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

[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").

Yes you can swim unattached. From the rules:

Unattached Swimmers may swim any Individual Event, however, may not swim in Relays.
Club Registered Swimmers, choosing to swim Unattached for any given meet, is typically done because the swimmer plans to change clubs. The swimmer's family may be moving to another area or the swimmer may just want to go to another club. If a swimmer participates in a meet and is entered as Unattached (UN), that meet date will not be used when determining the swimmers last date of competition for his/her old club.
Example: Johnny knows he is moving from Albany to Ohio in June. He has researched and chosen a new club in Ohio and wants to be able to represent the new club immediately after moving. Johnny looks at the calendar and counts back 120 days from his new club's first meet and has determined he may not represent his current AD club after February 16th , if he wants to be attached to his new club for the first meet. He still wants to swim in Adirondack meets, so he chooses to enter meets as Unattached (UN). He may swim any Individual Event, however, since he has entered as an Unattached Swimmer, he may not swim in Team Events (Relays).
To sum up - It IS Legal for ANY Swimmer, Registered to ANY USA Swimming Club, to CHOOSE to Swim Unattached for ANY Meet. There is nothing special needed for the swimmers entry, other than being sure the swimmers data is using the Unattached (UN) Club (Team) Code and not the actual Club Code. SWIMS Recons will not find any error when a club registered swimmer enters a meet as Unattached.
Please remember, this situation is NOT true in reverse. If a swimmer is truly registered in SWIMS as Unattached (UN), he/she MAY NOT Choose to swim any meet, representing a club.

[Anonymous]

OP here again,

PP this makes sense ! Our swimmer competed at
Washington Metro Championships (METROS) 2022, it was a high school "all stars" meet but it was also PVS sanctioned meet, so swimmer's times were recorded as UN !

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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

I’m not trying to be difficult but how is it not about ego? If your kid recognizes that he is not at the level of the advanced group swimmers, but still wants to compete for his high school and in some PVS meets, why wouldn’t he join the senior development group which would allow him to do exactly that? I totally appreciate as a parent trying to support your kid’s decisions, but this is a decision that logistically makes no sense. I would probably tell my kid navigating the logistics is up to them if this is something they want to pursue in lieu of training with the group that their skills are best suited for.

[Anonymous]

Well if his ego ends up saving me a couple thousand dollars why should I not support this ego ?

Seorisly either joining a senior development group or managing self training are just to keep swimming for another two years and there is no expectation of achieving anything else. But the later choice brings in new experiences. It will certainly enhance his self discipline.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well if his ego ends up saving me a couple thousand dollars why should I not support this ego ?

Seorisly either joining a senior development group or managing self training are just to keep swimming for another two years and there is no expectation of achieving anything else. But the later choice brings in new experiences. It will certainly enhance his self discipline.

The new experience of training alone for the sole purpose of competing for his last 2 years of high school? You’re really losing me here. Your kid is going to transport themself to the pool when there are lanes available for recreational swim and hope to get a lane to himself; or alternatively, you’re going to pay to reserve a lane for him to train in alone regularly? Then, once that has been arranged, your kid is going to put himself through sets, alone, day after day. Then, when it comes to the PVS meets, you’re going to navigate the unattached athlete process. And all of this to avoid swimming with the senior development group that everyone acknowledges your kid’s skills are best suited for? I’m sorry but this just sounds completely ridiculous and I would feel like as a parent it would be my job to point the ridiculousness out to my kid.

[Anonymous]

There are lanes packed with lap swimmers and some are really good. No need to reserve lanes, just join them to do their sets.

It really depends on kids. A self discipline kid, in this case, a young man, it is not ridiculous at all

I am not going to argue on this topic. My original post was to ask PVS competition

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are lanes packed with lap swimmers and some are really good. No need to reserve lanes, just join them to do their sets.

It really depends on kids. A self discipline kid, in this case, a young man, it is not ridiculous at all

I am not going to argue on this topic. My original post was to ask PVS competition

My kid has occasionally had to go do a workout given by a coach alone for various reasons. You should be aware going in that public lap lanes are set up for long steady sets. If the coach gave sprint intervals, for example, she either had to wait to start, keep switching lanes (between fast and slow), or skip part of the workout. Without a reserved lane or swimming with a group where everyone is doing the same thing, getting entire workouts in will be a challenge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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

Genuinely curious why you added the bolded part.

[Anonymous]

1. College swimming is very competitive
2. Our club has three levels practice groups, developmental, advanced, and elite. Even in elite group, some swimmers don't get into desirable college teams and they decide to choose academic over athletic.

"end swimming after high school" in this context means end of swimming competition --- I added in perspective, either moving up to that group or assigning to developmental group, or self training -- it is all about 2 years swimming competition

[Anonymous]

OP here again ! Just wanted to update with our experience as unattached swimmer.

We did attend one PVS meet early in the season, but we have not been able to attend other PVS meets. Often we did not hear back from the hosts on questions if we could attend the meets.

The same host that let us to compete in the early season also did not respond later on.

