Jersey Shore (PA) Swim Blog

Jersey Shore (PA) Swim Blog

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Lock Haven YMCA Accepted As USA Swimming Club

No longer will local swimmers have to choose between representing the YMCA or a USA Swim club.  They now can do both at the Lock Haven Y.  Welcome the latest area swim club, LHAY.  Below is a message from Rebekah Cygan, president of the Clinton County Swim Association.

Hello Swim Families-
 
We are excited to announce that the Lock Haven Area YMCA has been accepted as a USA Swimming Club with the Middle Atlantic Region! We are excited as this will provide additional opportunities for competition for Loggerheads who are ready for the "next level".
 
Our YMCA Loggerhead team will continue as is. If you are a member of the Y team, you will compete with our YMCA team in our local YMCA league. Team fees will be the same as they have always been and YMCA membership is a requirement. USA Swimming is an additional cost, and the team will participate in several meets a year. The meets will also be an additional cost to the participant.
 
Swimmers can now also join USA Swimming with a yearly membership fee of $60. You must also be a US citizen. This fee allows you to compete in any USA meet anywhere in the country. You also get mailings and other things that give your more information about the sport of swimming. Your times are also kept in a national data base. USA meets are in general more competetive than YMCA swim meets, though this is not always the case. There are Motivational Time Standards (here, look at page 3 for short course yard times to compare to what our swimmers usually swim) for different ages. If the swimmer's time in a particular event meets this time standard, you are considered "A" or "B" level in that event. USA meets are often labeled, "A and B" Meet  (which would mean you would need to be at least that fast to compete in this meet). There are also "A, B and C" meets which allow swimmers who have not yet achieved these time standards to compete. There are also "Elite" meets which have even faster time standards...(getting the picture?)
 
If you desire to participate in USA Swimming, you need to fill out the form and submit a check for $60 (payable to CCSA, here). Any meets that our team participates in will have a cost (say $6 per event) which will also be the responsibility of the swimmer. If you already have a USA swimming membership, but want to transfer your status to LHAY (that is our club code/name), please fill out the attached form (here).
 
USA Swimming is not for all our swimmers...you need to decide if this is something your swimmer and family want to participate in...it is not required to be a Loggerhead!
 
As this is our first year, we will more than likely participate in more USA meets during Spring, Summer and Fall of 2014 (as our YMCA meet schedule has us busy already!). We will post a schedule soon to the website.
 
If you are not sure if you have signed up yet or not for USA Swimming, please contact me. We will discuss it further and the meet schedule at our next CCSA meeting on Monday, January 6th, at 6pm at the YMCA.
 
I hope this is clear to everyone. If you have more questions, please contact any of our coaches or myself. I would like to send in a batch of applications for our swimmers by 1/6/14...so please consider this in a timely manner!
 
 
See you at the pool,
 
Rebekah Cygan
President
Clinton County Swim Association


No comments:

Post a Comment