What can unattached PVS swimmer do if he wants to continue to compete ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.pvswim.org/2122meet/22-31-ma.pdf


• Payment for entries from unattached swimmers not affiliated with a team must be received prior to
the meet. Payment may be made by cash or check.
• Entry fees are due with meet entry. Unpaid fees will be reported to the PVS Administrative Office at
the conclusion of the meet.

What is "unattached swimmer not affiliated with a team" ?

and there was a swimmer at that meet age 45 as unattached --- transferring between clubs ?

I don't understand what you are saying here- you see a 45 year old swimmer in the turkey claus showdown results swimming as unattached? Something else?

https://www.teamunify.com/lscis/UserFiles/Image/QuickUpload/unattached-faq_092292.pdf

Unattached does not have to be in the process of transferring, it simply means not affiliated (from now on or never have been) with a team/club

[Anonymous]

I'm not totally sure if its OP who is bringing in FAQ's from possibly Iowa swimming? talking about unattached swimmers or someone else- but I think OP is confusing something being technically allowed as meaning that thus there must be an easy path to compete in a variety of meets in the PVS. Based on my experience, I don't think this is true. e.g. those FAQ's from Iowa use an example of a 7 year old unattached swimmer, and states that many coaches, timers, etc would be happy to show the unattached 7 year old where to go. Perhaps that's true in Iowa, but I don't see any meet director allowing a 7 year old unattached swimmer in the PVS. 7 year old attached swimmers are enough to deal with
But perhaps you will have good luck in persuading meet directors to let your kid swim unattached.

[Anonymous]

OP here

https://pvswim.org/register.htm

I think this https://www.emailmeform.com/builder/form/0MbC59Bsd67A

is for swimmers who are not associated with any USA swimming club/team

So if PVS meets described as open to all PVS registered swimmers, then they should and will accept this kind unattached swimmers.

Otherwise, what is the purpose to have this registration ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here

https://pvswim.org/register.htm

I think this https://www.emailmeform.com/builder/form/0MbC59Bsd67A

is for swimmers who are not associated with any USA swimming club/team

So if PVS meets described as open to all PVS registered swimmers, then they should and will accept this kind unattached swimmers.

Otherwise, what is the purpose to have this registration ?

I think it’s more up to individual meet host teams accepting unattached swimmers.

[Anonymous]

I don’t know the answer to your question but the years our dc was swimming the meets were always full. I seem to remember that when we joined a new start- up club after leaving a well- known large club, the coach could not get our team in all the meets. It took a number of years, we had to host etc. I am wondering if this would be similar to single swimmer if all spots taken?

I am sure I didn’t know all the details but I feel like capacity was always the issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here

https://pvswim.org/register.htm

I think this https://www.emailmeform.com/builder/form/0MbC59Bsd67A

is for swimmers who are not associated with any USA swimming club/team

So if PVS meets described as open to all PVS registered swimmers, then they should and will accept this kind unattached swimmers.

Otherwise, what is the purpose to have this registration ?

I think it’s more up to individual meet host teams accepting unattached swimmers.

This is true. Unattached swimmers who are transferring teams is a very different scenario than an unattached swimmer with no club. Typically invites are by club.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know the answer to your question but the years our dc was swimming the meets were always full. I seem to remember that when we joined a new start- up club after leaving a well- known large club, the coach could not get our team in all the meets. It took a number of years, we had to host etc. I am wondering if this would be similar to single swimmer if all spots taken?

I am sure I didn’t know all the details but I feel like capacity was always the issue.

yep- in order for meets to happen, they need officials, volunteers, etc- this is all done through clubs. There is cooperation between clubs about inviting one another to their hosted meets, etc. An unattached swimmer, with no plans to join another club, doesn't fit into the way PVS functions. OP seems determined to believe that b/c she can do something on paper, it will work out practically though, so I don't think there is anything anyone can do to convince her otherwise.

Getting access to meets is not the only problem- I really can't imagine even a strong swimmer having the discipline (and finding pool space) to fully practice on their own without a coach- in the kind of way they need to practice to continue to make championship type cuts.

[Anonymous]

OP here again, thanks for all the feedback.

Understanding the difficulty of getting into meets that have no cut off time -- often they are very crowded. However, Champs with cut off time that are open to all PVS registered swimmers should be accessible to all who make the cuts.

That should be also considered as an inclusive policy. Swimming club fees are not cheap, there are swimmers who can compete at Champs but their families may not be able to afford the cost of join a club.

Seasonal registered swimmers (150 days) cost only $40 that seems a good option to cover both SCY and LCM Juniors Champs.

