The Coral Springs Aquatic Complex in Coral Springs Florida will host the inaugural edition of the UANA Cup in January of 2018.
The meet, while being held in the United States, is designed for athletes from Central America, South America, and the Caribbean that are in UANA Zones 1 and 2. That means no Americans and no Canadians will be invited.
The meet will include 3 age groups for swimmers aged 11-12, 13-14, and 15-17, and will be competed in long course meters. There will be only timed finals, and no time standards have been released.
The Union Americana de Natacion, or UANA, is the regional governing body for aquatic sports in the Americas. While less visible than governing bodies in places like Europe (LEN), UANA has been around since the 1948 Olympic Games in London, the group does carry some weight throughout the Americas. The current president through 2019 is American Dale Neuburger, who is a FINA Vice President, and among former UANA presidents are now-disgraced, but once powerful, Coarcy Nunes – president of the Brazilian federation – and current FINA president Julio Maglione.
It is more cost effective for the Caribbean, central America and South America Federations to fly to Florida than to other Federations
So its a meet, held on American soil, but no American swimmers are invited
That’s messed up!
It’s actually a pretty simple business model. You have a facility that rents out space (in this case a pool), a Group pays lots of money to rent that space and they get to do whatever they want on those days. The Aquatic Complex makes money and the group gets to host their lovely youth athletes at an amazing space – Win! Win! 🙂 #PEACEOUT Dude!