May  21, 2013  USA Swimming Club Leadership Class offered in Maryland next month.  (This is a requirement for all new USA Clubs, but it can be helpful to any already established club.)  To Register: Email office@mdswim.org with your club name, how many people will be attending, and a contact person (name, email and cell#).  Location: University of  Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) (Room #TBD)

Facilitator: Peter Clark

Date: Saturday, June 8, 2013

Time: 7:00AM to 12:30 PM

Fee: None

May  19, 2013  MEET Closed - The Boyertown meet(June 21-23, 2013)  is now closed.  We will be accepting times updates from teams entered.  Officials can sign up here  

Please note the following changes:

The start times have changed as follows:  Friday – No change, Saturday Morning:  Meet will start at 7:45, Saturday Mid-Session:  Warmups start at noon, session starts at 12:30, Saturday Afternoon:  No change  Sunday Morning:  Meet will start at 7:45, Sunday Mid-Session:  Warmups start at noon, session starts at 12:30.  Sunday Afternoon:  No change.

All Mid-Session events will now be positive check-in!  This is to try to accommodate all entries and to start our afternoon session on time.  We are asking swimmers for these events to provide their own timers (and counters for the mile).  If unable to do so, we will provide one.

May  13, 2013  2012-13 Scholastic All-American Applications  Each year, USA Swimming recognizes its athlete members who excel both in the classroom and in the pool. The Scholastic All-America Team is made up of high school student-athletes who have a grade point average of 3.5 or higher and who have achieved the required time standard in a single event. To be eligible for this recognition, swimmers must have completed 10th, 11th or 12th grade and must be a USA Swimming member athlete. Eligible times must be swum between July 1, 2012 and June 30, 2013. The application must be completed by August 21, 2013. The application for the 2012-2013 year is available here. The only method for application will be the online application on the USA Swimming website. Applicants need to have a USA Swimming account. Qualifying times for the applicant will be validated through the Times on the USA Swimming website. The applicant will be required to upload a copy of his or her high school official transcript for the current academic year. All grades for both semesters (2012-2013) must be on the transcript.

Swimmers who have a 3.5 GPA and are applying as a Disability swimmer or Open Water swimmer will check off the meet in which they participated on the SAA Application. Results will be available for the SAA Tabulators to evaluate for swimmer participation. The eligible meets for Disability swimmers are the following: 2012 Paralympics, August 29-September 9, 2012, London, England and the U.S. Paralympics Spring Swimming Nationals, April 4-6, 2013, Minneapolis, MN. The eligible meet for Open Water is the 2013 Open Water National Championships, May 17-19, 2013, Castaic Lake, CA.

May  7, 2013      Greenhead’s Open Water Clinic. Saturday June 8, 2013 Rain Date Saturday June 15, 2013. 9:00-3:00 Purpose- With the surge in popularity in open water swimming we felt a need for a program for competition swimmers to learn rules, skills and techniques to swim races efficiently in the open water. The purpose of this clinic is to teach these skills and to give swimmers a complete open water experience. From the pool, to the bay, to the ocean, swimmers will come away from our clinic with a respect for OW swimming and the basic skills needed to compete in OW events.  Read More Here

May  7, 2013      As many of you are aware, Coach Casey Coble of Lancaster Aquatic Club has been battling leukemia for the last seven years.  Casey has been in remission several times during that period, but the disease has recently reared its ugly head once again.  Casey is in Houston at the MD Anderson facility for treatment.  He and members of his family will be traveling back and forth between Houston and Lancaster many times over the next 6-7 months.

In an effort to help these good folks with some of the expenses associated with all this travel, several of Casey’s swimming friends have set up a golf outing scheduled for August.  Information on donations, sponsorships and participation can be found here.  Thanks in advance for your support for Casey on his crusade to beat this disease.

