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.
Karen same procedure, one looks over the others shoulder, and we check off as we scratch. Then we hand it to a third who goes through and makes sure that everyone is checked as they should.
Most I have in one event is about 100 per. The hard part about age group is how kids sign in, sometimes it is a mystery what their intentions are!
The amount of scratches is what would really slow it down. On meets when the scratch rate is very low, positive check in is a breeze, but on meets where there is a snow storm, and lots of people don't show, it takes much longer. So in this case, it sounds like the scratch rate was fairly high, which would mean a lot of time.
Heat sheets are very important at the age group meets, parents always want them, because they cannot be on deck with the coaches and kids. Plus it is one source of revenue for our team!
Karen same procedure, one looks over the others shoulder, and we check off as we scratch. Then we hand it to a third who goes through and makes sure that everyone is checked as they should.
Most I have in one event is about 100 per. The hard part about age group is how kids sign in, sometimes it is a mystery what their intentions are!
The amount of scratches is what would really slow it down. On meets when the scratch rate is very low, positive check in is a breeze, but on meets where there is a snow storm, and lots of people don't show, it takes much longer. So in this case, it sounds like the scratch rate was fairly high, which would mean a lot of time.
Heat sheets are very important at the age group meets, parents always want them, because they cannot be on deck with the coaches and kids. Plus it is one source of revenue for our team!
