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
wow. i really didn't think i would get such a response to my initial post, but honestly it doesn't surprise me. when we had the large medium small team scoring, i had never heard any complaints, and since the scoring system was changed, i've heard lots of grumblings (to put it mildly).
after reading all the responses, it's very clear to me that this new scoring version is, by far, the most unbalanced. of course what to change it to is the million dollar question. there have been many suggestions, but the consensus seems to be that we somehow have to separate the super teams from the real clubs, and that's not a bad thing. you really don't have to look much further than your own back yard to figure out why.
the reason all high schools and colleges are split into divisions in all sports is because the size of the school definitely has its obvious advantages. and those schools don't change their affiliation when they get to the bigger competitions. ucla and usc don't combine their squads when they go to the ncaas just to have a super team (and nor would they want to). similarly, a real masters club trains together, pays dues to one club, socializes together, etc. therefore i do not think it would be hard to define or recognize a super team. we all know who they are. it is okay to be part of a super team if you wish to. we are only talking in regards to the scoring disadvantage at nationals.
so ok. i think i've talked enough. we now have to put the ball in the championship committee's court (or the swim suit in the championship committee's pool) or something like that.
thanks again for the replies. it's been interesting and fun. let's keep it that way.
wow. i really didn't think i would get such a response to my initial post, but honestly it doesn't surprise me. when we had the large medium small team scoring, i had never heard any complaints, and since the scoring system was changed, i've heard lots of grumblings (to put it mildly).
after reading all the responses, it's very clear to me that this new scoring version is, by far, the most unbalanced. of course what to change it to is the million dollar question. there have been many suggestions, but the consensus seems to be that we somehow have to separate the super teams from the real clubs, and that's not a bad thing. you really don't have to look much further than your own back yard to figure out why.
the reason all high schools and colleges are split into divisions in all sports is because the size of the school definitely has its obvious advantages. and those schools don't change their affiliation when they get to the bigger competitions. ucla and usc don't combine their squads when they go to the ncaas just to have a super team (and nor would they want to). similarly, a real masters club trains together, pays dues to one club, socializes together, etc. therefore i do not think it would be hard to define or recognize a super team. we all know who they are. it is okay to be part of a super team if you wish to. we are only talking in regards to the scoring disadvantage at nationals.
so ok. i think i've talked enough. we now have to put the ball in the championship committee's court (or the swim suit in the championship committee's pool) or something like that.
thanks again for the replies. it's been interesting and fun. let's keep it that way.
