Suburban Swim League Constitution
(Revised Jan 2012)
Article I - Name
The name of the organization shall be the Suburban Swim League.
Article II - Purpose
The purpose of the organization shall be to promote competitive swimming.
Article III - Membership
Membership shall be open to any swimming pool which desires admission to our league and agrees to abide by the Constitution and Rules of the Organization. Application for membership shall be presented to the League President one month prior to the Fall or Spring Meeting. Acceptance to membership shall be a three-quarter affirmative vote of the total membership.
Article IV - Officers
The officers shall be a President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer. The officers shall be elected annually for a two year term by a majority vote of those present at the Fall Meeting and their term of office shall begin at the adjournment of the Fall Meeting. The president and secretary will be elected in the odd numbered years; vice president and treasurer in even numbered years. The officers will also act as an arbitrating board for all protests.
Article V - Meetings
At least two meetings shall be held each year, one in the Fall and one in the Spring. The time and place shall be designated by the League President. The President will e-mail the league one week prior to the meeting requesting any agenda items. Special meetings may be called by the President, however, no bylaws or rules may be changed at a special meeting. The Spring Meeting will be a general meeting prior to the competitive schedule. The Fall Meeting will be at the conclusion of the season. Rules may be changed at either the Spring or the Fall Meetings. For all voting, each team will have one vote.
Article VI - Constitution Amendments
The Constitution can be changed
by a majority affirmative vote of the total membership. For example, 9 teams (votes) -5 votes=
majority.
Article VII - Rule Changes
Rules may be changed or established by a majority vote of those present at the Spring or Fall Meeting. For example, 9 teams (votes) -5 votes= majority.
Suburban Swim League Rules and Regulations
(Revised Jan. 2012)
DUAL MEET RULES:
The Suburban Swim League will abide by the National Federation Rules and Regulations with the following exceptions: PIAA
Swimmers
Eligibility:
1. Age group eligibility will be based on a competitor's age as of May 31st. (Example: a competitor turning 11 on June 1st would be eligible to compete in the 10 and under age group that year.) A swimmer may compete through the Summer season following the last year of high school.
2. A Swimmer participating in the Suburban Swim League from June 1st, until the Suburban Swim League Championship Meet, in any one Summer season, may only represent a single Suburban Swim League Team, Swimmers may not represent a team from any other similar Summer League, (example: ABE League, Allentown Inner-city League, Bethlehem Inner-city League, Bux-Mont, Norwin, etc.), during the same Summer season the Swimmer swims for the Suburban League Team.
3. All Swimmers must be members in good standing of their respective pools. Exception - employees are ineligible to swim the first year of employment unless they were members or employees of the respective pool the previous year. Second year employees are eligible without membership.
4. Infraction of eligibility rules will result in forfeiture of individual event and relay event points earned by the individual or individuals found to have swum while being ineligible. Forfeited points will be awarded to the opposing team. A $25.00 penalty will be issued to the offending team.
5. Swim Team Rosters (Team Manager Files) including (first and last names and date of birth - month, day and year) must be sent to the President and each Team Coach three days before the first scheduled meet. All additions to the rosters must be sent to the President and each Team Coach before a swimmer is eligible to compete, and these must be e-mailed three days before the meet. All rosters may be added to until the fourth scheduled meet date then no further additions may be made. To ensure that all teams submit roster reports in the same format the Roster report feature of Team Manager with swimmers sorted by ascending age must be used. Bring your rosters/line-ups on a zip/flash drive. Failure to comply with any of the above will result in a $25.00 penalty.
