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
Ok folks...this will be my first ever reply to a forum. I am a very active member of USMS (head coach of the Olympic Club) and was stunned at the confussion that the rules change for Nationals scoring created. Point of clarification; The Olympic Club should not be used as any model for a club team. We are a private athletic club and "nobody" can swim for us without being a member first...period. We cannot and do not allow swimmers to join our team for a nationals or worlds. We are a team!
Having said that, I want to echo the KISS method...keep it simple. Going back to Small, Medium, Large divisions keeps it simple. Whether you are a regional or club team dosen't matter, therefore no need for team definitions.
Regarding coaches "telling" there swimmers to stay home and only bring the elite swimmers is not in our mission statement and should be grounds for expulsion from USMS. Trying to get your team to any nationals is a year round project with goals set and participation encouraged. As Lieanne said: work, family, relatioinships, etc. are the determing factor whether people go to participate..."not" the coach telling them they can or cannot. If it is that important to any coach to win and leave swimmers home then **** em.
The best way to divide the teams in the S- M- L is by the number of entered swimmers in that particular nationals, not by the number of swimmers registered on the team (the majority of masters swimmers do not compete). It is not perfect but, certainly better than what we have now. The perfect scoring system (percentages) is too complicated for such a large meet but, would determine the "true" national champions.
Keep it simple!
My 2 cents,:applaud:
Scott
Ok folks...this will be my first ever reply to a forum. I am a very active member of USMS (head coach of the Olympic Club) and was stunned at the confussion that the rules change for Nationals scoring created. Point of clarification; The Olympic Club should not be used as any model for a club team. We are a private athletic club and "nobody" can swim for us without being a member first...period. We cannot and do not allow swimmers to join our team for a nationals or worlds. We are a team!
Having said that, I want to echo the KISS method...keep it simple. Going back to Small, Medium, Large divisions keeps it simple. Whether you are a regional or club team dosen't matter, therefore no need for team definitions.
Regarding coaches "telling" there swimmers to stay home and only bring the elite swimmers is not in our mission statement and should be grounds for expulsion from USMS. Trying to get your team to any nationals is a year round project with goals set and participation encouraged. As Lieanne said: work, family, relatioinships, etc. are the determing factor whether people go to participate..."not" the coach telling them they can or cannot. If it is that important to any coach to win and leave swimmers home then **** em.
The best way to divide the teams in the S- M- L is by the number of entered swimmers in that particular nationals, not by the number of swimmers registered on the team (the majority of masters swimmers do not compete). It is not perfect but, certainly better than what we have now. The perfect scoring system (percentages) is too complicated for such a large meet but, would determine the "true" national champions.
Keep it simple!
My 2 cents,:applaud:
Scott
