NEW "SIT and SLIDE" Water Entry Policy
As you begin to prepare to the start of the Short Course season this message serves to communicate a policy change concerning meet warm-ups that will become effective at the beginning of this season.
As a part of the continued review and assessment of our LSC safety practices, and in alliance with USA Swimming’s best practices, the New England Swimming Operational Risk Committee made a recommendation for the LSC to align our warm-up/warm-down policy with that of USA Swimming's recommended policy, so as to increase warmup safety.
During the July Board of Directors meeting, the New England Swimming Board of Directors voted to phase-in a required “sit-and-slide” entry for meet warm-up sessions involving 12 & Under Swimmers, as well as any warm-up areas open during competition. The full policy may be found here:
oprisk--sit-and-slide-policy_013230.pdf (teamunify.com)
The “sit-and-slide” entry requires the swimmer to sit on the pool deck, with one hand on the wall, maintaining the hand on the wall until both feet have entered the water. The “sit-and-slide” entry is demonstrated in this
video.
Specifically, New England Swimming has put the following requirements in place for phase one:
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In phase one of the policy implementation, the “sit-and-slide” entry is required for all sessions with 12 & Under events. If the session includes both 12 & Under events and Senior/13 & Over events, two warm-up sessions, one for 12 & Under swimmers and one for 13 and Over swimmers, must be utilized, or the “sit-and-slide” entry is required for all swimmers at the session. Open meets (meets without any age specific events) will not be affected during phase one.
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If a warm-up area is open during competition, the “sit-and-slide” entry is required for all swimmers using this area. This applies to all meets regardless of swimmer age.
Please let us know if you have any questions, and please let us know if there is anything we can do to assist you or your team in any way. We look forward to a great season, and we thank you for your support!
Respectfully,
The New England Swimming Operational Risk Committee