6. Swimmers do not have to wear suits of the same color or pattern; however, they must be decent.
7. Coaches must advise swimmers about the appropriate body markings and jewelry safety issues.
8. Boys may only compete in boys scoring events and girls may only compete in girls scoring events.
9. The league will use the mathematically correct conversion factors to convert swim times from the various pool lengths of the league. The conversions will be:
a) 25 yards to 25 meters 1.094
b) 25 meters to 25 yards 0.9141
c) 30 yards to 25 yards 0.8333
d) 30 yards to 25 meters 0.9113
e) 25 meters to 30 yards 1.0973
f) 25 yards to 30 yards 1.2000
Swimming
Events
1. The individual swimming events to be contested will be freestyle, butterfly, backstroke and breaststroke for all five age groups and individual medleys for the 12&under, 14&under and 15&over age groups and a free relay for the 8 & under age group. (See Event Sheet Attached)
2. A person may compete in four events, one of which must be a relay.
3. The order of events will be as follows: 8 & Under Free Relay, 15&over 50 Freestyle, Medley Relays, Breaststroke, Individual Medleys, Butterfly, Backstroke, remaining Freestyle, and Freestyle Relays.
4. In dual meets, Swimmers may move up any number of age groups to compete in individual events or on relays.
5. An exhibition swimmer must swim the stroke being swum in that event, unless both coaches agree on something else two events prior to the event. This will be a Coaches agreement. Exhibition heats may be swum as specified on the meet schedule and should be recorded on the Exhibition meet sheets. A maximum of two heats of exhibition per event, unless both coaches agree to additional heats. Macungie lane 5 and Quakertown lanes 8 &1 will be exhibition for each event.
6. False starts for swimmers will be as follows: Events for ages 8-10-12 & under will be allowed 1 fast false start. Ages 13 & over will be allowed No false starts.
7. Protests of rule infractions will be as follows:
a) Infractions of the rules must be brought verbally to the attention of the Meet Referee/Starter before the next event. Point of contact persons to address situation.
b) Protests not resolved by the Meet Referee/Starter must be submitted in writing by the team protesting to the President of the League. The President will call a special meeting of the teams involved and the Arbitration Board. The Arbitration Board shall pass final judgment of the protest. The protest must be submitted no later than 48 hours following the meet. Two alternatives will be appointed to the Arbitration Board made up of the officers), if members of the Board are involved in the protest.
8. Only 2 swimmers/teams may score for each team in each relay and individual event.
Swim Teams & Coaches Responsibility:
1. Pools are to be available as follows:
a) Starting time for warm-ups is 5:00 p.m.
b) Each team gets the entire pool for one-half of the warm-up period. The home team will warm up the first one-half of the warm up period. The visiting team will warm up the second one-half of the warm-up period. The team not warming up will clear the pool deck area during the other team's warm-up period.
c) Skimmer openings and other openings or protrusions at either end of the pool and in the swimming lanes shall be covered or protected to reduce the chance of injury to the swimmers.
d) Starting time for meets is 6:00 p.m. (6:30 p.m. is the latest starting time at the Referee/Starter's discretion.)
e)
If
a meet has been started and then postponed due to inclement weather, the Head
Coaches turn all Event Sheets over to the Referee/Starter,
and plan a scratch meeting 10 minutes prior to the start of the rescheduled
meet for changes. An entirely new line-up may be submitted from the point of
the last event swum at the postponed meet, taking into account the number of
events in which a swimmer may have already participated.
f)
30
minute rule applies for thunder and lightning.
Meet can be called after event 38 or rescheduled and must be mutually
agreed upon.
2. In dual meets, the two clubs competing will each furnish the following:
a) 9 timers. The 9 timers per team per meet will be assigned as follows: Home team lanes - 2 visitor timers, 1 home timer; Visitor team lanes - 2 home timers, 1 visitor timer. Timers will use the middle time of the 3 recorded as the swimmers time.
b) 1 stroke and turn official
c) 1 score keeper
d) If available, a PIAA Official will be in charge of the meet as Referee/Starter. (Home team responsibility). Alternately, a certified NCAA or US Swimming official may serve as Referee/Starter provided they are familiar with PIAA rules and the League exceptions to those rules. If no certified official is available a person who has attended training specified or conduct by the League may serve as Referee/Starter. Stroke and turn officials must also be certified officials or have attended training specified or conducted by the League. By mutual consent, the home team may request that the visiting team supply the Referee/Starter if the home team has difficulty supplying its quota.
