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Glossary of Meets

Glossary

• Approved Meet - A meet which has been issued a permit by an LSC for meets conducted in conformance with USA Swimming technical rules in which both members and non-members may compete.  These meets must fulfill all the qualifications listed in USA Swimming Rule 202.6 in the 2021 USA Swimming Rulebook. CSI approved meets are subject to certain restrictions - see Meet Limitations.
• By-Invitation Meet - A sanctioned meet that is offered by invitation to specific clubs, with the following requirements:
  1. Short Course Only
  2. Must include three (3) or more Club Members, including the host. UN is not a Club Member.
  3. In order to offer a Meet-By-Invitation, the host must offer (on a 1:1 ratio) the same number of sessions (planned for 2 hours or more) in regularly scheduled meets during the same season and open to the CSI/USA Swimming membership for entry on a first-come, first-served basis. The sessions may be conducted in multiple meets and the specific sessions must be identified during the bid process.
  4. At the host's option, they may fill the meet entirely or partially with invited clubs. The method of accepting entries to fill remaining opportunities, if any, must be identified in the Meet Announcement.
  5. Invited clubs must be listed in the meet announcement. 
• Closed Competition is held: 1.) exclusively among members of a single club or 2.) within an independent organization open only to members of the organization, such as YMCA, summer league, conference competition. Closed competition does not include representing a group within USA Swimming such as a LSC, Zone, Region, or Section.
• Co-Hosted Meet - A meet may be co-hosted by no more than two teams.  Only one team will be exempt from surcharge payments on its entry fees into the meet.
• Distance Meet - CSI meets designed to encourage distance swimming. These meets may or may not contain age group classes. The following are considered distance events: 1650Y (1500M) Freestyle, 1000Y (800M) Freestyle, 500 Freestyle, 400 IM, 11/12 200 Backstroke, 11/12 200 Breaststroke, and 11/12 200 Butterfly. A Distance Meet contains these events only.
• Mini Meet - A "short session" sanctioned meet in the Short Course season with the host agreeing to the following conditions:
  1. The host commits in advance to running sessions less than 3 hours (timeline before scratches).
  2. The meet must be bid as a "mini" meet and the Meet Announcement must identify the meet as a "mini"
  meet with the anticipated maximum session length.
  3. Host will pay half (50%) of the normal surcharge percentage.
  4. Combining of sessions would require Program Operations approval and be limited to very low enrollment.
  5. Penalty if the meet times out over 3 hours (not due to technical issues): host club must return 50% of the meet entry fees to all entered clubs, and must pay the full surcharge.
• Off-Calendar Meet - meets may be bid through the application found on the team administrative page in FAST.  Off-Calendar Meets are defined as any meet not bid and awarded during the regular season bid process. These meets are subject to certain restrictions - see Meet Limitations.
• Open Meets are competitions where any qualified club or individual may enter. 
• Sanctioned Meet - A meet which has been issued a permit by an LSC to a USA Swimming group member to conduct a meet in conformance with all USA Swimming rules in which all participating swimmers are athlete members of USA Swimming.  These meets must fulfill all the qualifications listed in USA Swimming Rule 202.4 in the 2021 USA Swimming Rulebook.
• Short session meet - see Mini meet
• Observed Meets