So it is at the mercy of the host if an unattached swimmer can compete at a PVS open meet.

So we decided to give up on PVS unattached status -- there is no point to pay money to register as a PVS swimmer without a chance to compete at PVS champs

the good news is that we can compete at high school meets and we are lucky enough to compete at Metro -- and this keeps our swimcloud account active.

no regret on giving up our club swimming. self training is effective. we achieved 4 personal best times and one of them qualified PVS champs

[Anonymous]

Sounds like all the posters telling you this wouldn't work were right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here again ! Just wanted to update with our experience as unattached swimmer.

We did attend one PVS meet early in the season, but we have not been able to attend other PVS meets. Often we did not hear back from the hosts on questions if we could attend the meets.

The same host that let us to compete in the early season also did not respond later on.

So it is at the mercy of the host if an unattached swimmer can compete at a PVS open meet.

So we decided to give up on PVS unattached status -- there is no point to pay money to register as a PVS swimmer without a chance to compete at PVS champs

the good news is that we can compete at high school meets and we are lucky enough to compete at Metro -- and this keeps our swimcloud account active.

no regret on giving up our club swimming. self training is effective. we achieved 4 personal best times and one of them qualified PVS champs

Just want to say thank you for posting an update. This could very well be useful to someone else checking the forums who may find themselves unattached for whatever reason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here again ! Just wanted to update with our experience as unattached swimmer.

We did attend one PVS meet early in the season, but we have not been able to attend other PVS meets. Often we did not hear back from the hosts on questions if we could attend the meets.

The same host that let us to compete in the early season also did not respond later on.

So it is at the mercy of the host if an unattached swimmer can compete at a PVS open meet.

So we decided to give up on PVS unattached status -- there is no point to pay money to register as a PVS swimmer without a chance to compete at PVS champs

the good news is that we can compete at high school meets and we are lucky enough to compete at Metro -- and this keeps our swimcloud account active.

no regret on giving up our club swimming. self training is effective. we achieved 4 personal best times and one of them qualified PVS champs

Just want to say thank you for posting an update. This could very well be useful to someone else checking the forums who may find themselves unattached for whatever reason.

+1 I appreciate the followup as well.

What I found when I looked into this was similar, but I was ultimately told that the swimmer needed to have USA swimming certified coach on deck in order to enter... But, I too wasn't hearing back and only got a response after I sent, via mail, an entry request along with a check to pay for the event entries in advance of the entry deadline for this particular meet. It was only after they received this when they When they then responded to my email telling me the above requirement. That didn't work for us so that was that.

It seems like many of the meet PVS meet announcements make this or a similar proclamation about being open(but not all do) but in practice, you'll probably just be stonewalled. Which is fine, really, if that's what they want, but they should stop pretending or/update the language in the meet announcements to reflect this.

[Anonymous]

PP Thank you -- just to be clear -- we did not try to contact all the meet hosts -- we failed twice and then gave it up

these two meets

PVS November Open at Fairland

Odd Ball Challenge Meet at Fairland

After that we participated high school meets -- so we really did not bother to keep trying.

Our registration expired on Dec. 31 2022 -- we decided not to renew because we were not certain we could ever attend a meet.

All PVS open meets say "open to all PVS registered swimmers -- and no attached swimmers should make payment before the meet"

But there is no guarantee the host will accept an unattached.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here again ! Just wanted to update with our experience as unattached swimmer.

We did attend one PVS meet early in the season, but we have not been able to attend other PVS meets. Often we did not hear back from the hosts on questions if we could attend the meets.

The same host that let us to compete in the early season also did not respond later on.

So it is at the mercy of the host if an unattached swimmer can compete at a PVS open meet.

So we decided to give up on PVS unattached status -- there is no point to pay money to register as a PVS swimmer without a chance to compete at PVS champs

the good news is that we can compete at high school meets and we are lucky enough to compete at Metro -- and this keeps our swimcloud account active.

no regret on giving up our club swimming. self training is effective. we achieved 4 personal best times and one of them qualified PVS champs

Just want to say thank you for posting an update. This could very well be useful to someone else checking the forums who may find themselves unattached for whatever reason.

+1 I appreciate the followup as well.

What I found when I looked into this was similar, but I was ultimately told that the swimmer needed to have USA swimming certified coach on deck in order to enter... But, I too wasn't hearing back and only got a response after I sent, via mail, an entry request along with a check to pay for the event entries in advance of the entry deadline for this particular meet. It was only after they received this when they When they then responded to my email telling me the above requirement. That didn't work for us so that was that.

It seems like many of the meet PVS meet announcements make this or a similar proclamation about being open(but not all do) but in practice, you'll probably just be stonewalled. Which is fine, really, if that's what they want, but they should stop pretending or/update the language in the meet announcements to reflect this.

exactly the only meet we went --the host asked "who will be the coach on the deck" we replied "the swimmer himself !" no kidding --- he has been training by himself and experimenting various sets (search on line) -- at age 16, that is not so hard at all