Competition Information

There are two related sets of competitions for Age Group swimmers: 

• Zones and Nationals. USAAS divides teams into four zones (North/East/South/West). NVN is part of the South Zone, which includes teams primarily from Virginia, Maryland, Florida, and Texas. 

  • The South Zones Championship is our first major meet of the season, typically held in early March and often in Texas or Florida. All of our 13-15 and Jr/Sr Age Group swimmers go to Zones together. 

    • Routines that place highly at Zones become eligible to compete at Nationals. Each routine (solo, duet, or team) must qualify separately. 

    • Because the stakes are high and this meet comes early in the season when swimmers may still be learning parts of their routines, coaches may schedule additional practice time in the runup to zones.

  • Junior/Senior Nationals are typically held in the first half of April, with 13-15 Nationals happening in late April. They usually do not overlap and are not always held at the same location. Often one or both overlap with Spring Break.

    • For the 2023-24 season both will be in Houston: Jr/Sr Nationals from 10-14 April and 13-15 Nationals from 25-28 April. 

      • Note: the 13-15 Nationals also include a 12U Invitational component, but we have not typically sent our 12U AG swimmers to compete. 

  • Nationals is the most exclusive and competitive event of the season. We usually have at least some routines qualify for Nationals, and our goal is always to send as many routines as possible. 

• Regionals and Junior Olympics. NVN is part of South Zone Region A, which includes the Potomac Valley Association (us, Nova Synchro, and the Potomac Valley Pearls), the Virginia Association (the Charlottesville Swans and Midtown Mystiques), and the Carolina Association, which has not been active in meets the last few years. 

  • Regionals is hosted by one of the teams within the region each year, usually in the second half of May. Among active teams in our region, the Midtown Mystiques–which are based in Newport News–are the furthest away from us, and we would anticipate an overnight if they host or if the host is the Charlottesville Swans, who used the facility at Liberty University the last time they hosted regionals. The location for 2024 is TBD.  

    • All team levels (including Novice and Intermediate) compete at Regionals, but for Age Group athletes it also serves as the qualifying meet for Junior Olympics. Typically, the top two routines in each category qualify. 

    • Our region is a subset of our zone, so it is easier for routines to qualify for JOs than for Nationals. In 2023, all of our 12U, 13-15, and Junior routines that competed at Regionals successfully qualified for JOs. 

  • Junior Olympics is a huge event that happens over the course of the week leading up to the 4th of July, usually starting with 12U and 13-15 figures and then routines. Junior/Senior events happen in the latter half of the week.   

    • The 2024 JOs will be held from 29 June to 6 July near Portland, Oregon. 

USAAS meets are stay-to-play. USAAS requires swimmers to make hotel reservations through specific links they provide. Our travel coordinator and team moms/parents will work closely with the coaches as early as possible to determine travel dates and lock in a block of rooms for us, and then individual families can make reservations within that block. This can be challenging because we may not know which routines have qualified until shortly before the event, and we have learned the hard way that it is MUCH better to lock these in quickly and then adjust as needed afterwards, rather than wait for certainty before booking! 

• Swimmers typically need to arrive the day before their events start and stay until their last teammate has completed their final event, to cheer and provide support. It can be hard to know exactly how long we need to stay, depending on whether routines make the finals or not, but we lean toward planning optimistically, and it can be valuable to swimmers to watch the top teams at their level in the finals even if we do not qualify. 

Other travel considerations. USAAS policies, Safesport considerations, and club best practices make travel for a competitive meet different from most travel:

• Parents are welcome and encouraged to travel with their swimmers, particularly the younger athletes. If parents are not traveling with their swimmer, they must make arrangements with another parent to chaperone their child. NVN will provide documents and written requirements for chaperone arrangements in the runup to each travel meet. Please note that our team’s chaperoning arrangements for travel and hotels are distinct from USAAS requirements for an official chaperone at the meet, which are detailed in the next bullet. 

• NVN designates an official Team Parent for each of our teams, who we register with USAAS as an official Chaperone. USAAS allows each team a limited number of official chaperones, who receive a badge allowing them on deck at the pool and who we use as the primary POC between the coaches and the parents to keep everything on track at meets. To qualify, a chaperone must complete requirements with USAAS for an Athlete Safety Membership, which includes safesport training and a background check.The team and team parent will be in touch before each meet for additional specific travel discussions.

• When travel involves flights, the team flies together (swimmers, parents, and coaches) as much as possible. At a bare minimum, all swimmers will need to arrive by a time designated by the coaches in order to settle in and practice before events begin, usually the afternoon of the day before the first event. 

• Time before and during the competition is busy and often unpredictable, and swimmers need to be on call when not competing to practice or cheer for other teammates. Often we do not know when we will have access to a pool for practice until the last minute, and coaches may need to adjust routines as they get a feel for the competition and the judges. Families should not plan to do any sightseeing or other non-meet-related activities until after the swimmer has completed all their events, both because of the schedule and because the swimmers will be worn out by the extensive time at the pool and by nerves ahead of a competition, and they will need quiet time to recover and be well-rested for their routines.