Reply to Why doesn’t USA Swimming use cut-off dates like every other youth sport?

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[quote=Anonymous]I don’t understand this. If swim programs are going to base their seasonal training and goals around end-of -season championships with qualifying times (which I don’t think is the best plan for age group swimming in the first place), why do they not use birthday cut-off dates like other youth sports that make sense? For example, if SC championship is March 10, and a 10 year old swimmer spends all season from September training with 10 year olds and working  toward those time cuts, then turns 11 on March 9 and can’t compete in the end-if-season meet? Why would they structure things this way? Wouldn’t it make more sense to have some sort of cut-off date where swimmers get to finish their season with the group they have trained with (maybe Jan 1 for SC and June 1 for LC)? Or maybe there just shouldn’t be once-per-season qualifying meets for age groupers when the championship meets are basically just a competition between the oldest few in the age group whose birthdays fall right after the meet? And instead give balanced focus to meets throughout the year?

The championship cycle makes sense for senior level swimmers, when relative age is less important and age groups are combined anyway, but the way it is currently structured just makes no sense for age group swimmers. [/quote]

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