Has anyone ever considered having two National Championships - one for men and one for women. or splitting the age groups? It would allow more pools to be elligble for hosting the meet and would create, possibly, shorter days with better competition conditions.
yes, it has been discussed.
If you break it up men and women, then you may break up families. There are many couples who swim. If the Nationals were broken by gender, then there would be a problem for these couples.
If broken by age group, there may be a problem for clubs. Many clubs and LMSCs generate excitement and comraderie by going to Nationals. If you break it up by age groups, then you would have the problem of either have the coach decide which Nationals to attend or the club would have to send the coach to two different Nationals.
How big do you want the nationals to be? Clubs that bid on nationals do so with the hope of making money or at least not losing money. You have to get enough people wanting to participate or clubs will not bid to host nationals. (SCY Nationals were held in Santa Clara in 2001 because not one team on the East coast bid for nationals - many were afraid they would lose money).
How much are you willing to pay to attend nationals?
Which competetive conditions do you think should be improved?
Are you attending Hawaii? I havent seen the numbers yet, but I would think you may get your wish about a small SCY nationals with short days.
michael
Alternatively, could we look at the possibility of an East Nationals and a West, much in the style of the now extinct USA Swimming Junior Nationals? This would encourage facilities across the nation to bid on the meet and make travel much more reasonable for people. Additionally, the results could be merged at the end of the day and a full set of "Nationals" results published.
