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SWIMMER WITH A DISABILITY (S.W.A.D.)
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Amber Thomas set a World Record in the Women's S11 800 Freestyle in Berlin on May 22, 2008 at th Para-swimming results are included with the results retained in the ASSA Database. Typically, para-swimming events are only held at Regional or Provincial Championship meets. The ASSA has adopted the rules and regulations that allow for a swimmer with a disability to compete in ASSA competitions and advance to to the Regional and Provincial levels in specific events. Under the new regulations if a swimmer wishes to be recognized as a swimmer with a disability they need to be classified under the regulations of the IPC Swimming classification system. In order to help get swimmers classified if you have a swimmer with a disability in your program that has not been classified then please fill in the Request for Classification Form [pdf - 64k] and submit it to the Swim Alberta office so that classification opportunity can be set up. There are three types of classifications that could be done. If the swimmer has a visual impairment then the swimmer would receive a form to be filled in by their ophthalmologist and returned to Swim Alberta, if the swimmer has a cognitive disability then the swimmer will be sent a form that is to be completed and returned to Swim Alberta and finally if the swimmer has a locomotor impairment then a classification session will need to be set up. Depending on the location and availability of swimmer and the classifiers there are three potential processes that will be followed. 1. If there is a full team available to perform the classification then a time will be set up for the process. (Approximately 45 min.) 2. If a full team of classifiers is not available, and then a single classifier will do a provisional classification which will allow the swimmer to compete. 3. If no classifier is available then a video classification will be completed which will allow the swimmer to compete.
In the last two cases a full classification session will be set up when the swimmer and a classification team can be brought together. Please refer to the new bylaws and ASSA Handbook for the complete information on Swimmers With a Disability. You can check to see if your swimmer has been classified by visiting the Swim Alberta website and entering the swimmer section and then the para-swimming area. Open the Alberta Para-swimming Classified Swimmers section. Additionally, you can check to see if your ASSA Club Registrar has listed a swimmer as a para-swimmer by following the link on this page. IPC Swimming has set in place a Swimming Calendar of Events. It is necessary to complete a IPC Competition Information Form [doc- 40k] to gain IPC Swimming approval for the competition. This is in Word document form, so you can fill it out and e-mail it back. For those of you who do not have access to Word, print off IPC Competition Information Form in pdf [pdf - 28k], fill it in, scan it and e-mail it back. All competitions which include para-swimming competitors must be sanctioned by the IPC (International Paralympic Committee). Only approval competitions will have world/regional records ratified and times performed by the swimmers recorded into the IPC Swimming rankings. IPC Meet Approval Sample [pdf - 135k] form filled out for you information.
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e German Open. Her Time was 11:50.66. Unfortunately, in the next heat a German swimmer broke her newly set record. Even though she no longer holds the World Record, she now holds the Americas Region Record (North, Central and South America) and the Canadian Record in the 800 Freestyle. To read about many of Amber's accomplishments, visit the