…A couple of weeks ago in Vancouver at the VPSC Decathlon, 14-year old Tim Zeng broke a Canadian National Age Group Record. Zeng, who swims for the Chena Swim Club, swam a 56.84 in the 100 short course meters backstroke to take down the old mark. In the meantime, at the same meet, he also broke the British Columbia Provincial Age Group Record with a 23.55. The video of his 100 backstroke swim can be seen above, thanks to YouTube user BigFishSwimming…
…Brandon Drawz has been named as the team manager for the American squad that will head to Istanbul from December 12th-16th for the 2012 Short Course World Championships. Drawz has held several administrative roles in the sport, including most recently being voted as the Chair of the OIOC board for USA Swimming. His assistant will be Laurel Liberty, the head coach of the Lake Forest Swim Club that claims Olympian Conor Dwyer.
…After an NCAA “educational column” initially included Instagram filters as among the services that college coaches are not allowed to use to edit pictures, the NCAA has clarified their stance on the subject. The original Q&A caused quite an uproar with the following information:
Question: May a coach take a photo and use software (e.g., Instagram, Photoshop, Camera Awesome, Camera+,) to enhance the content of the photo (e.g., changed color of photo to sepia tones or add content to the photograph), and send it to a prospective student-athlete as an attachment it to an email or direct social media message?
Answer: No, a photograph that has been altered or staged for a recruiting purpose cannot be sent to a prospective student-athlete.
The concept still holds value, a coach is not allowed to send altered photos to a prospect, but the NCAA went back and clarified that it does not consider Instagram filters to be editing:
“Schools can and do use Instagram in all sorts of ways: to promote events, post game highlights and give a sense of what it’s like to be on campus We at the NCAA regularly use Instagram for similar purposes.
“There is no NCAA ban of Instagram. Schools just can’t alter the content of photos – and to be clear, we do not consider Instagram’s filters as content alteration – and then email them directly to recruits.”
Fans of sepia tones everywhere will rejoice…
…The NCAA has also clarified guidelines surrounding the ability of a student-athlete to immediately transfer, without concern for sitting out for a season, in the case of family illnesses. The cases of “need to be closer to family” has become increasingly a justification for athletes to transfer without using a year off in between. While this isn’t typically as relevant in swimming as it is in football or basketball (swimmers are usually granted a waiver by their old coaches for sitting out a season), it’s not irrelevant. The new guidelines are below
- The school presents medical documentation of a debilitating injury or illness to a student-athlete’s immediate family member that is debilitating and requires ongoing medical care. The previous standard had been “life-threatening.”
- The student-athlete demonstrates he or she will be responsible for regular, ongoing caregiving responsibilities. The previous standard required the student-athlete to be the primary, day-to-day caregiver.
- The school is within a 100-mile radius of the immediate family member’s home, which demonstrates the ability for the student-athlete to provide regular, ongoing care. Previously, no distance limitation was in place.
- The school to which the student-athlete is transferring must submit a statement from the athletics director and faculty athletics representative confirming that the student-athlete will be relieved of responsibilities to the team in order to care for the injured or ill family member, and that the coaching staff will support such a departure.