Who made the order of events for Fort Lauderdale Nationals?

Mark, Nice response.... detailed..... I appreciate it, but, not a sufficient explanation as to exactly why the 500 free was picked to be sacraficed as opposed to another event. At the very least, the 500 if on the 1st day should have been moved to the end of the day to spread out more time for recovery. We could go round and round on scenarios for orders, and as you have said the committee already examined many line ups. Unfortunately, this one was selected. As for your suggestion that I volunteer for my local LMSC and ask to go to the convention .......... you can't use voluteerism as an excuse for a poor decision. A reply of "get involved more" doesn't explain what has already transpired. My ongoing yearly fees to my local LMSC and committed participation at local and national meets is quite adequate support for Masters Swimming.

Mark, Your second post was better and got to the root of the issue. Now..... If people complain that the 500 is the last day and the sprinters want to leave......... then let them. 500 participants will make their plane fares later in the day or the next morning if they really want to swim it. I think you've nailed the issue on the head ! It's about placing the 500 last in the event schedule. No one will stay to watch because the meet is basically over. So what. Tough luck Mr. 500 man. At least you got some rest ! Swimming the 500 free so late in the day should not be a reason to move the event so close to the mile and the 1000.

Originally posted by TheGoodSmith Mark, As for your suggestion that I volunteer for my local LMSC and ask to go to the convention .......... you can't use voluteerism as an excuse for a poor decision. A reply of "get involved more" doesn't explain what has already transpired. My ongoing yearly fees to my local LMSC and committed participation at local and national meets is quite adequate support for Masters Swimming. I think my intention was misunderstood. I was not offering volunteerism as an excuse, but rather try to follow up on Paul's suggestion and explain how one would get involved if this particular issue was what they wanted to address. You also have delegates from CO that can speak to this for you. All the committee meetings are open and allow comments from the floor. I believe our goal in having multiple schedules is the realization that no one schedule is going to make everyone happy. There are complaints every time a distance event is the last event in the meet, there are complaints when the 400 IM comes the day after the 500 free. There are complaints when the 400 IM comes before the 500 free. People are unhappy when the 500 comes on the first day of the meet, morning or afternoon. There are also a large number of people who prefer each of these options. The same holds true with sprinters, IMers, backstrokers, etc. and the order of their favorite events. That is why we have multiple schedules. Some years it isn't the best for your events. Some years, the schedule does a better job of meeting your particular needs, but not those of another competitor. It will be another year before the championship committee proposed new schedules. I will pass along the idea that the three longest races shouldn't be the first 3 events of the meet to the chair of this subcommittee.

Mark, I am just giving you ****. Life is what it is. The real problem with the planet is the ongoing existence of the Evil Smith and his unrightous rule over the 50 free. An event I was born to own and dominate. I will bag the 1,000 and go for the 500. It must be done ! John Smith

Originally posted by mbmg3282 That is why we have multiple schedules. Some years it isn't the best for your events. Some years, the schedule does a better job of meeting your particular needs, but not those of another competitor. that's totally true. unfortunately, there is no way humanly possible to please every single swimmer that will be at nationals... if you've pleased the distance swimmers, you've ticked off the sprinters. if you please the sprinters, you've probably ticked off the middle distance swimmers... if you please the IMers, you've most likely ticked off everyone else! and then there's some of us who specialize in a very unfortunate combination of events (ie the 200 back and 100 free). i've yet to go to a masters meet where these 2 events were not back to back, or my other 2 events (100 back and 200 free) were not back to back. i'm just glad that this nationals has at least 1 event between all of my events! i think the HoD has done a pretty good job of coming up with schedules that will please the largest amount of swimmers... (but i know some of us are easier to please than others!) :rolleyes: ;)

Paul is a problem for many of us. I can't help you with that one.

Don't you just love it when people whine about things but do nothing to help? This is the same guy who was running around griping because he didn't see his name in print in SWIM magazine's Nationals feature. Yeesh!

I could see a schedule getting passed where Thursday 1650 / 1000 free Friday 400 IM last event Saturday 500 free last event Sunday 500 free either first or last or Friday 500 free last event Saturday 500 free first event Sunday 400 IM either first or last However, I would still expect to see a 200 as the first event on Friday. I am thinking of this from the perspective of a meet host. You absolutely don't want to start Friday with a sprint event. The distance day of the meet is relatively easy. You only have 400 - 600 people to deal with and if something goes wrong, you have plenty of time to fix it. Friday is the first day of the full meet. Suddenly, you have 1700 swimmers on the pool deck. It is the first day that you need the full 300 volunteers and not everyone shows up on time or knows what they should be doing. Unless a club has run nationals before, they have no idea how big and complicated this first day is. Even if you have run kids meets with 1500 swimmers, they are nothing like adults. You need a longer event as the first event so the meet host can settle into a rhythm and fix any problems before the sprint events begin. When the sprint events start, things move fast. At SC nationals, you have two courses running with heats starting about every 15 - 30 seconds (alternate courses). It would be a mess if we started a day with this. Although we try to keep the athlete's needs in mind, we also have to balance out what is reasonable to expect from our volunteers, meet officials and the host club. It can be a bit of a balancing act.

Originally posted by Rob Copeland And look on the bright side us distance guys will get the 1000, 1650 and 500 under our belts, before the sprinters even get wet. Yeah, I kind of like that. After the 500 it should be smooth sailing. I wouldn't want the 500 to be the last event on sunday every year. And the mile or 1000 are just warmups for the 500, right? :)

Peter, no low blow intended with the "late bloomer" question/reference.....rather a subtle jab at how boring things have been around here with his absence! The Evil Mr. Smith has jumped in an gotten more attention and posts with his in your face (Texas style) attitude then we've seen in awhile. However, to borrow a quote from my Friend Sam Perry; John's all hat and no cattle! By the way, as for pleasing of breaststrokers; we should only pity them as we all know they we're "born" with a gene to by gymasts but somehow got thrown in a pool and lost their way!