on deck check in

Here is some info on check-in rates and no shows. For the Pre-seeded events (50's, 100's, and 200's), there were 716 no shows (21%). That's one in every 5 swimmers who do not make it to the blocks. For the deck seeded events (400, 800, and 1500 Free and the 400 IM), there were 183 (19%) that did not check in or scratched before the events were seeded and 32 no shows (4%). Note that the no shows for the 1500 Free on Monday were 19 (10%). The Host would need an extra 3 or 4 people working the meet to deck seed all the events. However, everyone would get to go home earlier and there would be fewer empty lanes.

I apologize - calling someone a "hot shot" IS perjorative and I shouldn't have. My personal experience has been that many more males tend to prefer on deck seeding than females. Can anyone find me a 60+ swimmer who prefers it? I can't help but think about the swimmer I met at Y Nationals who has Alzheimer's and had a relative help him get to the correct heat and lane. At least at that meet older swimmers were welcome. Mr. Moore made a very good point about meets over 1900 swimmers which I had not been aware of. Certainly large events should have consideration for meet officials and volunteers (not to mention swimmers) in expediting the running of the meet. However, I do feel my dislike of on deck seeding should not characterize me as being "in a tizzy." As practiced in Cleveland at the 2002 L.C. Nationals, having check-in for all events the day before was not nearly as cumbersome as same day check-in. As I recall, even then there was griping about empty lanes. You can't please everyone. I did not attend the meet in Arizona and can't comment on the seeding there. However, because of the lack of shade and extremely high temperatures I never considered attending that meet. It was only with considerable trepedation that I attended Mission Viejo. With the help of some terrific friends with a car and a computer with realtime results, I was able to stay out of the sun despite the scarcity of shade. I do agree that the meet in Mission Viejo was very well run and I certainly would attend other meets there. While the scanable card idea seems reasonable, what is the purpose of charging double for "no positive check-in"? You would still have to look up your lane and heat assignments when you got there and you still wouldn't have a heat sheet to use. Also, I wouldn't care for penalizing swimmers for the actions of others (i.e. teammates or coaches who check them in).

Catherine, the charge is just to give people who adamantly not want to have to checkin the opportunately-if they're willing to pay for the privilege. The only other category of swimmer which should be charged double or even triple would be that of 'aquageek'.

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.

Being another swimmer from Pacific LMSC, I must agree that the meet should be deck seeded. It is not MORE work, just different. I know at our short course championships there is a program to buy the first day which shows everyone who entered. Then you have to wait until before your event to find out who you're swimming against, who's there, who isn't. And we're racing by entered time, not age group. Often I get my butt kicked by people a lot older than me, but still win my age group... but I digress- another can of worms completely. I don't really care if I know ahead of time who is in my heat. My race is my race and I'm not going to swim it any differently just because someone shows up or not. It IS nice to know the approximate time of the swimmer near you.... Jim, I think I was sitting with you when that guy was the only one in his heat. I felt really bad for him. I would not enjoy that myself. Perhaps, it's because it is done so seemingly effortlessly and efficiently at our meets that I don't realize that it is difficult? Help here Michael :p

I cannot speak for how the events will be seeded at FINA Worlds at Stanford, but if previous FINA Worlds are any indication, they may all be pre-seeded. I have been to FINA Worlds in Riccione, Italy (2004), Christchurch, New Zealand (2002), Munich, Germany (2000), and Montreal, Canada (1994) , and Indianapolis, IN (1992). They were all pre-seeded. Riccione even preseeded the 400 IM and 400 and 800 free. My point is that FINA Worlds isn't necessarily pre-seeded despite the very large number of participants. Yes, there are many empty lanes and yes the days can be very long. FINA Masters swimming rules state that: MSW 3.7 Events shall be pre-seeded with oldest age groups first, slowest heats swum first within each age group. Events 400 metres and over may be deck seeded from slowest to fastest, regardless of age. MSW 3.8 The Organising Committee may arrange 400 metre, 800 metre and 1500 metre Freestyle to be swum two (2) swimmers of the same sex in a lane. Separate timing will be required for each swimmer. When deck-seeding is possible and permitted, I imagine Mike Moore will make it happen. Mary

Worried about not having a heat sheet and missing a friend's swim if it is a deck-seeded event? Get a world-class announcer and have him or her announce the swimmers before each heat. Do it in the time it takes the previous heat's swimmers to get out of the pool. Or ... ask the swimmer or swimmers who you want to see what heat they're in and write it on a sheet of paper. If it's someone you don't know and want to watch them ... well, watch the entire event and listen for the announcer. Problem solved. Of course the announcer might be real hoarse by the end of the day announcing about 10,000 names!

I'm with those that prefer deck-seeded meets. But, I think it is important to make sure heat sheets are available for distribution and posted as early as possible. One thing I notived at MV was there seemed to be lots more no shows among the younger age groups. When I was standing behind the blocks for the 200 free I glanced at the timers' sheet where they list the result of each heat. Just about all the "old guys" swam, but there were lots of "NS" in the later heats. I thought that was a little strange. I think my heat only had three swimmers and it was supposed to be a full heat.

For age group meets, we do positive check in up until 45 minutes before meet starts. Then it is a rush and flurry and stressful time to get everything scratched seeded and printed. And yes, it does not prevent empty lanes all together, but it stops many of them. I don't see the admin people staying late, this is a before the meet process unless you close checkin the night before like age group championships.

Even thought it may cut down on the empty lanes to a degree, deck seeding is no guarantee that there will be no empty lanes. Heck, I've seen some deck seeded 200 fly's where there's only one or two people in it. IIRC the small % of the time savings to deck seeding heats in short events 50's and 100's was actually offset by the breaks in the timeline it would take to deck seed the events, so the result would be fewer empty lanes, longer breaks in between the events and little bit longer days. I believe the 200's were a tossup. Also, I think it boils down to instead of working 2-3 hours agfter the close of the day, the admin people would have to work 3-5 or so hours after the close of the meet each day. Personally, I swim the best races when I don't worry about people next to me.