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
Karen,
If a team wanted to win, what would keep them from asking their slow swimmers to declare themselves as unattached? The system you propose, provides an incentive for a coach or swimmer to do this. As a swimmer who doesn't score points at SC Nationals, it would be better for my team if I didn't swim with them.
If we are going to have team scoring, I think it needs to be a system that encourages participation of team all members.
Personally, I am a fan of having two divisions, one for super teams (defined as clubs that register as a club and then have to declare a sub group you train with) and regular clubs (you register just with that club and swim as that club at all meets). Get rid of women and men awards and just present awards in those two divisions.
Karen,
If a team wanted to win, what would keep them from asking their slow swimmers to declare themselves as unattached? The system you propose, provides an incentive for a coach or swimmer to do this. As a swimmer who doesn't score points at SC Nationals, it would be better for my team if I didn't swim with them.
If we are going to have team scoring, I think it needs to be a system that encourages participation of team all members.
Personally, I am a fan of having two divisions, one for super teams (defined as clubs that register as a club and then have to declare a sub group you train with) and regular clubs (you register just with that club and swim as that club at all meets). Get rid of women and men awards and just present awards in those two divisions.
