Mission Viejo had very good facilities, great weather, superb organization, and the best hosts. Overall a great meet.
However, as commented in another thread, there were lots of no shows. In four of five events I had an empty lane next to me. This is not the best racing environment, and it makes the meet last longer than necessary. I am not critical of the people that did not show up -- I was one of them on Thursday, as an emergency at work made me arrive a day late.
On deck seeding would be a simple and easy solution.
Evidently some people like to know a day or days in advance who will swim in their heat. However, the way it worked for me, I found out as I walked up to the block who would *not* be swimming. *That's* lots of opportunity to get psyched! (not)
I don't think the way this meet was seeded (check in for distance events, advanced seeding for the other events) was a very good compromise. This was my first non-deck seeded masters meet, and I did not enjoy that aspect of it.
I'm surprised people are in a tizzy over having to get to the pool to check in two hours before. Wouldn't positive check-in be available the day before? And online? Didn't we have to do this in Tempe and no one complained?
And yes, some teams could check in their entire team and we'd still get empty lanes. Here's a solution:
If a swimmer does not show up to his lane after being positively checked in, he is unable to swim the next event he is checked in for. If that's another event the same day and he doesn't show up for that, he's scratched from the next event.
Looking at this from the audience and swimmer perspective, having some poor guy swim alone in a heat is a major letdown. Whether it's Gary Hall Jr. or some guy swimming his first nationals, it's not as fun as seeing a full pool.
I'm all for positive check in for every event. I know we're adults and sometimes we find out that there are emergencies (family or career or otherwise) after check in, but that's what a scratch box is for. Go over before the heat sheets are printed and do a positive scratch.
I have all faith that this could happen on the administrative end. I bet the officials at masters worlds next year could pull it off.
I'm surprised people are in a tizzy over having to get to the pool to check in two hours before. Wouldn't positive check-in be available the day before? And online? Didn't we have to do this in Tempe and no one complained?
And yes, some teams could check in their entire team and we'd still get empty lanes. Here's a solution:
If a swimmer does not show up to his lane after being positively checked in, he is unable to swim the next event he is checked in for. If that's another event the same day and he doesn't show up for that, he's scratched from the next event.
Looking at this from the audience and swimmer perspective, having some poor guy swim alone in a heat is a major letdown. Whether it's Gary Hall Jr. or some guy swimming his first nationals, it's not as fun as seeing a full pool.
I'm all for positive check in for every event. I know we're adults and sometimes we find out that there are emergencies (family or career or otherwise) after check in, but that's what a scratch box is for. Go over before the heat sheets are printed and do a positive scratch.
I have all faith that this could happen on the administrative end. I bet the officials at masters worlds next year could pull it off.