May  7, 2013      MEET Closed - The Nittany Lion Aquatic Club SwimFest to be held at Penn State University is closed for all sessions.  Only time updates will be accepted through June 14, 2013.    Questions should be directed to the meet director

May  6, 2013     MEET Closed - The Diplomat June Summer Storm to be held at Franklin and Marshall College is closed for all sessions.  Questions should be directed to the meet director

May  6, 2013     MEET Cancelled - The Jersey Wahoos May Mini Meet has been cancelled due to lack of entries.  Questions should be directed to the meet director

April  30, 2013     MEET Closed - All Sessions of the The LAC Speedo Challenge to be held at Franklin and Marshall College (July 5-7) are closed.    Questions should be directed to the meet director

April  25, 2013  MEET Closed - The Jersey Wahoos Summer Solstice meet to be held at GCIT on June 21-23 is now limited as follows:  13/over Morning Sessions FULL.  We still have room in the 12/under afternoon sessions and will accept entries ONLY for the 12/under sessions.   Questions, please email the Meet Director.

April  24, 2013  MEET Closed - All sessions of the GPAC SPRING CLASSIC are now closed to further entries.   Questions, please email the Meet Director.

April  19, 2013  The PROPOSED 2013-2014 short course schedule is now available.

April 19, 2013  MA Short Course Top 10 has been updated here

April 19, 2013  USA swimming National Age Group Top 10 List. Every two weeks, USA Swimming posts the new Top 10 lists for each event by single age.  Swimmers who are in the Top 10 in an event at the end of the season, will be awarded a certificate for their accomplishments. Certificates are distributed for both short course yard and long course meter events. Those who earned the top spot in their event will receive a pin.

April  16, 2013     MEET Closed - The Long Course Classic Trials/Finals at Bucknell (June 13-16) is now closed for new entries.  Those teams that have already submitted entries may update their entries, but no new entries can be accepted.  Questions should be directed to the meet director

April  10, 2013     Middle Atlantic Records have been updated - Here is the updated list as of 4/10/13. Corrections or questions should be e-mailed to our Records Chairman

April  10, 2013     USA Swimming to Offer Free Athlete Protection Training to Athlete Members - USA Swimming launched its first-ever free online Safe Sport programming for the more than 300,000 athlete members of the organization. The online programming, created by youth protection education leader Praesidium, will empower athletes with information about sexual abuse prevention, how to identify inappropriate behavior, and how to report concerns.  Athlete education will be available at online starting on April 9.

“Education is a fundamental part of USA Swimming’s Safe Sport program. As we continue to work to raise awareness about this important issue, the free athlete training will help empower our membership with education about safe sport,” said Susan Woessner, Director of Safe Sport for USA Swimming. The comprehensive online programming includes information about how offenders operate; how to recognize, respond, and report boundary violations; myths and facts about child sexual abuse, and USA Swimming’s Athlete Protection Policies and Procedures.

The addition of the athlete training represents the third and final phase of USA Swimming’s online education launch. The education for athletes is optional, but strongly encouraged.  For more information about USA Swimming’s Safe Sport program, visit www.usaswimming.org/protect

April  10, 2013     Noga Nir-Kistler (EMAC) participated in the US Paralympic Nationals (Can Ams) this past week at the University of Minnesota. [Full results here] After competing in six events, she won the gold medal in the 50 Fly, 100 Breast, 200 IM and 50 Breast. In the 50 Breast, she beat the American Record by .01 of a second. She placed second in the 50 and 100 Free events.  This meet was also used to determine the team for the IPC World Championships held in Montreal August 11-17. Athletes will be notified this week if they are selected to the World Championship team.  Selection procedures are here.

April  9, 2013     Online Report of Occurrence Form - Over a year ago, USA Swimming implemented the ONLINE Report of Occurrence form. The paper copies of the incident report are no longer used.  Some of our member clubs may not have been properly informed of our new online system when it began. We continue to get paper copies that may still be posted on the club websites or in their safety manuals.   We ask that the club personnel notify all their staff and volunteers of the Online Report of Occurrence form that is found at this easy to use link on the USA Swimming website:  www.usaswimming.org/ROO  The incident reports no longer need to be submitted in triplicate as in the past (USA Swimming, Risk Management Services, LSC Safety Chair). They only need to be submitted one time into the online system.

