first of all, congrats to the meet directors and all the volunteers on a job well done. so organized and efficient!! very impressive. the only thing i wish someone could explain to me is why the usms champ. committee changed the team scoring from large, medium and small team to clumping everyone in the same category. seems extremely unfair to have what i call "real teams" competing against state mega teams. there is no possibility for "real teams" to ever come close to competing against them. if you are going to give team awards at the end of the meet, is there any way you can do it fairly? our team is extremely proud to have gotten as many team members as we did to go to natls. (most of them for the first time), but unfortunately they were very disillusioned (as was i) with the idea that we would be competing against state teams. as one of the coaches i didn't have an explanation. even though we were very proud of our 7th place finish in men's division, and our 12th place in combined, we were only one of a few "real teams" in the top ten. would appreciate responses. maybe even someone from the champ.committee could explain how they felt this scoring system would be more fair to the majority of swimmers. then i can pass it along to my teammates.. i don't want them to be so disillusioned that they lose interest in attending any future natls. thanks
Please no. I like my club. I am proud of the work that goes into it and its competitive tradition, and I would rather not be part of some "team" that is a group in name only. Honestly, I think LMSC and state teams are bad for competition: If you want to swim relays get four people from your team to go! That way you encourage your teammates to push themselves, both in competition and training.
(It is hilarious how many people on my team come in swearing they won't compete, get nagged into going to a team focus meet, and wind up sucked in and ready to go to nationals.)
So I would rather superteams didn't exist at all. However, at least with two divisions, you wouldn't be actively promoting a worse option.
I agree!! I joined my team because it was a "real" club team with good swimmers who had been on the team for years and longtime coaches. I purposefully did not join VMST, which is our state-wide umbrella team. State wide teams practice in a million different locations and have no real affinity other than the name. I'd rather swim relays with people I consider my teammates or friends. Many of our swimmers never compete. But, as with some girl's team, we all make a good showing at zones. One year everyone trained like crazy and went to nationals in Hawaii together and won the small team championship.
So, I think the state wide or mega teams should be separated from the true clubs. I wouldn't object to going back to SML either. Arbitrariness is part of life. Some minor unfairness at the masters level is not breaking my heart.
Please no. I like my club. I am proud of the work that goes into it and its competitive tradition, and I would rather not be part of some "team" that is a group in name only. Honestly, I think LMSC and state teams are bad for competition: If you want to swim relays get four people from your team to go! That way you encourage your teammates to push themselves, both in competition and training.
(It is hilarious how many people on my team come in swearing they won't compete, get nagged into going to a team focus meet, and wind up sucked in and ready to go to nationals.)
So I would rather superteams didn't exist at all. However, at least with two divisions, you wouldn't be actively promoting a worse option.
I agree!! I joined my team because it was a "real" club team with good swimmers who had been on the team for years and longtime coaches. I purposefully did not join VMST, which is our state-wide umbrella team. State wide teams practice in a million different locations and have no real affinity other than the name. I'd rather swim relays with people I consider my teammates or friends. Many of our swimmers never compete. But, as with some girl's team, we all make a good showing at zones. One year everyone trained like crazy and went to nationals in Hawaii together and won the small team championship.
So, I think the state wide or mega teams should be separated from the true clubs. I wouldn't object to going back to SML either. Arbitrariness is part of life. Some minor unfairness at the masters level is not breaking my heart.
