(A)
The most current US Swimming (USS) rules shall apply in all instances except where they differ from
the following Jefferson County Swim Council (JSSC) rules. JSSC rules shall supersede USS rules in event
of conflict.
(B)
The Vice-President of Rules of the Jefferson Shelby Swim
Council shall be in charge of all swim meets held under JSSC Charter. Protests,
disputes or questions concerning rules and meet governance shall be emailed to:
The Vice-President of Rules has the authority, upon
consultation with the Board of Directors, to determine appropriate action when
a JSSC team violates the rules when such violation results in unfair
competition and no formal complaint is received.
(C)
Changes to these rules, except for spelling corrections and
formatting improvements from the prior year, are denoted by italics. An underlined phrase is of particular importance.
(A)
Written complaints and/or protests may be submitted only by
the team delegate or coach. Complaints must be submitted to the Vice-President
of Rules, or in his/her absence, a member of the Board of Directors,
concurrently with a copy to the team named in the complaint. Complaints arising from a specific
competition must be submitted within seventy-two (72) hours after the purported
rules infraction occurs. Failure to do
so will make a complaint invalid.
Complaints should be delivered in person to an Officer of the
Board. After submission of a complaint,
the President, upon the request of the Vice-President of Rules, may at his/her
discretion and, when necessary, convene an Ethics Committee which shall:
i. Consider written complaints received by the
Vice-President of Rules following the violation of any JSSC rule by any coach,
swimmer or parent.
ii. Determine and impose action fitting the violation up to
and including forfeiture of the meet during which the incident occurred,
suspension of the offending party for an indefinite period or loss of point in
the meet in which the incident occurred.
iii. Consider written complaints and render a decision within
fourteen (14) days from the time the complaint is received in writing in
accordance with Section 2(A) above.
iv. Advise, in writing, both the coach and delegates of teams
involved in the complaint of the decision of the Ethics Committee.
v. Take action on the decision of the Ethics Committee
before the end of that competitive season.
No action shall be carried forward to the next year.
(A) Each swimmer must be registered with
the Vice-President of Registration by 12:00 noon of the day preceding the first
JSSC approved meet in which he/she intends to participate. No swimmer may register after the date
outlined in the attached schedule of JSSC events.
(B) Without exception, swimmers must
participate in a minimum of two (2) JSSC sponsored meets to be eligible to
participate in any Championship Meet as recognized by the JSSC Board. This rule
acknowledges the high priority JSSC places on the team approach to competitive
swimming. Local year-round USS programs
offer excellent opportunities for individual competitive swimmers who cannot
meet this requirement.
(C) JSSC Registration: The current year registration records
for each swimmer shall be maintained by the Vice-President of Registration. The
JSSC registration fee shall be $10.00 per child. An initial late payment fee of $100 will be assessed to teams that do not turn in correct and
complete registrations by the first registration deadline . This fee will increase by $100 per day until
the correct and completed registrations are received by the VP of
Registrations.
Registration
information must be submitted on disk from each team’s Team Manager database
via “team athlete registration export”. The list must be in alphabetical order by last name. The
following information with fees due must be submitted to JSSC at the time of
registration:
The
Waiver of Liability, included in Appendix J, must be signed, dated and returned
for EACH swimmer with the swimmer registration information.
(D) The JSSC
registration fees and Team Manager information on disk should be sent to:
Jefferson Shelby Swim Council
1719 13th Avenue south
Birmingham, AL 35205
Or
emailed to:
(E) The head coach of each team and at
least one other coach are required to have attended Red Cross First Aid, CPR
and Coaches Safety Training courses prior to their work with the children on
the deck and in the pool. Lifeguard
certification may be substituted for any of these requirements as long as it
includes CPR and First Aid. JSSC
coaches are required to submit copies of their certification as proof of
attendance at these courses to the Vice-President of Registration, or designated Coaches Certification
Coordinator (see Appendix A). Prior to
the first meet, each coach not presenting the required documentation will
instead provide a statement indicating the date(s) when training for the proper
certification will be complete. In any
case, required training will be complete and coaching certification will be
provided to the Vice-President of Registration or Coaches Certification
Coordinator before the JSSC team begins competition per Section (F) below. To facilitate the certification requirements
for coaches, every spring the JSSC arranges for the necessary classes to be
held.
(F) The head coach of each team and at
least one other coach must be fully certified with documents submitted to JSSC
by the date of the first dual meet. All
coaches must have completed all certification, with documents submitted to JSSC,
by the date outlined in the schedule of JSSC events.
