You are only 4 weeks away from being able to see the fastest swimming in our local area, possibly ever, when The University of Maryland new Aquatic Center hosts the World Cup Meet in the United States. The 2-day, short course meters meet will be held on November 17 and 18. Prelims begin at 10 AM and finals at 6:30 PM. Link to prior items on this webpage for specifics about the meet, ticket information, and volunteering.
The World Cup Series is actually 12 meets held around the world each year and this year the UMD meet kicks-off the series. Other meets will be held in Edmonton. Canada, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, China, site TBA, Hong Kong, Hobart and Sydney, Australia, Sheffield and Berlin, Germany, Imperia, Italy, Paris, France, and concludes in Malmo, Sweden on Feb 16 - 17, 2000. Entries are virtually open to any swimmer affiliated with FINA, the recognized world governing body of competitive swimming.
Swimmers compete for prize money. A maximum prize fund of $40,000 is available for World Records with a maximum award of $4,000 for any single world record. In addition, swimmers will accumulate points for their finishes in the various meets in the World Cup series. The meets are divided into Zones, such as The Americas, and categories, such as sprint freestyle (50, 100, 200 Meters) and at the end of the 12 meets the top 3 finishers in each category, based on accumulated points across zones, can receive as much as $10,000 and swimmers can collect money in more than one category. Event winners at the UMD meet will receive $500 for each win and this is in addition to the overall series prize money. If you want to know more details about scoring and prize money, check out the USA Swimming web page.
If you have not been to the UMD facility, be prepared for an eye watering experience. It is not only a world class swimming venue; it is also a world class viewing venue as well. Open since February 1998, It has already been host to the Atlantic Coast Conference Championships and YMCA National Championships but the World Cup Meet will no doubt be the premier meet in the facility to date. Basically, it is an 8-lane 50-meter pool with 2 moveable bulkheads, which can provide two 25-meter courses, 8 - 11 feet in depth; each racing lane will be 9 feet wide. A totally separate 25-yard pool will be available adjacent to the competition pool for warm up/warm down. Each one of the nearly 800 seats in the venue will provide a breathtaking, overhead view of the races and the state of the art scoreboard display, complete with the capability to project pictures, will further enhance the spectator's experience. Seeing swimming of this caliber from this vantage point will be as good as it gets!!!
How Can You Get Tickets???
Ticket prices are $5 for prelims ($3 under 12) and $8 for finals ($5 under 12). You can order tickets by calling (410) 433-8300. We strongly urge you to make your plans soon for this first ever event of this caliber in our area.
Do We Still Need Volunteers???
Yes. Volunteer positions include hospitality, registration support, doping control (must be over 21), media relations (there will be print media from around the world and the event is being televised), spectator marshals, drivers, among others. We still need volunteers for all sessions but our biggest needs today are for on-call drivers on Nov 15, 16, and 19 and workers for the Nov 18 prelims session. Remember, volunteers will get into the venue free for the sessions they work and most positions will allow for plenty of viewing from pool side.
How Do I Volunteer???
It couldn't be any simpler! Just click on this volunteer link, which will open an email window for you. Provide your name (and names of other family members who wish to volunteer), phone number (specify day or night), email address, PVS Club Affiliation (if any - no requirement) and the session(s) you would like to work. Indicate if you are willing to be a driver along with the days and times. Volunteering will be on a first come first assign basis. We will not be assigning positions to volunteers until late October but we will notify you of the sessions you will be working within a few days of your response. You may list a preference but unless you tell us that you WILL NOT work a particular function, we will make assignments based on our needs. In addition to your work assignment the only other requirement will be attendance at an orientation meeting for volunteers at the U of Maryland Aquatic Center on Saturday, Nov 6 at 3 PM.
Stay tuned for more updates! We hope to be able to share with you soon some of world's elite swimmers that will be competing here in November.
Link to Information Posted by USA Swimming
Link to List of Expected Competitors (as posted by USA Swimming)
Links to Previous Articles