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
Scotty..welcome to the forums..you picked a good one to jump into for your first time! Let me apologize as did make a mention of TOC in one of my posts suggesting that it would possibly be classified as a team that should be under "Open"...I really did mean to type TRC (Race Club)....even though I still have a recoding of you on my answering machine offering the big bucks to come swim with TOC! :)
Allen....isn't it true that in any sport the "home" team almost always has the advantage? I think we get so caught up in trying to create "fairness" when in sport there is ultimately always going to be things like "homefield" advantage, or home "refs" advantage...it does and should fall on each of us to step up/ramp up our efforts to get as many people on board to attend major meets as we can...and i again will use out efforts in Colorado as an example of what can happen bring LOTS of people into most nationals....
I'm now setting the same pace here in AZ (sorry Mel..not jumping ship to UCSB as JS is doing to Texas)...again using blackmail, bribery, outright threats and some cash on the line against other teams/swimmers (Evil Smith)!
Mel...also wanted to mention that do approach people/teams about hosting meets...often. Ask Schaffer & McConica about my visit to there stellar facility in Ojai a few weeks back....also, brought up 2010 SCY nationals to Mr. Shake down at the U of A who will have their incredible expansion complete in a little over 1 year!
Scotty..welcome to the forums..you picked a good one to jump into for your first time! Let me apologize as did make a mention of TOC in one of my posts suggesting that it would possibly be classified as a team that should be under "Open"...I really did mean to type TRC (Race Club)....even though I still have a recoding of you on my answering machine offering the big bucks to come swim with TOC! :)
Allen....isn't it true that in any sport the "home" team almost always has the advantage? I think we get so caught up in trying to create "fairness" when in sport there is ultimately always going to be things like "homefield" advantage, or home "refs" advantage...it does and should fall on each of us to step up/ramp up our efforts to get as many people on board to attend major meets as we can...and i again will use out efforts in Colorado as an example of what can happen bring LOTS of people into most nationals....
I'm now setting the same pace here in AZ (sorry Mel..not jumping ship to UCSB as JS is doing to Texas)...again using blackmail, bribery, outright threats and some cash on the line against other teams/swimmers (Evil Smith)!
Mel...also wanted to mention that do approach people/teams about hosting meets...often. Ask Schaffer & McConica about my visit to there stellar facility in Ojai a few weeks back....also, brought up 2010 SCY nationals to Mr. Shake down at the U of A who will have their incredible expansion complete in a little over 1 year!