3. The home team will swim even lanes and the away team will swim odd lanes. In a five lane pool the visiting team will have lanes 1 & 3 as scoring lanes. Lane 5 will be for exhibition only. The home team coach will contact the visiting team coach to arrange exhibition events. These lanes are to be noted by each Swimmer's name on the score sheets prior to the beginning of the meet. If a swimmer swims in the wrong lane, he or she will be disqualified.
4. Meet Manager Timer sheets are to be used for the times of each lane in dual meets. These sheets will include: Event #, Lane #, and swimmer's name. Timers will write in time.
5. All lanes will count in a six lane
pool. Four lanes will count in a four or five lane
pool. Individual events will be scored 5-3-1. Relay events will be scored
8-4-2.
6. The Home team has the option to call a meet off by 3:30 p.m. because of cold or foul weather. Once both teams are at a meet, if at all possible, the meet is to proceed. Deadline to start is 6:30 p.m.
7. The home club MUST have
available at the scorer's table a copy of the current PIAA Rule Book, plus a
current copy of the Suburban Swim League Constitution and Rules and Regulations.
8. Meet Rosters must be turned in to the Scorer’s table no later than 5:45 p.m. Failure to do so will be a $25.00 penalty to the offending team. However Coaches may change the entries for an event by informing the scorer's table of changes on a 3 x 5 card. Changes must be made five events prior to the event currently being swum.
9. The home team must notify the League President within 48 hours of the meet score. There will be a $25.00 penalty for not complying. Meet Results should be sent in PDF and Meet Manager format.
10. Records that have been broken must be submitted along with meet results in same e-mail so the President can verify and notify the webmaster. No league records should be announced at a meet. The league will keep two sets of records. One set will contain the best times in yard pools and the other will contain the best times in meter pools. All records will be kept to the hundreds.
12. All communication to the Suburban Swim
League must be handled by the Coach and Club Representative of the respective
Club.
13. After 5:45 the home team is
responsible to print out a copy of the heat sheet after seeding is done for all
officials and coaches. A copy should also be printed for the announcer and
should be marked as announcer Copy. It
is the responsibility of the scorer’s table to make sure the announcers copy
stays updated to all changes made during the meet.
Meetings:
1. League
Meetings for Fall are to be planned in Spring, Spring meetings are to be
planned in Fall. Dates are to be picked before meeting is adjourned.
2. It is a must that one parent representative and one Coach will be at all meetings. Failure to do so results in a $25.00 penalty per person.
3. All penalties must be paid at or by the Seeding Meeting or the entire team will be disqualified from Championships.
4. Starting with the 2010 swim season ALL teams will use Team Manager 5.0 or newer. Starting with the 2011 swim season ALL teams will use Meet Manager 3.0. In years after 2011 the software to be used will be set at the Fall Meeting.
Championship Swim Meet Rules
1. The deadline for entries for the Championship Meet will be established by the officers. Entries for this meet will be submitted from the Team Manager program, on disk, or via e-mail, to the person/place specified and will list the best time obtained by each swimmer in a current season Suburban Swim League Dual Meet. The time submitted will be recorded in yards or meters, depending on whether the Championship Meet host pool is a yard or meter pool. Conversion factors will follow the Team Manager format:
a) 25 yards to 25 meters = TIME x 1.094
b) 25 meters to 25 yards = TIME x .9141
c) 30 yards to 25 meters = TIME x .9113
d) 30 yards to 25 yards = TIME x .8333
2. Each team may enter one relay teams per relay event.
3. All relay alternates shall be listed along with relay swimmers. If a swimmer is listed as an alternate, this counts as an event for the swimmer only if s/h actually swims in the relay.
