Registration for the 2011-2012 USA season is being held in conjunction with EPAC winter registration.

 

Is your swimmer passionate about their sport? Then USA swimming is a great way to support that passion! USA swimming is for swimmers of ALL levels.

The EPAC coaches have made a commitment to all of our swimmers to help them achieve their swimming goals. We believe USA swimming can provide an atmosphere of fun and serious competition as well as play a significant role in helping our serious swimmers achieve their goals. We strongly encourage all EPAC swimmers who are passionate about advancing in their swimming career to participate in USA swimming.

Benefits include, but are not limited to:

• Compete against specific age group and ability level
• Compete in a variety of events not offered at the league level
• Compete in an environment with better competition
• Compete at high tech facilities
• Meet new swimmers from other teams in the region
• Form strong bonds with EPAC swimmers
  

East Pennsboro Aquatics Club (EPAC) is a member team of USA swimming. EPAC belongs to the Eastern Zone of USA swimming in the Middle Atlantic Region, which is comprised of teams from the Eastern half of Pennsylvania, Southern half of New Jersey and Delaware.

EPACs coaching staff chooses 4 or 5 USA swim meets during the winter season, which will be in addition to our league dual meets. These meets are 2 day meets. We usually attend 2 meets at Cumberland Valley, sponsored by the WSY, 2 meets at Penn State University, sponsored by NLAC and championship meets in different locations based on the sponsor of the event. There are plenty of other meets available during the season that the team could consider going to, however we have to keep in mind the number of league and local championship meets that “come first”.

Once the coaches have decided the meets for the season, the registered members will get a list of those meets. Families need to decide quickly which meets they would like to attend so that registration for the meets can be completed quickly upon receipt of the meet information. Hotel accommodations are done as a group when we travel to Penn State or other out of town championship meet, to keep room costs down.

Meet registration is quick and easy. Families will receive links to the web location for a particular meet (a copy will also be posted on the bulletin board). The coaches’ secretary will work with families to collect entries and fees for each meet and the entries will be electronically submitted to the meet director as a group.

ALL FEES MUST ACCOMPANY THE ENTRIES. NO ENTRIES WILL BE SUBMITTED WITHOUT THE APPROPRIATE FEES.

The coaching staff encourages swimmers to swim outside their comfort zone at these meets. What the heck does that mean???

If Suzie is a 10 year old swimmer, she swims the four 50s, 100 free and 100 IM at regular league meets. All of these events will be available to swim at the USA meets. Suzie would be swimming in her comfort zone, if she swam only these events. Suzie has the opportunity to swim other events for example all the 100s and 200s as well as the 500 free as a 10 year old. These swims would be considered “out of her comfort zone”. The coaches recommend that each swimmer chooses a combination of in and out of comfort events at each meet to broaden his/her horizons. The coaching staff will gladly discuss each meet with swimmers individually to help them choose events, if the swimmer/parents choose.

These events are very similar to invitationals or championship meets that we have all participated in the past. Swimmers sit on deck with the coaches (sorry, parents are not allowed unless they become non-athlete members of MA swimming). Each meet is broken down into sessions and there are usually 2-3 sessions per day. In some cases the older age groups are in the morning and the younger age groups are in the afternoon, however it is up to the discretion of the meet director how the meet is setup. On the day of the meet, coaches go over the events of the session with the swimmers to identify what they are swimming and what heat and lane they are in. When swimmers are not swimming they cheer for their teammates, read, play cards etc. just like league meets.

New USA swimmers will go to the first meet with no time (NT) for each event. USA times are separate from times obtained at league meets. Swimmers, based on time are categorized into divisions. They compete in that division for that event until they have achieved a time to move them to the next division. For example, Suzie is swimming the 50 free for the first time. She is entered with NT. She will compete in the C division. When she swims at the meet, she swims the fastest time in the C division with a B division time. Her ribbon will reflect that she won the C division 50 free, but the next time she swims, she will be in the B division for that swim and will compete with B division swimmers. It is all based on individual swims. Suzie could be an A swimmer in the fly, a B swimmer in the back and a C swimmer in the breast.

