter pool. Back to TopLong Course vs. Rec League? Does long course refer to my swimmer?All new swimmers to the team begin in our summer rec. league which is a program that begins in early June and continues through the end of July with the Conference Championship. Everyone participates in rec. league, however, some of the more experienced swimmers also compete in USA swim meets during the summer, and all of those competitions are held in a 50 Meter pool, which we do not have in Blm-Normal. Once, fall begins, the 50 meter long course season is over, and we'll resume with the standard USA Short Course season which is all done in 25 yard pools. We hope all of our summer swimmers will continue with the team and participate in USA swimming competition which begin in the Fall and continue through March. And, competitions usually are once a month, unlike rec. league. It takes a huge commitment on our part to offer both rec. league and USA swimming during the summer months, but it is a service we feel is important. Back to TopBack to Top |
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