Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve been a referee in NVSL for awhile and have been the referee for a few swim meets where kids had gender based accommodations that had been approved by the nvsl rules committee. All of those cases were trans boys who swam in the boys events. One of who had an exception from the swimwear rule to allow for a tank top (usa swim rules for boys say no swimsuit above the waist).

Have your team rep contact the nvsl rules committee.

there is a big difference between biological girls swimming in boys events and biological 16 year old boys swimming in girls events. The biological girls are not getting any advantage from this and thus are not harming another swimmer. The biological boys are definitely getting an advantage and are harming their biological girl competitors.

My personal refereeing experience to date is that to the best of my knowledge, I have only ever had trans boys swim in boys events, but never a trans girl swim in a girls event. It could have happened without me being aware, but I think most likely my experience is just limited.

I understand your position regarding the advantage, but I would take the opposite position that the role of the Referee in determining who should be legally allowed to swim in each event doesn't allow for the referee to be conducting any examination other than taking the word of the team rep from each team. So if a team put a trans girl in a girls event, even a 15-18 event, I wouldn't DQ them. But I can understand a referee taking your position that it is an advantage and DQing them. That is why I recommend that the swimmers' team rep contact the NVSL rules committee to get a decision letter that would take it out of the individual referee's hands.

Anonymous wrote:Why can't there just be an open category for anyone that wants to swim in it? The best times get seeded in it for A meets. And then there should be a biological girl category.

If this is an option, I would suggest that all the events be run as mixed heats. Just seed them by times. It would make the whole event run faster and the results can be reported by category. We do this at the smaller usa swim club meets in my area. Instead of running separate events for 8u, 10, and 12u boys and girls, the event is called mixed 12u 50 free or whatever, and then the kids swim their heats. You can have an 9 year old girl next to a 12 year old boy if their seed times are similar. It makes the meet much faster because all the similar times are grouped and is no less fun to watch. I suppose parents who want the glory of seeing their 8 year old win heats will be disappointed, but no one minds in our meets because the kids are swimming for times and for the experience. They quickly get used to competing against opposite gender/different ages.

There should be a trans league.

I feel like OP’s child should have no problem swimming in B Meets (for the NVSL). I can’t imagine them swimming in A Meets though. It would not be fair to their opponents.

Why can't there just be an open category for anyone that wants to swim in it? The best times get seeded in it for A meets. And then there should be a biological girl category.

Anonymous wrote:Pp here. That comment specifically applies to A meets. If only allowed 3 swimmers per event per gender it wouldn’t work to have the trans girl swim with girls and count for boys unless sacrificing an entry in the girls race. I think b meets could work where swimmer swims with girls and scores a ranks with biological boys.

We mix boys and girls sometimes when we don’t have full events in B meets so it would be easier for them to swim with who they want but times are still an issue.

Pp here. That comment specifically applies to A meets. If only allowed 3 swimmers per event per gender it wouldn’t work to have the trans girl swim with girls and count for boys unless sacrificing an entry in the girls race. I think b meets could work where swimmer swims with girls and scores a ranks with biological boys.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve been a referee in NVSL for awhile and have been the referee for a few swim meets where kids had gender based accommodations that had been approved by the nvsl rules committee. All of those cases were trans boys who swam in the boys events. One of who had an exception from the swimwear rule to allow for a tank top (usa swim rules for boys say no swimsuit above the waist).

Have your team rep contact the nvsl rules committee.

there is a big difference between biological girls swimming in boys events and biological 16 year old boys swimming in girls events. The biological girls are not getting any advantage from this and thus are not harming another swimmer. The biological boys are definitely getting an advantage and are harming their biological girl competitors.

Agree. The biological boy should swim as a girl in the boy races and should not be allowed to swim with biological girls if they have gone through puberty. I say this as a sibling of a trans girl.

Anonymous wrote:I’ve been a referee in NVSL for awhile and have been the referee for a few swim meets where kids had gender based accommodations that had been approved by the nvsl rules committee. All of those cases were trans boys who swam in the boys events. One of who had an exception from the swimwear rule to allow for a tank top (usa swim rules for boys say no swimsuit above the waist).

Have your team rep contact the nvsl rules committee.

there is a big difference between biological girls swimming in boys events and biological 16 year old boys swimming in girls events. The biological girls are not getting any advantage from this and thus are not harming another swimmer. The biological boys are definitely getting an advantage and are harming their biological girl competitors.

Anonymous wrote:

My biological son now is identifying as female (16). My husband and I are divorced and my child can choose between Colonial league (my husband's pool) or NVSL (through me) since my child splits their time. How is this handled with the various leagues? What are the policies? And can anyone point me to the regs?

They swim in their own league

Apparently this is looming.

https://www.13newsnow.com/article/news/politics/transgender-student-athlete-restriction-virginia-bill/291-d4a8ca35-710b-456a-b7a2-3b10ea1ebf24

It does specify PUBLIC schools only and if this passes, what private and non- school institutions decide to do could be very impactful.

What bathing suit do they plan to wear? Just curious.

We have been in NVSL since 2009 and have not encountered this but having super competitive girls and all star swimmers this is tough.

I’ve been a referee in NVSL for awhile and have been the referee for a few swim meets where kids had gender based accommodations that had been approved by the nvsl rules committee. All of those cases were trans boys who swam in the boys events. One of who had an exception from the swimwear rule to allow for a tank top (usa swim rules for boys say no swimsuit above the waist).

Have your team rep contact the nvsl rules committee.

I know the VA state legislature was trying to pass a bill re gender and sports and I don't know what the outcome was, or if it would pertain to recreational leagues. In my area, the rec leagues follow the lead of the club and high school leagues, which have to follow any legislature passed by the state.

CSL has a draft policy on their website which is self-identification-based. Not sure if it ever was officially adopted.
http://csl.nvblu.com/plasma/fms/site/csl/file/61368/procedures-for-gender-diverse-minorsdraft5-28-19.pdf