The ‘A’ division is further sub-divided into A, AA, AAA, AAAA and top 16 ranking. These swimmers all swim in the same division – ‘A’.

The competition at these meets is better because, everyone in a swimmers heat is swimming within tenths or hundredths of each other.

USA swimming times are looked at by college recruiters and the Olympic committee!!!

Some names you might know who are USA swimmers:

• Jeremy Linn – Olympian from our area
• Anita Nall – Olympic Trialist from our area
• Leah Gingrich – East Penn HS swimmer, swam in the finals of the last Olympic Trials
• Jason Miller – Coach of Central York HS, former CV HS swimmer swam in the last Olympic Trials
• David Nolan – Hershey HS, just swam Jr. Pan Pac Nationals
• Michael Phelps – anyone know him???
• Your coaching staff – Coach Lu, Coach Ev and Coach Liz (we have to work on Coach Tim this season)
• AND last but not least, many of your friends on the team participate today
  

WE HAVE A BLAST!!!
PLEASE DON’T HESITATE TO CONTACT COACH LU TO DISCUSS USA SWIMMING!!!
WOULDN’T YOU LIKE TO SWIM NEXT TO RYAN LOCHTE LIKE DAVID NOLAN DID THIS SUMMER???? YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT THE POSSIBILITIES ARE UNLESS YOU BROADEN YOUR HORIZONS.

 

BENEFITS OF JOINING USA SWIMMING

USA Swimming Members enjoy a multitude of benefits. From our extensive Times database, to top tips and training advice, to the opportunity to enter the nation’s most prestigious events, USA Swimming membership is a must for any competitive swimmer or coach.

Along with all the above, members receive:

• Six issues of USA Swimming’s award-winning Splash Magazine
• Opportunity to qualify for and compete in USA Swimming sanctioned meets- Zones to Olympic Trials!
• Eligibility to participate in local and national swimming camps.
• Ability to track your times and improvement through our extensive times database
• Excess accident and liability insurance
• Motivational programs such as Age Group Top 10, Scholastic All-America and more

 

MISSION & VISION

As the National Governing Body for the sport of swimming in the United States, USA Swimming is a 300,000-member service organization that promotes the culture of swimming by creating opportunities for swimmers and coaches of all backgrounds to participate and advance in the sport through clubs, events and education. Our membership is comprised of swimmers from the age group level to the Olympic Team, as well as coaches and volunteers. USA Swimming is responsible for choosing and training teams for international competition including the Olympic Games, and strives to serve the sport through its core objectives: Build the base, Promote the sport, Achieve competitive success.

MISSION STATEMENT
USA Swimming is the National Governing Body for the sport of swimming. We administer competitive swimming in accordance with the Amateur Sports Act. We provide programs and services for our members, supporters, affiliates and the interested public. We value these members of the swimming community, and the staff and volunteers who serve them. We are committed to excellence and the improvement of our sport.

VISION STATEMENT
To inspire and enable our members to achieve excellence in the sport of swimming and in life.

 

CORE OBJECTIVES

USA Swimming has adopted three core objectives. These core objectives establish the foundation of the strategic business plan for our sport. USA Swimming encourages all members to participate in the local, regional and national efforts to ensure that these objectives are accomplished.

BUILD THE BASE
We seek to expand our membership in order to share our sport with as many other people as possible. We are especially committed to sharing the values of our sport with young people who may discover that swimming is an activity they can enjoy for their entire life.

PROMOTE THE SPORT
We want swimming to receive as much publicity as possible because we believe that the more people learn about our sport the more inclined they will be to join the ranks of our membership. We are proud of our sport and we seek to celebrate it whenever possible.

ACHIEVE COMPETITIVE SUCCESS
USA Swimming has been ranked as the number one swimming nation in the world for more than 40 years. We seek to continue this tradition of competitive excellence. When our elite athletes are successful in fulfilling their Olympic dreams our society benefits from the inspiration these athletes give us.