(G) Swim coach registration and
certification is a JSSC requirement intended to enhance the safety of our
sport. Failure to conform to these requirements may place the league at risk
and jeopardize the safety of our swimmers.
Teams who do not have at least one fully certified coach shall be fined $100.00
per week for each week of the season or until certification is obtained which
ever is less.
The
rules referenced in this section are applicable to all JSSC meets.
(A) JSSC dual meets (or sometimes “Tri”
meets) shall be scheduled by the Board of Directors and announced at the April
meeting. All registered teams must be able to host a
minimum of 2 dual meets and understand that there is a possibility that they
will be required to host 3 dual meets. If a team registers with 25 or fewer swimmers or is a new team
within the JSSC, all efforts will be made to schedule those teams as visitors
in tri-meet formats. However, if a team
cannot host any meets, they may be ineligible to register as a team with
JSSC. The team must contact the VP of
Registrations to discuss their situation and the JSSC board will determine team
eligibility.
(B)
Member clubs will be responsible for providing first through
sixth place and heat winner ribbons for each hosted meet. (Ribbons can be ordered
through JSSC. Ribbon order forms must
be received by the date outlined in the attached schedule of JSSC events –
Appendix C.)
(C)
Meets shall be open to all swimmers of each club (open
meets), or shall be limited to “B” swimmers (“B” meets) by mutual agreement at
the time that the meet is scheduled.
(D)
The JSSC has a stated policy of non-discrimination. In the event a member of the host team
refuses to permit a team access to their facilities, the Board of Directors of
JSSC will determine the disciplinary action to be taken against the host
team. The Board will consider all
salient factors in arriving at a decision.
While the Board reserves the right to determine the action, a forfeit by
the host team will be considered.
(E)
Dual meets will normally be held on Tuesday evenings. Every effort should be made to begin the
meet by 5:00 PM. Pools with
insufficient lighting for the pool and deck should make every attempt to finish
the meet before dark. In the event the
meet is cancelled due to inclement weather (Section 6, (J)) or other reason,
the following Thursday will be the makeup day of choice. Other makeup dates may be used at the
discretion of team delegates and/or coaches.
(F)
If a club desires to cancel a dual meet or participation in
a tri-meet, it must give at least 24-hours notice to the host team. Failure to abide by this rule could result
in disciplinary action by the Board of Directors of JSSC. The board will consider all salient factors
in arriving at a decision.
(A)
The rules referenced in this section are applicable to all
JSSC meets. Occasionally JSSC may
schedule a triangular meet or “tri-meet”.
Except where specifically noted, the rules referenced in this section
are also applicable to tri-meets.
(B)
Dual meets shall consist of the following:
Note: For a pool that is not 25 yards/meters in length, distances
should be the closest to that described in Section 5(B)
Note: Multiple heats in any event are recommended when a team has
more than three (3) swimmers
Note: The number of events that each swimmer may participate in is
limited. See Section 6(F).
(C) Events and order of events for each
age group:
i. Girls first within a given stroke;
and,
ii. Order of events: Freestyle, Breast, Back, Butterfly, Relays
iii. During the odd weeks of each season
(ie. Weeks 1,3, etc), the Freestyle Relay will be swum
iv. During the even weeks of each season
(ie. Weeks 2,4, etc.), the Medley Relay will be swum
(D)
Changes to events and order of events:
Any
event/distance may be added, changed, or modified upon agreement of all coaches
involved by 11:00 AM the date of the meet.
The agreement must be recorded in writing. The agreement must be submitted to the Vice-President of
Scheduling together with the final results.
No further changes can be made without the agreement of both coaches and
approval of the Meet Referee in writing.
(E) Scoring for Dual
Meets Scoring for Tri Meets
1 – fifth place
If
multiple heats are held in any event, the best times overall will be awarded
points as outlined above.
(A)
Both visiting and host teams are responsible for tendering
and exchanging a complete list, and /or a computerized disk from Hytek Team
Manager software, of all swimmers and their respective events. The head scorer of the host team shall
receive a copy of both lists. These
entries are due no later than 3pm the day before the dual meet. A $25 late fee will be assessed if entries
are received by the host team later than the due date/time.
(B)
As required in Section 6(A) above, the entry listing will
reflect the swimmers for each event, seeded in the order of fastest to slowest,
and tendered to the head scorer no later than noon the day before the meet. A 20-point penalty will be assessed for each
team failing to comply with the punctuality rules prescribed herein. Consequently, the official team score shall
be the team points after reduction for the penalty. The Board of Directors has authority to abate the penalty in the
event of reasonable cause due to “extreme, unusual, and non-recurring
circumstances”.
