Schedule changes to Junior Olympics in Greensboro, NC
Teams discovered the updated schedule when the meet docs were uploaded to the AAU website.
AAU did not communicate these changes to teams, coaches, or our representatives.
AAU has still not communicated these changes and most teams are finding out about the adjustments from fellow coaches.
The meet has historically been 3 ½ days. Distance events the first evening followed by a morning, mid-day, and evening session the following 3 days.
The new schedule splits the meet.
12&U – Practice, check in, team meetings on Tuesday afternoon. Compete on Wednesday & Thursday
This reduces the number of individual entries allowed for 12 &U swimmers to 6 events and removes the 200 Backstroke, 200 Breaststroke, and the 200 Fly.
13+ – Practice, check in, team meetings on Thursday afternoon.
Prelims & Finals sessions are on Friday, Saturday & Sunday.
If a family has swimmers in the 12&U and 13+ age group, they will need to be in Greensboro to attend the meet from Tuesday – Sunday. Including two days drive time each way, Greensboro is 13+ hours away and many families are unable to make that trip in one day, that is a total of 9 days away. The cost of being away significantly increases. Hotels, food, time off work, boarding pets
The financial cost to send coaching staff to JO is substantially more. It also leaves the team with less staff at home to attend overlapping meets and continue to run practice.
The new schedule does not allow for the family/team atmosphere. Younger swimmers enjoy watching Finals and supporting their teams.
Due to the timing of these changes, not being notified of the adjustments, increased financial burden & time restrictions, many SWSC parents & teams had already expressed their reluctance to attend or cancelled their travel arrangement to Greensboro. Everything has gotten significantly more expensive since covid. The changes this year seem to be the best financial decision for the conference and parents’ pocketbooks. We do understand that this is very disappointing. We are working with other teams to still send SWSC swimmers to JO and have a visiting coach available to them. Please speak to your home team coaches about this. We are working on a plan to support everyone as efficiently as possible. 2024 SUPER Finals Instead of fielding a conference team to attend JO, we will be focusing on a Super Finals event on July 27th. This allows for a later start of the season, a bi-week, and for resources to be shifted to Finals. Every team will be co-hosting the meet in Pocahontas. The planning for Super Finals has already begun! Summer Meet Dates
June 1st – Some conference schools are still in session until the 30th. Public outdoor pools will not be open until after the local schools are out for the summer.
June 8th – First meet of the summer held in an indoor pool. This allows for stable water temperature.
Bi-week June 29th – We will not hold a meet due to the 4th of July holiday. Families appreciate the mid-season break.
FINALS July 27th – With the unexpected changes to the JO schedule and the longer drive time to Greensboro it was decided to host an amazing Super Finals locally. The meet will take place in Pocahontas and every team in the conference is a co-host.
Roster Fee from $5 to $10
An adjustment to the roster fee was proposed and passed.
The purpose of the roster fee is to support SWSC activities.
The heat sheet price will continue to be $5. The heat sheet fee has never been adjusted.
The cost for individual events and relays will remain the same at Finals. The fees for Finals have only been adjusted once in the history of SWSC.
Coming Soon Code of Conduct Policy
SWSC will be adding a parent & swimmer Code of Conduct Policy.
This will be required by each team within the conference to be part of SWSC.
A committee has been formed to write and review this policy.
The full Spring SWSC BOD minutes are being prepared and will be available shortly. Sincerely, Caitlin Green – SWSC President Sara Frazier – SWSC VP Hope Normandy – SWSC Secretary Anna Lawhon – SWSC Treasurer Updated 3/26/2024