Northern Virginia Swim League
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The Northern Virginia Swim League, or NVSL, is a summer swim league and a separate dive league in Northern Virginia in the United States. The NVSL is currently the largest summer swim league in the country.
The stated goal of both NVSL and NVSL-Dive is "...to develop in the children participating in this program--a love for the sport, advanced aquatic skills, and the principles of good sportsmanship."
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[edit] NVSL-Swim
The swim league consists of 17 divisions, with six teams in each division (Division 17 would have consisted of seven teams; however, Bren Mar and Edsall Park combined to become Bren Mar-Edsall Park), for a total of approximately 13,000 swimmers.
[edit] NVSL-Swim division seeding
Depending on the strength and quality of each team (as determined by the league at each year's seeding meeting), the swimming and diving teams are separately seeded from strongest to weakest throughout each of the 17 divisions every spring to ensure fair and equal competition for everyone in the summer. The 2007 NVSL Seeding Meeting was conducted on March 4th, 2007. The seeded divisions are available on the NVSL website.
[edit] NVSL-Swim All Stars
The NVSL All Star swim meet is a competition between select swimmers of each age group and event. Normally, the races consist of the swimmers with the top 18 times with two alternate swimmers in case one or more scheduled swimmers do not show up to the meet. While most seasonal meets are a part of team competition, All Stars is more oriented toward talented individual swimmers. There are All Star races for the top relays of each division as well.
[edit] NVSL-Dive
Beginning in 1961, NVSL-Dive began sponsoring dive team competitions throughout Northern Virginia. The teams are sponsored by local, community pools with diving boards. NVSL-Dive is currently composed of 45 teams that are divided into 8 divisions. The teams compete weekly over the course of a 5 week season, and a team is named the division champion. The league then hosts the Individual Division Championship and an Individual All-Star Championship.
Divers are divided by gender into four age categories: Freshmen (10 & under), Juniors (11-12), Intermediates (13-14), and Seniors (15 and older). The category is determined by the diver's age on June 1 of each year.
More information on NVSL-Dive is available on the league's website.
[edit] NVSL-Dive championships
Since 1968 NVSL-Dive has hosted the Wally Martin 3-Meter Championship. Past champions of this meet include U.S. Olympian and the University of Texas Dive Coach, Matt Scoggins (Great Falls), 1996 Olympic Trials Qualifier Kristin Link (Parliament), and 2004 Olympic Trials Qualifiers Mary Yarrison (Springfield) and Andrew Bradley (Sideburn Run).
NVSL-Dive also hosts the annual Cracker Jack Invitational. This meet is the world's largest one-day diving competition and had more than 350 divers participating in 2006. Established in 1987 to provide a skill-appropriate championship for beginning divers, this meet exemplifies the goals of the NVSL. The first Cracker Jack Invitational was held at Freedom Park and attracted approximately 600 divers. Since that meet, more than 7,000 divers have competed at Crackerjack. Over the past 25 years, Cracker Jack divers have gone on to participate at NVSL All-Stars, on local high-school teams, in college programs, at regional and national events, and, in some rare cases, at Olympic trials. Approximately 70% of the coaches in the NVSL are former Cracker Jack divers.
The season concludes with the NVSL-Dive "Individual All-Star Championship." Divers competing in this event are the top divers from each of the divisions at the Divisional Championships. Like the Wally Martin 3-Meter Championship, the list of All-Star Champions includes champions from Virginia State High School Championships, intercollegiate, AAU Nationals, and US Diving Nationals
[edit] Speedo All Americans
Every year, the National Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association of America names divers as Speedo All Americans. In 2007, one young woman and seven young men from Northern Virginia were named All Americans for their high school diving. These 8 divers were the only divers from Virginia on the list.
[edit] Scholarship
The NVSL and NVSL-Dive recognize graduating high school seniors who is an NVSL diver and/or swimmer. The MacDuff Scholarship is awarded annually to two NVSL swimmers or divers in honor of George MacDuff, an individual who loved the sports of swimming and diving. While his daughters were involved in swimming, Mr. MacDuff was an ardent supporter, a team representative, referee, NVSL Records chair and dad! Long after Mr. MacDuff's daughters completed their NVSL careers, he continued to support the NVSL by serving as records chair until his death in 1990. Each year, the MacDuff family remembers George and his dedication to the NVSL by awarding a MacDuff Scholarship to a swimmer and/or diver who exemplifies George MacDuff's love for the NVSL. Several years later, the MacDuff family once again remembered a family member who died 18 months later, Melinda, when thinking of the NVSL. Two scholarships are given in memory of George MacDuff and his daughter, Melinda.
In addition to the MacDuff Scholarships, the NVSL and NVSL-Dive awards the Presidents' Scholarship in honor of all those volunteers who have served the youth of Northern Virginia and in particular those who have served as President of the NVSL.
