MIAA dives into idea of virtual swim meets
The coronavirus pandemic has forced high school sports associations to find safer ways to get back to competition.
The MIAA Swimming Committee is the latest to try some out-of-the-box thinking to get more kids into the pool this fall. Longtime sectional tournament director Peter Foley proposed holding virtual meets for those schools who may have trouble hosting meets. That proposal passed unanimously and will go to the Board of Directors later this month for further approval.
“Every town is different in terms of their board of health and how many people can get into the pool,” Foley explained. “I noticed that some of the midwestern states have already started using it.”
One of the swimming committee members is Xaverian athletic director Ted Currle. He was all in on the concept of a virtual meet, pointing to a variety of positives.
“It will reduce travel so that will cut down expenses. That’s important now, since we would need more buses for a meet due to the social distancing,” Currle said. “In some places, there might be restrictions on how many people you can have in the pool.”
If virtual meets are accepted, then the recommendation of the swim committee would be that meets be held on the same day or no more than a day apart of one another. While there are no times needed for sectional qualifying as there are no postseason meets this year, any swimmer who attains an All-American caliber time at a meet with an electronic timer will continue to receive consideration.
Earlier in the meeting, the primary discussion centered around the modifications. It was strongly recommended that there be lines of communication 48 hours prior to hosting a meet in case changes needed to be made.
In order to promote social distancing, the committee reinforced the idea that swimmers who finish an individual race go to the other end of the pool to exit, thus minimizing congestion. In relay races, swimmers should stand at least six feet behind the person in front of them when they prepare to enter the water.