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USA Swimming Suspends Sanctions Through June 30, Outlines Return to Competition

USA Swimming announced will not grant event sanctions through June 30, but outlined a “framework” for a “three-month recommended roadmap for a safer return to competition” in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, in a release Friday.

“This conceptual plan, based on the current health environment, encourages fostering competition in practice in June; the prospect of intra-squad, virtual meets, and small community-based dual meets in July; and regionally based competition in August,” the release says. It adds the moratorium on meet sanction through June is intended to be the “final prohibition,” unless there is an adverse change in circumstances.

In April, the organization said it wouldn’t sanction meets through at least May 31.

In Friday’s release, USA Swimming stresses that “above all,” steps within their recommended strategy require compliance with local, state, and federal public health guidelines.

The framework states that the focus of June should be returning to practice, where it’s allowed. “When your athletes are ready, we encourage fostering competition in practice, making racing a fun part of your return to the pool plan,” the release says.

According to the recommendations, the goal for July is returning to small sanctioned competitions, including intrasquad and virtual meets, and potentially, “community-based” dual meets.

Finally, the plan says that USA Swimming is still targeting August for a regionally based series of non-championship meets. “We know there are still several challenges to be overcome to make these meets a reality, but as with our LSCs, we must all have a Plan B and a Plan C for competitions this summer,” the release says.

USA Swimming‘s plan comes as a handful of states are allowing pools to reopen, with social distancing restrictions, allowing some team to get their athletes back in the water.

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Guerra
4 years ago

Why is USA Swimming making a blanket policy and holding back dues paying memberships in the states that have logical leadership and haven’t succumbed to the crazy, panicked and illogical thinking that has unnecessarily compromised our way of life???

HISWIMCOACH
Reply to  Guerra
4 years ago

USA Swimming only understands CYA policy, not common sense.we live in a time where liability drives all policy, very sad

Guerra
Reply to  HISWIMCOACH
4 years ago

Yeah, they don’t even do a good job of cya most of the time, either. I guess they’re planning on making massive stimulus payments to the clubs and coaches they’re idiot policies are affecting… Also, I wonder when clubs fold, membership drops and coaches lose their jobs if it’s even going to affect their spending on unnecessary and overpaid staff at headquarters??? I doubt it!

HISWIMCOACH
4 years ago

Which Public health experts and epidemiologists are they listening to? The ones in Georgia or the ones in Taiwan or the ones in California? There is hardly full agreement from all public health experts.

Ol' Longhorn
Reply to  HISWIMCOACH
4 years ago

The public health experts in Georgia would be the CDC, which definitely wasn’t on board with reopening the state. But hey, Dr. Oz and unlicensed Dr. Phil play public health experts on TV, so go with them.

HISWIMCOACH
Reply to  Ol' Longhorn
4 years ago

How did reopening work out for them in Georgia? They seem to be doing much better than the locked down states.

Swimmom
4 years ago

http://chng.it/Nz5Qq85d

Please help save swimming in Maryland

Will 37
4 years ago

Thank you Headtimer. People are way too focused on secondary resources.

HISWIMCOACH
4 years ago

Colorado state health officials are being challenged by a county coroner for saying that a man who tested positive for the coronavirus succumbed to the deadly infection when an investigation showed he had literally drunk himself to death.

Montezuma County Coroner George Deavers conducted an investigation that determined Sebastian Yellow, 35, had died of acute alcohol poisoning after his blood alcohol content came back at .55. That’s about seven times the legal limit.

Colorado just revised their death toll down by 300 today.

Start asking questions

Texas Forever
Reply to  HISWIMCOACH
4 years ago

Or just follow the money.

Swimfan
Reply to  HISWIMCOACH
4 years ago

This is not the place for your conspiracy spreading. Your comment has absolutely nothing to do with the article or discussion at hand.

Irish Ringer
Reply to  Swimfan
4 years ago

Not sure it’s a conspiracy if you take him at his word. There have been reports of people simply having a symptom of covid-19 being added to the death toll without actually have tested them to verify if they had it.

HSSWIMCOACH’s comments may not agree with you, but almost all these comments are related to covid-19 and whether or not it’s safe to return. BTW, the news article below supporting his statement if you are interested:
https://durangoherald.com/articles/324539

HISWIMCOACH
Reply to  Swimfan
4 years ago

When the article at hand deals with cancelling competitions for another month because of a public health crisis, reporting news about the public health crisis hardly seems like a conspiracy.