(C)
Unless specifically advised to the contrary by the host
team, the visiting team will furnish entry cards to the host team reflecting
the name of the swimmer, the event number, and the stroke and distance ONLY in
the order of fastest to slowest, to match and coincide with entry sheets
described in Section 5(B) above. The
entry cards will be tendered no later that noon the day preceding the
meet. Failure to do so shall result in
the same penalty outlined in Section 5(B) above.
(D)
Substitutions can be made after the list is turned over to
the head scorer only if a swimmer is unable to compete in the meet as
follows:
i. Substitutions can be made for swimmers who fail to show
up for a meet. If the swimmer arrives
late, no substitutions may be made in subsequent events.
ii. Late entries may be made only if there is an open
lane. The team originally assigned to a
particular lane shall have first priority.
(E)
At least thirty (30) minutes warm-up time must be provided,
permitting an equal number of the available lanes for each club. This warm-up period must be within one hour
of the scheduled starting time of the meet.
(F)
Swimmers will be permitted to swim a maximum of three (3)
individual events and two (2) relays unless the involved coaches mutually
agree, in writing, to a larger number.
These agreements must be submitted to the Vice President of Rules
together with the final results. All
swimmers must compete in their own age group in individual events.
(G)
Lane assignments shall be as follows:
|
*Team A & B are determined by alphabetical order |
|
(H)
A club may field as many relay teams as it has assigned
lanes. However, at least ONE swimmer on each relay
must be within the age group of that relay.
For instance, for an 18 & under relay, at least one swimmer must be
age 15-18 for the relay to be eligible.
(I)
A Marshall shall be present at all JSSC sponsored
meets. He/she shall have full police
charge of the immediate starting area, the sides of the course and the
finish. He/she shall take a position as
instructed by the Referee to maintain stillness in the rear of the starting
platform, and at each start to prevent spectators or swimmers from crowding the
course. He/she shall maintain order
among competitors, spectators, officials, and coaches. He/she shall have authority to remove from
the vicinity of the competition anyone using profane or abusive language, or
whose actions are disrupting the orderly conduct of the meet.
(J)
In the event of inclement weather, safety of our swimmers
will be the top priority. The host team can
decide to delay/cancel the meet based on the host coach’s and/or local pool
management discretion. Continuation of
the meet during questionable conditions shall require mutual agreement by
representatives from both teams. A date
and time for a makeup meet (or continuation) should be determined and agreed
upon at the time the cancellation decision is made. JSSC recommends (no
requirement) that the Thursday following the cancellation be reserved for
makeup meets.
A meet that is completed through the last
heat of the backstroke before cancellation can be considered complete. The meet score shall not include scoring for
stroke or relay events that are only partially complete. Example:
a meet is cancelled during the boys 9–10 butterfly. The meet should be scored only through the
last heat of backstroke.
A
meet that is started and interrupted by weather or otherwise, shall be resumed
under the following procedures:
-
Meet shall not be reseeded. Original
seeding shall apply and swimmers’ age shall be determined as of the date the
meet was initiated. Late additions
(i.e., swimmers not originally entered in the meet) may be added, provided
there is room in originally-seeded heats due to open lanes and/or scratches (in
accordance with Section 6 (D) ). The
age of late addition swimmers shall also be determined as of the date the meet
was initiated.
Only
with the prior approval of all teams involved, a make-up or resumed meet may be
conducted with more than the team (s) originally scheduled, however, the meet
shall be scored as originally scheduled (unless arranged and approved in
advance by all parties involved).
Example – Teams A and B were originally schedules in a dual meet that is
postponed or interrupted. Teams A and C
were scheduled in a dual meet the following week. Due to time constraints, Teams A, B and C elect to resume the
meet together. The meet may be
conducted (and scored) as a tri-meet (provided all three teams agree) or may be
conducted as a tri-meet but scored as two dual meets (A versus B and A versus
C).
(A)
The swimmer must be properly and timely registered in
accordance with registration procedures as outlined in Section 3(A) prior to
competing in a meet.
(B)
Any swimmer, age 13 years or older, whose best competitive
time, obtained at any age, in an individual stroke or individual medley event
obtained in any competition with automatic timing, shall be ineligible to compete
in the JSSC competitive program in the stroke for which his/her time equals or betters the
times for the events in Appendix E. For
instance, if a swimmer has a USS Swimming AAAA time in the 100 yards butterfly,
he/she is ineligible to swim all butterfly events.
(C)
Any swimmer who is receiving or has received pay as a
swimming coach shall be excluded from competition.
(D)
No swimmer may compete for more than one JSSC club in one
season.
