Important Information and Announcements

Web Master

To: South Carolina Swimming

From: Roy Dessloch, General Chair

Re: Important Information and Announcements

 

The South Carolina Swimming Board of Directors met last night and made some decisions that I want to make you aware of:

  1. Our summer Open Water State Championships, Long Course Senior State Championships, and Long Course Age Group State Championships have all been officially cancelled.  We are holding out hope that an Open Water meet can be contested in late September or early October, but that is pending permitting and a lot of other factors.  Stay tuned for news on that.
  2. We passed a policy regarding the sanctioning of meets through the end of 2020.  As most of you know, meets as we have known them are not possible to hold right now.  As of mid-May, USA Swimming is going to allow virtual, dual, or small local meets starting in July.  Of course, this is subject to change at any point in time, so this policy will allow flexibility to clubs to put together competitions that serve the needs of our athletes while practicing best practices for the safety of all.  Here is the policy:

Due to hardship situations created by the Covid-19 Pandemic, the following policies for sanctioning may be in effect for SC Swimming until December 31, 2020.  At that time, the Technical Planning Committee may recommend extension.  

 

In order to host a meet (protected or non-protected) during the following swimming calendar year, Clubs must have a representative (preferably a meet director) attend the Meet Managers Seminar/Workshop on May 31, 2020. 

 

All sanctioned and approved meets, including Non-Bid Meets, must follow the procedures set forth in the SC Policy and Procedures Manual.  

 

From July 1, 2020 through December 31, 2020 NEW non-bid meets, virtual meets and time trials may be sanctioned in accordance with USA Swimming Rules IF the following rules are followed:

  1. The team was present at the Meet Directors Workshop on May 31, 2020.
  2. The team properly submits all required sanctioning materials (application, application fee, and meet referee confirmation) 21 days prior to the first day of the meet. 
  3. The meet is a virtual, dual, meet or time trials. 
  4. The Technical Planning Committee deems it appropriate to grant a late sanction for the meet.  
  5. Meet bids cannot be changed without following existing policies and procedures. 
  6. There will be no deadline for these NEW meets to be published to the website. 

 

The intent of this policy is to encourage safe competition during COVID-19 by: 

  1. Giving clubs relief from the 60-day deadline for meet sanction applications in order to facilitate quick turnarounds during COVID-19 
  2. Waiving fines for late sanctioning for virtual meets, intrasquad meets, dual meets or time trials for the duration of this Hardship Policy 

 

Here are a couple of other important items of information for you as well:

  • We have secured Written Consent from our membership to conduct a virtual House of Delegates meeting to take the place of our postponed April meeting.  This will take place on Sunday, June 7 at 1:00 pm.  We will be holding elections for new officers, taking up legislative items, and conducting business essential to the operation of South Carolina Swimming.  Thank you to everyone who took the time to submit the proper paperwork to make this happen.
  • Chris Wolford has submitted his resignation as our Sports Performance Director.  His final day will be Monday, June 1.  During his three years working with us, he has helped us in many ways become a much stronger and better organization.  Most recently he has spearheaded our response to the COVID-19 crisis and managed our Club and Coach Assistance program which is funneling much needed funds to those in need.  Thank you to Chris for all your service to SCS and best wishes in your new endeavors as CEO of Carolina Aquatics.  I have appointed an ad-hoc committee led by Mike Lane to create an updated job description for the position and to start a national search for a replacement. 

Thank you for your patience and cooperation as we move through these very uncertain times.  If you have any questions, at any time, please feel free to contact me at general.chair@sc-swimming.org.