There are plenty who have come over here over the last couple of months saying how irresponsible holding swim practice or meets would be and that it would cause many to die (based on opinion, not fact).

Corn Pop
Reply to  HISWIMCOACH
4 years ago

Fantastic news. 300 no longer dead .

Ol' Longhorn
Reply to  HISWIMCOACH
4 years ago

“It’s just the flu.” smh

Irish Ringer
Reply to  Ol' Longhorn
4 years ago

It’s not the flu, but there are similarities in that they are both transmitted by respiratory droplets and have similar symptoms of fever, coughing and fatigue. We’ve actually had much higher infection rates of the flu, but on the other had it’s widely disputed as to which one is more deadly. We’ll know when it’s all said and done, but until then feel free to stay inside. As far as I know nobody is being dragged out of their home and forced into public situations.

Ol' Longhorn
Reply to  Irish Ringer
4 years ago

Flu, vaccine. COVID-19 no vaccine. We don’t even know if antibody positivity confers immunity. Start there with your “similarities”.

HISWIMCOACH
Reply to  Ol' Longhorn
4 years ago

It’s way less deadly than the flu for those 60 and under. It’s way more than the flu if you live in a nursing home … and yes, I question some of the stats.

The USA, with 4% of the worlds population has about 28% of the worlds deaths. Maybe our policy in dealing with covid is truly that awful or maybe there are huge death coding differences from country to country.

Pvdh
Reply to  HISWIMCOACH
4 years ago

Funny what we start believing when we get a little uncomfortable

Ol' Longhorn
Reply to  HISWIMCOACH
4 years ago

Okay. Now do this for the other 83,000.

10U DAD
4 years ago

Hopefully those people who have personal health concerns and need continued self quarantining will not bully the parents who see that healthy kids are unaffected by this virus. Kids have had their lives destroyed, despite their apparent immunity. People should be allowed to make their own health decisions about quarantining and exercising, just like so many people who have been given the freedom to make their own health decisions about smoking, drinking, and eating junk food.

Swim mom
Reply to  10U DAD
4 years ago

A) Nobody, not even children, are immune to this corona virus, unless they have already contracted the virus and have developed antibodies for it. It’s a “novel” virus.
B) Children and healthy people are not only themselves at risk of contracting the virus, but perhaps pose as a greater risk in their community as a silent spreader, carrying & spreading the virus w/o symptoms themselves.
C) Your smoking, drinking and eating junk food are not contagious, let alone highly contagious.
D) Looks like you are a 10&U parent? I bet your kid is a resilient little dude/dudette and, as a mom of 2 college swimmers, I hope that a few months out of the pool won’t destroy… Read more »

10U DAD
Reply to  Swim mom
4 years ago

Swim Mom, I always respect your feedback and yes this time out of the pool has been very hard for our tiger. I’m trying to see the situation objectively but I’m not seeing any data showing widespread deaths & hospitalizations of children or young adults. I follow the Covid Tracking Project and the CDC for data. I totally understand the contagion factor, which is why I am supporting all people who feel they need more time to quarantine and to screen who enters their home. The criticism of my smoking and drinking analogy may be fair – admittedly. I’m so confused with some of the contradictions. According to the CDC, 480,000 people die from smoking every single year in this… Read more »

RenéDescartes
Reply to  10U DAD
4 years ago

Yes people die from smoking and people die from car accidents. The difference is that neither one of those are contagious. Second-hand smoke is really bad for you.

Swimmer
Reply to  10U DAD
4 years ago

Swim Dad – avid avid avid swimmer coach and parent here. I’ve swum coached parented all levels of the sport, and I mean ALL. 10u swimmer will be just fine. He/she probably shouldn’t be swimming 11-12 months out of the year any way. Hope they picked up a new interest or hobby during this forced break. They will return to the sport they love when given the chance. Deep Breath. They will be fine. .

Will 37
Reply to  10U DAD
4 years ago

Yes, young adults and children has low numbers in confirmed cases, and extremely low in death rates. However, they can still get the virus. To put in easy words, they can spread it, whether they show symptoms or not. You can search the social experiment done by the Japanese on youtube to learn how anyone can spread it.

