Has the Championship Committee, or other entity within USMS ever discussed having a more strict policy of enforcement in regards to the NQT's?
Why do we state that you must have 3 cuts, in order to swim more events? Why not require a swimmer to have 6 cuts in order to swim 6 events?
Just like to understand more from a historical point of view. I have read post that asked, or suggested how to control the size and length of the National meets. Would not having a stricter enforcement of this policy help? Or would it cause swimmers to shy away from these meets?
Just a curious thought.
Thank you.
If we have roughly 42,000 members of USMS (it may be more, it may be more like 47,000, but this is close enough) and 1900 of them came to Tempe, then we're only talking about 4.5% of the USMS membership. And if 69% of the competitors at Tempe met or bettered the NQT, then that's only 3.1% of the USMS population. C.J. looks at 1300 out of 1900 competitors making the NQT and concludes that the NQT is too soft. Another way of looking at it is that only 1300 out of 42,000 USMS members made the NQT, so by that standard the NQT is pretty tough, not too easy.
In reality, because we call them the Nationals, and because NQTs are in effect (regardless of the mercy events), a huge number of competitors are already scared off. I see no useful purpose in making the NQTs harder than they already are.
And let's be clear here about who you're talking about excluding. You're talking about me, and people like me. People who train hard, or as hard as their lives will let them, year round, but are not elite swimmers and never will be. We love to swim too, and we enjoy taking part in Nationals because it brings out the best in us and allows us to feel part of something special. We pay our entry fees too, and we get stuck in the "leftover" heats, swimming with a conglomeration of age groups. We have no hope of placing in any of our events, yet we still swim our hardest, and we're pretty happy with our achievements, because when it comes down to it, we're really only competing against ourselves anyway. But according to some, our presence cheapens your accomplishments because we didn't "earn" the right to be there. And we're inconveniencing you because we take too long to swim our events. I'm so sorry--if only I could have swum my 50 *** in 40.11 instead of 40.94, my 100 in 1:27.07 instead of 1:30.45, and my 200 in 3:12.21 instead of 3:17.74, we could have taken a whopping 9.74 seconds off the meet.
If find this attitude ... disappointing.
If we have roughly 42,000 members of USMS (it may be more, it may be more like 47,000, but this is close enough) and 1900 of them came to Tempe, then we're only talking about 4.5% of the USMS membership. And if 69% of the competitors at Tempe met or bettered the NQT, then that's only 3.1% of the USMS population. C.J. looks at 1300 out of 1900 competitors making the NQT and concludes that the NQT is too soft. Another way of looking at it is that only 1300 out of 42,000 USMS members made the NQT, so by that standard the NQT is pretty tough, not too easy.
In reality, because we call them the Nationals, and because NQTs are in effect (regardless of the mercy events), a huge number of competitors are already scared off. I see no useful purpose in making the NQTs harder than they already are.
And let's be clear here about who you're talking about excluding. You're talking about me, and people like me. People who train hard, or as hard as their lives will let them, year round, but are not elite swimmers and never will be. We love to swim too, and we enjoy taking part in Nationals because it brings out the best in us and allows us to feel part of something special. We pay our entry fees too, and we get stuck in the "leftover" heats, swimming with a conglomeration of age groups. We have no hope of placing in any of our events, yet we still swim our hardest, and we're pretty happy with our achievements, because when it comes down to it, we're really only competing against ourselves anyway. But according to some, our presence cheapens your accomplishments because we didn't "earn" the right to be there. And we're inconveniencing you because we take too long to swim our events. I'm so sorry--if only I could have swum my 50 *** in 40.11 instead of 40.94, my 100 in 1:27.07 instead of 1:30.45, and my 200 in 3:12.21 instead of 3:17.74, we could have taken a whopping 9.74 seconds off the meet.
If find this attitude ... disappointing.
