With the exception of championship meets the program in all other age group competition shall be planned to allow the events for swimmers 12 years and younger to be completed in four (4) hours or less for a timed finals session or in a total of eight (8) hours or less per day for a preliminaries and finals meet."
The rationale for this rule was explained by Rose Snyder, former Director of Age Group Programs for USA Swimming back in 1997 when the rule was passed. The rationale remains the same today.
"The Age Group Planning Committee feels that meet sessions that last longer than four hours are detrimental to retaining young swimmers and parents in our sport. In a survey conducted last year (1996) by Suzie Tuffey, Ph.D., to determine why kids quit swimming we learned that the number one reason swimmers quit was that swimming takes too much time. We feel that we lose a lot of swimmers and parents by introducing them to marathon meets too early in the game. Although we would be happy if these “marathon” meets did not exist all together, they definitely have no place for our 12 and under athletes.......It is what is best for our sport.
Let’s consider who is served by sessions that run longer than four hours: The host club who stands to earn more on entry fees and concessions. Other than that, we couldn’t come up with any good ideas.
The rationale has been given that those people who have to travel considerable distances want it to be worth their trip. Wouldn’t it still be worth the trip if a child swims one or two less events in a session perhaps but still has fast times and fun competing?"
The rationale for this rule was explained by Rose Snyder, former Director of Age Group Programs for USA Swimming back in 1997 when the rule was passed. The rationale remains the same today.
"The Age Group Planning Committee feels that meet sessions that last longer than four hours are detrimental to retaining young swimmers and parents in our sport. In a survey conducted last year (1996) by Suzie Tuffey, Ph.D., to determine why kids quit swimming we learned that the number one reason swimmers quit was that swimming takes too much time. We feel that we lose a lot of swimmers and parents by introducing them to marathon meets too early in the game. Although we would be happy if these “marathon” meets did not exist all together, they definitely have no place for our 12 and under athletes.......It is what is best for our sport.
Let’s consider who is served by sessions that run longer than four hours: The host club who stands to earn more on entry fees and concessions. Other than that, we couldn’t come up with any good ideas.
The rationale has been given that those people who have to travel considerable distances want it to be worth their trip. Wouldn’t it still be worth the trip if a child swims one or two less events in a session perhaps but still has fast times and fun competing?"
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