4. A swimmer may compete in 4 events, one of which must be a relay.
5. Relay splits may not be used for seeding.
6. Seed time submitted may be from an exhibition event.
7. Each club may enter three contestants in each individual event in the Championship Meet. Since there will be more than one heat in most events, seeding will be determined by Meet Manager.
8. In the Championship Meet, all swimmers must compete in their age group for individual events. A swimmer may move up any number of age groups to participate in a relay.
9. The seeding of the Championship Meet will be determined by the Championship Committee or its designated representatives using Meet Manager. The league board shall attend the meeting. Two representatives from each team shall attend the swim seeding meeting. Current season dual meet result shall be available for inspection. The host team shall supply heat sheet printouts from the Meet Manager program to each team at the start of the seeding meeting (2 copies to each team). Swimmers may be added or deleted at the respective seeding meeting if the addition/deletion of the swimmer is turned in to the League President before the heat sheet printouts are distributed. The addition or deletion of swimmers at the seeding meeting is to correct omissions and errors in the entries submitted. All team representatives shall remain until the seeding is completed and verified. Failure to attend with appropriate representatives will result in a $25.00 penalty.
10. After the initial scratch meeting. Championship scratches are at the discretion of the Meet Director.
11. The Championship Meet will be scored on the basis of 12 places, with ribbons awarded through 18th place.
12. A plaque will be awarded to the high scoring team at Championships.
13. The Meet Director of the Championship Meet shall be a representative of the host team. It will be his/her responsibility to oversee details and to work in cooperation with the other teams
14. The host team for Suburban Swim League Championships is responsible for providing the following:
a) The facility for the Championship Meet.
b) The food stand for the Championship Meet and feeding the officials who work all day.
c) A Meet Director to share responsibility with the League President
d) Equipment and workers to operate Meet Manager for Championships.
e) Ordering, labeling and distributing awards at Championships
f) A facility to host the seeding meeting for Championships.
g) A packet of Championship information for each team. This packet must contain at least:
i) The Championship day's schedule including pool open times, warm-up times, session start times etc.
ii) The order of events for each session.
iii) Whether the times are to be submitted as yard or meter times.
iv)
Sign-up sheets for each
team listing the worker positions must be filled for each session.
v) Any other relevant information (parking etc.). Failure to supply this information at the spring meeting will result in a $50.00 penalty to the host team.
15. Team order for hosting championships is as follows:
a) Lower Macungie 2012
b) Macungie 2013
c) Northampton 2014
d) Northern Lehigh 2015
e) Palmerton 2016
f) Quakertown 2017
g)
Soleco
2018
h)
Whitehall
2019
i)
Hanover
2020
16. The next years host team shall supply their starting system as back-up to ensure that Championships is not delayed for any technical issues.
17. Starting blocks will be located only at the starting end of the pool. Dual blocks shall not be allowed.
18. A swimmer can use a time from a League
sanctioned Invitational meet as an entry time for Best of the Rest or
Championships. In order for the time to be used as a Championship entry time
the swimmer must have competed in two League dual meets in the current season. The decision on which invitational events can
be used for entry time will be made at the Spring Meeting.
For example: Soleco Splash.
19. The league will pay to have a lifeguards on duty during the meet.
20. "No Time" entries will not be allowed at championships. Swimmers must have swum the event during a regular season dual meet to have an entry time.
21. 3 timers are required for each lane at championships. The middle time of the three will be the time recorded on each lane.
22. The league will pay the costs for
hiring officials for championship meets. Officials will be PIAA, USS, or NCAA
approved and will be paid the current PIAA meet rate. The league will hire a
starter/referee and 3 stroke and turn judges.
23.
League will pay cost of person running Meet Manager, same as officials.
24.
All volunteers must pay admission fee.
Best of the Rest
1. Best
of the Rest will take place on the Wednesday preceding the Suburban Swim League
Championship Meet. The meet will be held at the
2. Best
of the Rest is open to members of Suburban Swim League Teams who have qualified
for no more than 1 individual event at the Suburban Swim League Championship
Meet. All swimmers will swim in the age
group in which they competed during the current season.
