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Click Here
to read letter from Alaska Swimming about the upcoming changes to
the Alaska swim season and it meets that will start during the
2010-2011 season.
To our Alaskan Swim Families:
Recently, Alaska Swimming held its annual Board of
Directors/House of Delegates meeting. I would like to share some of the
exciting changes for our upcoming 2010-2011 swim
season.
The first big change that parents should be aware of
is that Age Groups will no longer be held in December. We are
encouraging each area to hold their respective annual Championship
Meets the first or second weekend of December. The thought being
that more swimmers will be able to participate in a December
championship with more meets and localized travel. This enhances
their development and motivates them to qualify for a later in the
short course season Age Group Champs meet. It is also a fun meet
for our older swimmers after a very intense High School season and
provides the opportunity for them to mentor our younger
swimmers.
Secondly our age group swimmers will have their
Championship Meet three weeks prior to the start of Northwest Age
Group Sectionals. The thought here is that more swimmers will
qualify for and be in their best competitive condition conveniently
prior to Age Group Sectionals.
Another date change has been made for the Great
Alaska Open so that it is at least three weeks prior to Northwest
Senior Sectional Meet. The reasoning here is the same as for Age
Groups. Dates of these
meets will be set each year after the dates have been selected for
both Senior Sectionals and Age Group Sectionals. Rotation for these
meets will not be changed.
Junior Olympics has also been moved to the last
weekend in April. This gives our swimmers more training time post
sectional meets, lengthens our swim season, and generally avoids
state education testing periods, spring holidays and the many
proms. There is still discussion on the table as to the format of
this meet. Will it be long course or short course or possibly
alternate? Please weigh into this discussion with your team boards
and coaches. We are coming to the realization that future use of
the Bartlett Pool during summers is not necessarily an option as it
may become a seasonal pool.
Other changes are:
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The extension of qualifying periods for state
championship meets to 16 months.
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The creation of our own Alaska Series Meet based off of
the USA Swimming IMX Championship Format. Please encourage your
swimmers to compete in the events selected by USA Swimming so they
can be included in the Alaska Series Meet. The time frame for this
short course yards series is September 1 – August 31. We have
a sponsor for this series from Swim America for 1st,
2nd and 3rd place. Thank you Cindy Pitta! All
tracking is done by our Records Chair through results from every
meet uploaded into SWIMS. Thank you Carolyn
Frey!
At the meeting, we also took time to recognize this
year’s ConocoPhillips 2010 Outstanding Service Award goes to
Greg McDuffie! Thank
you, Greg for your many years of service to Alaska
Swimming.
As you all can see we have made some substantial
changes to Alaska Swimming this year. We are excited and believe
that the impact will be very positive for all of us! Much
preparation, thought and discussion went into this and we hope that
you will enjoy these changes and that your swimmers will be as
excited and passionate about the sport as we all
are!
Thank you!
Ramona Reeves
General Chair ASI
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