February 8, 2010  A clinic for new Stroke & Turn Officials will be held in Williamsport, PA on February 27 beginning at 8:00 am. Anyone interested in becoming an official, including YMCA officials wanting to be jointly certified, is welcome to attend. Please notify Fred Killian at officials@maswim.org  if you are interested and will attend. The location will be provided.

January 28, 2010  The third release of the Middle Atlantic Short Course Top 10 is here.  The meets included are from September 1, 2009 and the swimmers ages are calculated as of the date of the meet swum, therefore several swimmers may appear in two different age groups. We have moved to the USA Swimming Single Age Groups for all age groups over 10. We have also included the Senior age group which will include many of our college athletes.  The USA Swimming National Top 10 may be viewed here. 

January 28, 2010  Attention Coaches and Team Administrators/Registrars: You can now access your team roster 24/7 using your USA Swimming Club Portal. This roster can be printed and used for proof of registration at swim meets; it can also help you to be sure that each member of your team is properly registered and affiliated with your club. A list of affiliated non-athlete members (coaches, officials and “others”) is available, along with statistical reports about membership retention specific to your team. Each club member of USA Swimming has a club portal. Click here for details on how to access yours.

January 19, 2010  A site for the Northeast was finally located for the IM Xtreme Challenge. The meet information is here for coaches/swimmers. An application to officiate is here.

January 18, 2010  Middle Atlantic Swimming is hosting a Club Leadership and Business Management School on March 6th at Germantown Academy. The course will be presented by USA Swimming Sports Development Coordinator Peter Clark. While attendance at a CLBMS is mandatory for all new clubs, existing clubs are encouraged to participate. The USA Swimming Club Recognition program requires attendance at a CLBMS in Level 2 and a club’s status in the Club Recognition program will determine the award level in the brand new Middle Atlantic Club Travel Assistance program. Don’t miss out on this opportunity.

Register by e-mailing Cherita Gentilucci, Administrative Director before March 1, 2010, with the name of each attendee.

January 18, 2010  On behalf of Coach Casey Coble, his family and members of the Lancaster Aquatic Club, we would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to the tremendous showing of support at the recent Swim for Casey. A special thanks to all the MA teams that were present that day as well as to those that teams that sent team contributions. We can’t thank you enough for the financial and moral support. The generosity of everyone is overwhelming.

Casey is scheduled next week to begin his bone marrow transplant process. Progress may be followed on the blog: http://caseyscrusade.blogspot.com that is written by his mother. Please keep Casey and his family in your thoughts and prayers.  We all look forward to seeing Coach Casey on deck real soon.

January 12, 2010  If you are an interested candidate who would like your name placed on the slate of nominees for the May Board of Directors meeting, or if you would like to nominate a specific candidate for the slate, please contact Ruthann Joyce and express your interest. The slate of nominees will be presented in May and the elections will be held in June at the HOD meeting. The following board positions will be up for election;

General Chair, Administrative Vice-Chair, Finance Vice-Chair, Senior Vice-Chair, Secretary, Athlete Reps (2), Review Committee members (4)

Ruthann Joyce
Nominating Committee Chair
(856) 582-2444
irishmpj@aol.com

November 16, 2009  There may be some misunderstanding and confusion regarding the finish requirements for the Backstroke. The backstroke finish rule (101.4.4) states that ‘…the swimmer must touch the wall while on the back.’ The stroke rules (101.4.2) include the statement ‘Some part of the swimmer must break the surface of the water throughout the race, except it is permissible for the swimmer to be completely submerged during the turn, at the finish and for a distance of not more than 15 meters after the start and after each turn.’ The question becomes 'when is the finish?' and 'may the swimmer be submerged before the finish touch?'

USA Swimming has addressed this question here and the response is here

USA Swimming defines the 'finish' as the touch at the completion of the race. Under the stroke rule for backstroke, the swimmer may not be completely submerged except during the initial 15 meters after the start and each turn; submergence prior to the finish touch is cause for disqualification.

Please contact me at officials@maswim.org if you have any questions about this issue.

Fred Killian, MA Officials Chair

November 16, 2009  USA Swimming is in the process of compiling a list of Age Group All-Time Top 100 times. The list is now complete through the top 25. To see the complete list, go to our All-Time Top 100 Times section.

October 8, 2009  The MA Officials Committee will hold several clinics for new Stroke & Turn officials. Anyone interested in becoming an official is welcome to attend the clinics – advance registration is not necessary. However, please drop a note to officials@maswim.org  to insure that we will have enough material at the clinic.
 

Contact the committee if you need directions or more information.

Clubs that will be hosting MA meets this season are expected to have officials within their club to support the meets. If your club would like to host a clinic, please contact Fred Killian at FK42@aol.com

Fred Killian, MA Officials Chair

September 24, 2009  The final release of the Middle Atlantic Long Course Top 10 is here.  The meets included are from September 1, 2008 and the swimmers ages are calculated as of the date of the meet swum, therefore several swimmers may appear in two different age groups. We have moved to the USA Swimming Single Age Groups for all age groups over 10. We have also included the Senior age group which will include many of our college athletes.  The USA Swimming National Top 10 may be viewed here. 