(E)
Any club that violates Section 7(B) of the JSSC rules will
forfeit the awarded points plus suffer a twenty (20) point penalty.
(F)
A swimmer’s age as of June 1st of the current
year shall determine the correct age group in which to swim.
(G)
If
you wish to have your child placed in the age group directly above their legal
age group, this request must be submitted in writing to the JSSC VP of
Registrations at the time of registration using the form found in Appendix L. The request will be reviewed by the JSSC
board and approval notification will be given to your coach before the first
swim meet. Swimmers granted a swim up
request will be required to swim all meets during that season at that age level
and may never go back to their legal age group either during the current season
or any other season. They must also
qualify at the higher age level in order to swim at the JSSC County Meet.
(A) The host team is responsible for
providing the pool.
(B)
The visiting team will provide the following officials. All deck
officials must be USS or JSSC certified.
(C)
The host team will provide the following officials: All deck
officials must be USS or JSSC certified.
And a
sufficient number of runners to adequately service the meet.
(D)
No
meet official may wear year-around swim team apparel at any JSSC sanctioned
swim meets – dual meets, JSSC sanctioned invitationals and Championship
meets. This includes referees, starters
and stroke and turn judges. Nor shall
any year-around team give logo items as awards. JSSC will supply each registered team with a minimum of four (4)
Official’s shirts to be worn at all JSSC sanctioned swim meets. JSSC Officials
shirts MUST be worn by all officials at every meet.
(E)
Referable to Sections 8(B) and 8(C), a coach from a
participating team will not be permitted to serve as a meet official. However, during the warm-up period, a
participating coach may serve as Marshall.
(F)
All meet officials, with the exception of runners, shall be
age twelve (12) or older. A penalty of
twenty (20) points per non-complying person will be assessed against the
negligent team failing to observe this rule.
(G)
All supplies including but not limited to ribbons, lane
cards, judges’ cards, disqualification cards, entry cards, heat sheet, guns,
shells, stop watches, etc., will be furnished by the host team.
(H)
A copy of meet results together with names and team
affiliation of referee, stroke judges, finish judges, head scorer and clerk of
course shall be given to the visiting team and the Vice President of Scheduling
within three (3) days from the date following the meet. Each coach shall receive all
disqualification slips on his/her swimmers when given meet results at the
conclusion of the meet. A penalty of
twenty (20) points for failure to comply with this rule will be assessed
against the negligent team.
(I)
The host team must have sign-in sheet for all volunteers
working the meet; this includes officials and other workers, such as meet
directors, runners, or scorers, etc.
The list shall have the volunteer name, position, and club affiliation. This list shall be kept on file with the
host team’s records.
(J)
If all dual meet results are not in the possession of the
Vice-President of Scheduling by the entry deadline for the Divisional or County
Championships, the team(s) may be prohibited from participating in the
Championship Meets. The Board of
Directors shall consider all relevant and salient factors and determine whether
the team(s) are eligible to participate in said meets.
(K)
The meet results shall be mailed to the Vice-President of
Scheduling no later than three days following the meet. The results shall include a cover page that
lists officials who worked the meet as well as the total team scores. An example of the requested cover sheet can
be found in Appendix I.
(L)
Meet results and pertinent information shall be sent to:
Scott
McKeen
117
Summer Circle
Birmingham,
AL 35242
438-4597
(C)
(M)
JSSC certified official will be required to attend a stroke
and turn seminar prior to the beginning of the summer season. JSSC will provide the date, time and
location of the clinic(s). This rule shall be waived in the event no clinic is
scheduled. (Note: Certified USS officials
whom have already satisfied this requirement in prior months are exempt from
this requirement.) Stroke and Turn certifications must be renewed
every two years.
(A) The purpose of a Guppy Meet is to
promote competition for the new and less experienced swimmers. The time standards are to be structured for
the new and less experienced swimmer.
(B) A swimmer shall be eligible to
participate in a Guppy Meet until he/she has obtained the guppy meet standard
in more than one event.
(C) A swimmer shall be eligible to
participate as a guppy in a particular stroke until he/she has achieved the
guppy meet time standard in the stroke
(D) The cut off date for the above
disqualifying factors shall be five (5) calendar days prior to the first
scheduled date of the guppy meet. Rain
dates shall not effect a swimmer’s status, i.e. if he/she was eligible to swim
on the originally scheduled first meet day, then he/she will be eligible for
the meet regardless of when it is held.
(E) Advancement to the next age group
does not restore guppy status.
(F) All participants in the JSSC sponsored
guppy meets shall be registered in accordance with the registration procedures
set forth in Section 3 above.