3. Each
swimmer may enter 3 events. There are no relay events. The host
team will distribute the events in Best of the Rest at the spring meeting and
may include events (such as 6 and under events) which are not regular dual meet
events
4. No
swimmer may compete in Best of the Rest in any event he or she is entering in
Suburban Swim League Championships.
5. Entries
for Best of the Rest will be submitted via e-mail in team manager format to the
person/place specified and will list the best yard time obtained by each
swimmer in a current season Suburban Swim League Dual Meet. "No Time"
entries will not be allowed, however the League may decide to allow times from
other meets to be used for Best of the Rest. The decision as to which, if any,
meets' time will be acceptable will be made at the Spring Meeting. For example:
Soleco Splash.
6. Entries for meet must be received by Sunday
at or before 4:00pm.
7. There
is a $2.00 entry fee per event.
8. Awards
will be given through 18th place. There is no team scoring.
9. Team Hosting Best of Rest is responsible for
purchase of ribbons.
10. A door charge of $3.00 will be collected for
programs and entrance to meet.
11. A
$1 donation to the league will be given for each event entered.
Dual Meet Order of
Events
1. Girls 8 & Under 100 Free Relay 2. Boys 8 & Under 100 Free Relay
3.
Girls
15 & Over 50 Free 4. Boys 15 & Over 50 Free
5.
Girls
10 & Under 100 Medley Relay 6. Boys 10 & Under 100 Medley Relay
7.
Girls
12 & Under 100 Medley Relay 8. Boys 12 & Under 100 Medley Relay
9.
Girls
13 & Over 200 Medley Relay 10. Boys 13 & Over 200 Medley Relay
11.
Girls
8 & Under 25 Breast 12. Boys 8 & Under 25 Breast
13.
Girls
10 & Under 25 Breast 14. Boys 10 & Under 25 Breast
15.
Girls
12 & Under 50 Breast 16. Boys 12 & Under 50 Breast
17.
Girls
14 & Under 50 Breast 18. Boys 14 & Under 50 Breast
19.
Girls
15 & Over 50 Breast 20. Boys 15 & Over 50 Breast
21. Girls 12 & Under 100 IM 22. Boys 12 & Under 100 IM
23.
Girls
14 & Under 100 IM 24. Boys 14 & Under 100 IM
25.
Girls
15 & Over 100 IM 26. Boys 15 & Over 100 IM
27.
Girls
8 & Under 25 Fly 28. Boys 8 & Under 25 Fly
29.
Girls
10 & Under 25 Fly 30. Boys 10 & Under 25 Fly
31.
Girls
12 & Under 50 Fly 32. Boys 12 & Under 50 Fly
33.
Girls
14 & Under 50 Fly 34. Boys 14 & Under 50 Fly
35.
Girls
15 & Over 50 Fly 36. Boys 15 & Over 50 Fly
37.
Girls
8 & Under 25 Back 38. Boys 8 & Under 25 Back
39.
Girls
10 & Under 25 Back 40. Boys 10 & Under 25 Back
41.
Girls
12 & Under 50 Back 42. Boys 12 & Under 50 Back
43.
Girls
14 & Under 50 Back 44. Boys 14 & Under 50 Back
45.
Girls
15 & Over 50 Back 46. Boys 15 & Over 50 Back
47.
Girls
8 & Under 25 Free 48. Boys 8 & Under 25 Free
49.
Girls
10 & Under 25 Free 50. Boys 10 & Under 25 Free
51.
Girls
12 & Under 50 Free 52. Boys 12 & Under 50 Free
53.
Girls
14 & Under 50 Free 54. Boys 14 & Under 50 Free
55.
Girls
15 & Over 100 Free 56. Boys 15 & Over 100 Free
57. Girls All Age Crescendo 58. Boys All Age Crescendo