Thanks to everyone involved in the Ft. Lauderdale Nationals. I had a great time and met some exceptional people. I especially want to thank Doug Malcolm for the competition in the adjacent lane. It looks like (from USMS data) you have not competed for quite a while and had a great meet! I had not competed for over 20 years when I entered the 2001 Nat's at Santa Clara and have done pretty well for the past few years. Doug exemplifies what our sport should be all about; a true competitor who brings out the best in someone like me who may not have accomplished the standards acheived in Ft. Lauderdale without someone like him next to me. I never got a chance to thank you so I am doing so now. Keep up the good work!
I would also like to congradulate John Blank for being the first male competitor over 45 to break one minute in the 100 yard breaststroke; a great accomplishment! I have never broken a minute in that event and am full of envy.
Lee Rider
Originally posted by matysekj
To those that complain that a small team has no chance, I say that the results are entirely in your hands. Build a bigger, stronger team and you will win an award. It's the same way for individual events and relays - swim faster, win an award.
You have hit the crux of the matter on the head, the team points are, at the core, a participation award not a performance award. People who live in large urban areas close to the site of the meet and/or with affluent members are given a large advantage. Short of moving from a small town or city to a large urban area the results are definately not in your own hands. It is in no way like the individual events or relays, in which, except for the requirement of four swimmers for relays, there is no participation factor, just swimming performance.
Rewarding large team size and fair competition regardless of team size are contradictory goals and no amount of tweaking the current system will reconcile them. The only way to achieve both goals is to have two separate awards, one that rewards large teams and one that offers fair competition, which can only be achieved by fixed team sizes. People who have no problem with relays which are competitions with a team size of four for some reason I don't understand have a problem with team competitions with eight or sixteen or whatever swimmers.
I'm not suggesting getting rid of the total points competition, I'm just saying that if you also want a competition based on performance without an advantage being conferred by population densitity, location, and affluence you need to add a separate competition with fixed sized teams where any team of the specified size competes on a level playing field with the other teams, as per the relays.
Originally posted by matysekj
To those that complain that a small team has no chance, I say that the results are entirely in your hands. Build a bigger, stronger team and you will win an award. It's the same way for individual events and relays - swim faster, win an award.
You have hit the crux of the matter on the head, the team points are, at the core, a participation award not a performance award. People who live in large urban areas close to the site of the meet and/or with affluent members are given a large advantage. Short of moving from a small town or city to a large urban area the results are definately not in your own hands. It is in no way like the individual events or relays, in which, except for the requirement of four swimmers for relays, there is no participation factor, just swimming performance.
Rewarding large team size and fair competition regardless of team size are contradictory goals and no amount of tweaking the current system will reconcile them. The only way to achieve both goals is to have two separate awards, one that rewards large teams and one that offers fair competition, which can only be achieved by fixed team sizes. People who have no problem with relays which are competitions with a team size of four for some reason I don't understand have a problem with team competitions with eight or sixteen or whatever swimmers.
I'm not suggesting getting rid of the total points competition, I'm just saying that if you also want a competition based on performance without an advantage being conferred by population densitity, location, and affluence you need to add a separate competition with fixed sized teams where any team of the specified size competes on a level playing field with the other teams, as per the relays.