(G) Minimum Standard awards for Guppy Meets
are as follows:
i. Token heat ribbons for each lane of each heat in
individual events. For example, first
through sixth place of each heat would receive a ribbon for guppy meets
contested in a six lane pool. Eight
places would be awarded for an eight lane pool and so on;
ii. Three medals for each individual event; and
iii. Team trophies shall not be awarded.
(H) If there are more than two guppy meets
to be held, the JSSC will determine, based loosely upon geographic criteria,
which guppy meet each JSSC team will support.
See Appendix B. Additionally,
entry fees for these meets shall be the same at each location.
The JSSC Board will supply the awards
for the Guppy meets (detailed in 9G above).
Additionally, total fees charged for these meets are limited to $10 per
swimmer.
(I) Guppy Meet Events will be as
follows:
6 & Under 25 yards all 4
strokes
8 & Under 25 yards all 4
strokes
9-10 50 yards all 4 strokes
11-12 50 yards all 4 strokes
(K)
The Guppy Meets will be limited to only swimmers aged 12 and
below who have not yet reached the Guppy Time Standards in more than one event
and/or stroke.
(A)
The bid for Jefferson County Championship and Invitational
Meets shall be presented to the delegates at the April meeting for JSSC. The meets shall include the County
Championship, the Divisional Championship, JSSC Sponsored Invitationals and
Guppy meets. In any given year the JSSC
Board may suggest an alternative Championship meet format including additional
meets or substitutions. The membership
present at that time will vote to decide on acceptance of meet format and
acceptance of meet bids.
(B)
The date for the Jefferson-Shelby County Championship Meet
shall be the first weekend (weekend defined as a Friday, Saturday or Sunday)
following the Southeastern Long Course Championship Meet. The Divisional Championship Meet or
alternative championship meet(s) as approved by the board shall precede the
County Meet by two (2) weeks.
(C)
The team(s) hosting the Jefferson-Shelby County Championship
Meet, Divisional Championship Meets and JSSC Sponsored Invitational Meets shall
provide the following:
i.
The County Championship Meet, Divisional Championship Meets, and JSSC Sponsored Invitational Meets
shall have electronic timing. Timing in
alternative Championship Meets shall be governed by JSSC Board ruling.
ii.
Non-turbulent lane ropes properly installed between ALL
lanes and where there are no gutters, the ropes should be installed on the
outside of Lanes 1 and 6 (lane 8 if an 8 lane pool); and
iii.
The host team shall supply ALL meet workers. (Referees,
starter, stroke and turn judges, marshal, scorers, timers and runners.)
iv.
All championship and invitational meet results shall be
mailed to the Vice-President of Scheduling no later than three days following
the meet.
v.
Event results in championship and invitational meets shall
include individual place, time and JSSC time standard achieved (i.e. AAA, AA, A
etc.) during the meet. Computerized
time standards will minimize errors during end of year award determination.
(D)
The basis for determination of the minimum time standards to
enter the County Championship Meet (Appendix F) shall be current USS “B”
minimum times plus ten (10) percent to be published and distributed to each
club by the April scheduling meeting.
(Appendix F)
(E)
If time standards for other JSSC recognized Championship
Meets are necessary, they shall be provided to each team as soon as details are
available.
(F)
The events offered for the County Championship Meet shall
include the following:
(G)
The relay events for the County Championship Meet shall
include the following:
(H)
The Divisional Championship Meets shall be conducted with
the same events as a dual meet (refer to Section 5 (B) and (C)). The Divisional Championship meets shall be
conducted with two (2) levels of competition, referred to as “gold” and
“silver”. The time standards for
separating the level of competition shall be the same as the minimum County
time standards published in Appendix E.
Team awards shall be based on combined totals for both the gold and
silver levels, i.e. score the meet as if there was only one level of
competition.
(I)
Scoring for Championship Meets:
Individual
Events
Relays
6-lane
pools: 7-5-4-3-2-1 14-10-8-6-4-2
(J)
Minimum award standards for the JSSC County Championship
Meet and Divisional Meets are as follows:
i.
County Championship Meet
(a)
Heat ribbon for the winner of each heat
(b)
Three (3) medals and (3) ribbons for each event
(c)
Individual high-point and runner-up trophy, per boy and girl
per each age group; and.
(d)
Trophies for first, second and third place team finish
ii.
Divisional Championship Meets
(a) Heat ribbon for the winner of each
heat
(b) Three (3) medals and (3) ribbons for
each event in each level of competition (gold and silver)
(c) Standard breaker awards for those
swimmers achieving a gold time standard
(d) Trophies for first, second and third
place team finish
(K) Each team must par