Texas Dad
Reply to  Will 37
4 years ago

That would be .0025% Of the cases are 18 & under and six deaths. The ‘Karen’s ‘ will wear us down. Just get back in pool and move forward with precautions. I sense about Nov 4 the blue states will open up

Swim mom
Reply to  10U DAD
4 years ago

U10 Dad, I think many of us are in your shoes, frustrated and overwhelmed trying to discern the expert voices through the noise. We all want the pools to open, to get back to work/school, and to see our friends & family again. We share those common goals.

This virus & sheltering has been devastating for many families and the swim community for sure. But the silver lining finds parents like you and me with this precious time to reconnect with our kids 10yrs-old or 20yrs-old and to help them find opportunities to explore new pathways and to find new talents before we all inevitably settle back into a new normal of work, school and yeah swim practice. The road… Read more »

Swim mom
Reply to  10U DAD
4 years ago

Agree. New real numbers are coming out. The rare illness in children MAY be to corona but not verified. Each year children have a rare virus pop up that drs. Can’t treat.

Math Magician
Reply to  Swim mom
4 years ago

Seems your point A may be incorrect. Having contracted the virus does not guarantee your future immunity.

Sailors on sidelined USS Theodore Roosevelt get virus for second time – NBC News

Admin
Reply to  Math Magician
4 years ago

On the other hand, there’s lots of evidence that there is immunity from reinfection – https://www.kpbs.org/news/2020/may/15/coronavirus-patients-recovery-immunity-likely/

So, it’s up to the doctors and scientists to determine what the difference between the above PBS report and the NBC News report are.

swimgeek
Reply to  Math Magician
4 years ago

Every one of these “person got covid a 2nd time” stories has turned out to be false. Even that NBC story you cite said it might have been testing error. Although there is admittedly still info we don’t know, the very broad consensus is that covid is “one and done” as with almost all viruses. BTW – a vaccine also relies on the fact that you can’t get it again. If you really could get covid a 2nd time, then “waiting for a vaccine” would be pointless.

Deborah Burnham
Reply to  Swim mom
4 years ago

Navy personnel on quarantined ship are getting it AGAIN!

Brol
Reply to  10U DAD
4 years ago

“ Kids have had their lives destroyed “ This sounds a little dramatic. I get it that kids’ lives have been affected. My son is a HS senior- no HS swim season, no graduation, not sure what college will look like in the fall. It really sucks. My son is taking it in stride. He’s a little bummed but he would hardly say his life is destroyed.
Individual decisions now don’t just affect one’s own personal health but may impact public health. Your comparison to other personal health decisions is not really accurate.
Smoking – banned in restaurants, buildings, public transportation because second hand smoke affects those around you
Drinking – while driving is illegal because this can affect others

Betty
Reply to  10U DAD
4 years ago

True story: I happened to have another browser tab open for an article I’ve been reading on Cambodia’s Killing Fields during the 1970s. When I read the “kids having their lives destroyed” comment, I had to double check to make sure the comment was about summer swimming and not the Khmer Rouge.

MarkB
Reply to  Betty
4 years ago

Hear, hear!! Nice perspective!!

Walter
Reply to  Betty
4 years ago

Exactly. We need some perspective on this. No one has been in a concentration camp or the Killing Fields.

Swim&PoloDad
Reply to  Walter
4 years ago

Correct. But then again, unelected county health directors are holding millions hostage against their will.

Please and thank you
Reply to  Swim&PoloDad
4 years ago

People are being held hostage against their will? Yikes.

MD swimdad
Reply to  10U DAD
4 years ago

Good for USA Swimming. Let’s hope they stick to it and help pull the slow to follow states along. Destroying lives is an overstatement but if you have a fast improving rising 10th to 12th grade swimmer who dreams of swimming in a high level college program this delay is not helping them and if it goes into the SCY season it will be much worse. And for what? The curve was flattened. The virus isn’t going away. We have many studies that tell us about the virus impacts (see my other posts for details). We have many other countries ahead of us in reopening. I know of no rational benefit to delaying reopening at this point if you aren’t… Read more »

SAMUEL HUNTINGTON
4 years ago

Sounds sensible to me. Get back into the water in May and June, small meets in July, bigger meets in August. I like it.

About Torrey Hart

Torrey Hart

Torrey is from Oakland, CA, and majored in media studies and American studies at Claremont McKenna College, where she swam distance freestyle for the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps team. Outside of SwimSwam, she has bylines at Sports Illustrated, Yahoo Sports, SB Nation, and The Student Life newspaper.

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