March 25, 2013     The MA Official’s committee is holding several clinics for new officials in the next several weeks.  Information can be found on the Official’s webpage at – http://www.maswimofficials.org   Check the Clinics/Training menu item.   A clinic for Starters is also planned; contact Cecil Gordon at CecilCGordon@aol.com  to determine your eligibility.

February 22, 2013  What is the USA swimming Network and how can you get live streaming video at your club?  Read more here

February 8, 2013  USA Swimming released its first-ever Safe Sport Handbook to help  members implement safe sport practices at LSC level.  The Safe Sport Handbook includes detailed information on USA Swimming policies, guidelines, best practices, strategies and tools. It will be an invaluable tool for all USA Swimming members and clubs and is available online. The handbook will also be mailed to each of USA Swimming’s member clubs.

February 8, 2013  Attention Coaches: For information about the NEW Foundations of Coaching 101 course and NEW Coach Education requirements, check out the Frequently Asked Questions.

• All new coaches who register after February 4, 2013 are required to take the NEW Foundations of Coaching 101 PRIOR to becoming a coach member.
• If you have new coaches at your club who registered between September 1, 2012 and February 3, 2013, you need to be aware of how the new requirement applies to them….they have options!
• Coaches registering in 2013 for their 2nd year of Coach Membership are still required to complete the existing Foundations of Coaching DVD based online test

February 8, 2013  2013 Developmental Teams and Camps Selection Summary

February 8, 2013  Attention MA Graduating Class of 2013. Send us your College/University selections and we will publish here  (webmaster@maswim.org)

February 7, 2013  IMX Scores updated here

February 5, 2013 Congratulations to Cecil Gordon who has been appointed as a FINA Starter for the United States Swimming Federation. FINA, the Federation Internationale de Natation, is the world governing body for the five aquatic disciplines, which includes swimming.  The appointment runs from Jan 1, 2013 through December 31, 2016.  There are four (4) Starters on this list in the United States.  Starters for the major international swimming competitions are selected from the current FINA worldwide lists.  Congratulations to Cecil for his dedication and continued volunteering within the LSC, and now around the world

December 21, 2012  Congratulations to the following clubs for being recognized by the USA Swimming Club Excellence Program!

Club Name		Head Coach		Level Acheived
York YMCA		Michael Brooks		Gold
Germantown Acedemy Aquatic Club		Richard Shoulberg		Gold
Jersey Wahoos Swim Club		John Carroll		Silver
Delaware Swim Team		Sean Dougherty		Silver
Central Bucks Swim Team		Stu Kukla		Silver
Suburban Seahawks Club		Charlie Kennedy		Silver
Hershey Aquatic Club		Gregory Fastrich		Silver
Lancaster Aquatic Club		Casey Coble		Bronze
Egg Harbor Twp. Seahawks		Brian Elko		Bronze
Jersey Storm Swimming		Jack Bower		Bronze
Parkland Aquatic Club		Ryan Woodruff		Bronze

The Club Excellence Program is a voluntary program that identifies and recognizes USA Swimming clubs for their commitment to performance excellence. The full listing of teams from the entire country is here. This program strives to meet the following objectives:

• Promote the development of strong, well-rounded age group and senior swimming programs that produce elite 18 & under athletes
• Provide recognition and resources to motivate and assist member clubs to strive for the highest ideals of athlete performance.

November 14, 2012  Meeting Minutes from MA Board meetings can be found here.  The list of Middle Atlantic Committees is here

October 10, 2012    The Middle Atlantic Swimming LSC  is one of two LSCs where more than 100 parents have taken the Safe Sport Parent Education course.  We are ½ the size of the other LSC that has achieved this distinction.  As parents, if you have not done so, please take a moment to educate yourself about keeping your swimmers as safe as possible.  You will need the following information to sign in:

                LSC – Middle Atlantic Swimming

                Club Code – your swimmers club abbreviation (if your swimmer is unattached, use UN)

Thanks in advance for helping to provide a safer environment for our athletes!