What I am trying to do is to make this process (from a club swimmer to an unattached) less hurtful and to give my kid something to look forward to. Even if this option is closed, then we can still make best of in the high school competition.

Thanks to all !

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here again, thanks for all the feedback.

Understanding the difficulty of getting into meets that have no cut off time -- often they are very crowded. However, Champs with cut off time that are open to all PVS registered swimmers should be accessible to all who make the cuts.

That should be also considered as an inclusive policy. Swimming club fees are not cheap, there are swimmers who can compete at Champs but their families may not be able to afford the cost of join a club.

Seasonal registered swimmers (150 days) cost only $40 that seems a good option to cover both SCY and LCM Juniors Champs.

What I am trying to do is to make this process (from a club swimmer to an unattached) less hurtful and to give my kid something to look forward to. Even if this option is closed, then we can still make best of in the high school competition.

Thanks to all !

But this isn't your kid's situation, OP. He just thinks he's too good for his assigned training group.

[Anonymous]

It is in a way, we don't believe to spend that much money in a group that is not training for competition.

[Anonymous]

Unattached swimmers are often let in meets that are not part of a club. It happens even in PVS. Allowing one swimmer in is not a drain on the meet.

There are actually some quite good swimmers in this box. It is just rare. Usually it is when a parent is the kid's coach. The hiccup as someone pointed out is that it is easy to get the unattached swimmer into the meet, it is not easy to get the coach on deck with that swimmer. In this case the kid is older and can manage for himself.

Almost all meets in PVS are open. Yes there are arrangements between clubs to work out volunteers and the numbers. Meet Directors/Coordinators will let a kid in if they do it the proper way.

[Anonymous]

Anyone know if you can swim unattached if you are in fact part of a team? For example, there have been swim meets that we would love to enter but our small team doesn't want to do it. Is it possible to swim unattached in that scenario? The meet announcement has always made it sound like that's a no ("individual entries will not be accepted").

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone know if you can swim unattached if you are in fact part of a team? For example, there have been swim meets that we would love to enter but our small team doesn't want to do it. Is it possible to swim unattached in that scenario? The meet announcement has always made it sound like that's a no ("individual entries will not be accepted").

OP here,

I don't know and this is really new to us. But based on what I read some of meet announcements. --- they mentioned individual unattached swimmers entry policy -- that is to pay the fee before the meet starts while clubs may pay later (after receiving an invoice).

Since you are already in a team, I am not sure you can still claim as an unattached. We become unattached because we are not good enough to move up but yet we don't believe a group merely provides some minimum workout is beneficial to our swimmer for competition.

We may skip all the open swimming meets and only focus on what we have qualified in Champs and the qualified time are valid for two years --- just enough for us to maintain a competitive swimmer status before heading colleges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone know if you can swim unattached if you are in fact part of a team? For example, there have been swim meets that we would love to enter but our small team doesn't want to do it. Is it possible to swim unattached in that scenario? The meet announcement has always made it sound like that's a no ("individual entries will not be accepted").

OP here,

I don't know and this is really new to us. But based on what I read some of meet announcements. --- they mentioned individual unattached swimmers entry policy -- that is to pay the fee before the meet starts while clubs may pay later (after receiving an invoice).

Since you are already in a team, I am not sure you can still claim as an unattached. We become unattached because we are not good enough to move up but yet we don't believe a group merely provides some minimum workout is beneficial to our swimmer for competition.

We may skip all the open swimming meets and only focus on what we have qualified in Champs and the qualified time are valid for two years --- just enough for us to maintain a competitive swimmer status before heading colleges.

OP, I get that your son’s feelings are hurt, but is it really worth all of this just to soothe his ego about not being part of the advanced group anymore? I look at this as a life lesson, for the vast majority of people you will not always be the best at everything you do, and you need to learn how to handle that graciously. You seem to be implying that your kid might be interested in swimming in college, and I don’t know that this would be a good look for recruiting purposes, the kid who got butt hurt by not remaining in the advanced group and then quit club swimming altogether.

[Anonymous]

PP, no my kid is not looking at swimming at colleges all, he knows he is not that good. it is not about ego being part of advanced group -- and by the way, most swimmers in that group will likely end swimming after high school.

He does not need swimming for college application, and also his times are not that good at all.

He has spent over 6 years for swimming practices, 5-6 times a week and with some very early mornings, he has almost 100% attendance, and it is something he wants to do -- that is to compete for his high school team and to compete some his favorite events (longer distance) at PVS.

Actually self training will bring new/great experience for him that will certainly beneficial beyond swimming