September 24, 2009  The IMX Challenge is a motivational program whereby swimmers will be scored and ranked nationally [USA National Database] on their performance in a combination of five or six events. The purpose of the program is to promote versatility in age group swimming while advocating greater participation and development across a range of events that are integral to long term success in swimming.  The MA Rankings are here

September 3, 2009  Building off the massive success of the 2008 Olympic Games, USA Swimming has seen its largest membership growth in history in the membership year of 2009. Numbers released today show an 11.2 percent increase in athlete memberships, bringing the total number of year-round USA Swimming athletes across the nation to 286,084. The national governing body boasts a total of 315,640 members overall, including coach and non-athlete members. Read More here

December 3, 2009  Stephanie Rozick has served as a meet director for Middle Atlantic Swimming for many years, serving at both the club and LSC level. She is a tireless advocate for swimmers and coaches throughout our area and much of the success of the 2008 Super Sectional meet can be attributed directly to her. Stephanie has been a member of the Middle Atlantic Swimming Board of Directors for the past 3 years. As co-Chair of the Senior Committee, she often travels 4 hours each way to attend Board and Committee meetings. She has represented Middle Atlantic at the last 3 USAS conventions and at the Eastern Zone meetings.

Congratulations to Stephanie for receiving Middle Atlantic Swimming's "2009 ConocoPhillips Outstanding Service Award!"

September 3, 2009  Congratulations to Joe Kinderwater (WSY), Andrew Gemmell (DST), Patrick Schirk (PSU), Fran Crippen (GAAC), Katie Riefenstahl (GAAC), and Nicole Vernon (DST) who have been named to the 2009-2010 USA Swimming National Team .  Congratulations to Matt Belecanech (JW), Arther Frayler (GAAC), and David Nolan (HAC) for being named to the 2009-2010 USA swimming National Youth Team

September 1, 2009  I would like to start by saying that my experience as Head coach of the Middle Atlantic Zone Team was a wonderful experience, and one, I will not soon forget. It was very nice to meet all of the families that I see at meets, and work with children that I see in the pool. Middle Atlantic is not only represented by Great swimmers but very supportive families. I want to thank everyone that came and represented our LSC.

I would like to point out some outstanding swims at the meet:  Read more news from our Head Zone Coach (Bridget Hoppe)

May 13, 2009   Effective May 1, 2009, USA Swimming’s Board of Directors modified the racing start rule, 103.2.2, to further clarify that racing starts should only be taught under the direct supervision of a USA Swimming member coach, and to expand the definition of teaching racing starts to make clear that no swimmer who has not been certified as proficient by his or her coach should be performing racing starts into less than six feet of water.

Please keep in mind that the only change to this USAS rule is that there is now a requirement for a coach to document, by means of a checklist, the fact that in their professional judgment a swimmer has been taught how to properly execute a racing start. The requirement to teach swimmers to properly execute racing starts has been in place in our rules for a long time, with or without a checklist. The procedures that should take place at a meet are no different now than they were before the checklist was implemented. Coaches should be doing whatever they were doing in the past with respect to swimmers who had not yet been taught to properly execute a racing start. The checklist does not change a thing except to require a coach to document the process and there is no need to add any additional procedures at a swim meet as a result of this.

The following documents will help explain this rule change: Amendment to Article 103.2.2 of the USAS Rules Racing Start Certification Checklist USA Swimming Safety Notice to Member Clubs and Coaches USA Swimming Safety Notice to Parents Frequently Asked Questions

June 30, 2009  Congratulations to each of these Student-Athletes.  The Scholastic All-America Team is comprised of high school student-athletes, who have a grade point average of 3.50 or higher, and have achieved a specific time standard in an individual event during the qualifying period. They must have completed 10th, 11th, or 12th grade and be a USA Swimming member athlete. For further requirements, information and deadlines, please reference the applications form.  Complete applications are due by August 1, 2009. Three certificates will be awarded to each individual achieving Scholastic All-America status (one for the athlete, one for the school and one for the USA Swimming club). A special pin will be awarded to individuals earning a 4.00 grade point average. A special award will be issued to individuals named to the team three times.

April 22, 2009  Here are some answers to your questions regarding your USA Swimming Coaches Membership.  If your Lifeguarding has expired, you must take the 25 question test here PLUS have an up to date Lifeguarding (or safety training for swim coaches).  You only need to take the 25 question test after your current Lifeguarding has expired.  The Middle Atlantic swimming office will NOT issue new coach credentials until all certifications and tests have been completed.  Here are some other forms that may help all Middle Atlantic Coaches:

Coaches Safety Curriculum for 2008-2009

Approved Courses for 2008-2009

New Coach Packet for 2008-2009

December 15, 2008 The Middle Atlantic Swimming Records have been updated as of 12/15/08 Our Records Chairman, Bob Platt, has thoroughly reviewed each of the recent National meets as well as the Christmas meets. Thanks to Bob for all his hard work and his continued dedication to the Middle Atlantic swimmers.

Please review the definitions below so that you may better understand what each designation means. Corrections or questions should be e-mailed to our Records Chairman. If you believe that a faster time has been achieved in a particular event, please include a link to the meet results for that time.


D - District Record: The District Record is the fastest time achieved by any swimmer from any LSC or a foreign athlete within the boundaries of Middle Atlantic Swimming.

R - Resident Record: The Resident Record is the fastest time achieved by a registered Middle Atlantic athlete swum in a USA Swimming-recognized competition whether in the United States or abroad.

C - Championship Record: The Championship Record is the fastest time achieved by a USA Swimming-registered athlete at a Middle Atlantic Senior Championship Meet (short course or long course).

 

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