Please find important information from Swimming New Zealand below re the updated Meet Approval Policy:
Following SNZ board approval, please find below a link for the the updated event policy 007 – meet approval (replacing the current Approved Times policy 007). This will be implemented from 1 July 2021.
Background
As part of the Competition Restructure & Competitive Pathway Review, some issues were identified
- There is too much emphasis on having “approved meets” in order to gain qualification times for regional or national meets. The reason for having approved meets has become blurred resulting on these becoming the norm as opposed to the exception
- With every meet being approved and an opportunity to qualify for national meets, coaches struggled to implement a training cycle for swimmers to improve and swimmers were under pressure to perform every time rather than focus on skill development and enjoying swimming
- The requirement of having enough officials to be an approved meet was being a burden for meet organisers and uncertain until the day of competition when the number of officials in attendance could be confirmed
Recommendation 3 outlined that qualifying opportunities for national meets (not including regional championships) will be limited to 10 meets per region. These will be known as “Designated Meets” and “Development Meets” as the others.
Summary of New Policy 007 – Meet Approval
SNZ Policy 007 – Meet Approval
The meet approval policy now:
- Outlines the minimum requirements for a Designated Meet
- Only 10 Designated Meets per region (plus regional champs but not island/zonal champs)
- Can achieve qualifying times for national championships
- Regions to nominate the designated meets by 30 June for the following 12 month period
- Outlines the minimum requirements for a Development Meet
- No DQ’s and no qualified officials required
- Can achieve qualifying times for regional champs
Please note that both the TAC and EAC have been involved in developing this updated policy for designated and development meets, and the policy is now live on our SNZ website under the Competition & Event Policies
Dale Johnson, Swimming New Zealand Head of Participation & Events