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
The other elephant that no one is talking about, is when do you force LMSCs to form local teams. At over 2000, there should be enough clubs in Colorado to form competitive teams - the same for New England.
I would hope the answer to that would be "never." I don't believe it is in the best interest of USMS to force something on LMSCs when it is so clearly against their wishes. The regional team concept is something that has been with some teams since the dawn of USMS. On the face of it, it would seem that Colorado and New England have enough swimmers that they don't need to use the regional model. But although I would imagine that most of the swimmers in Colorado are concentrated in the Denver area, there are probably swimmers in small, remote towns who are most definitely served by the regional model. I realize this argument could be made for any LMSC. I would imagine there are also swimmers in Pacific who live in remote towns.
Here's another elephant in the room for you: at what point does USMS "force" large LMSCs to split up into smaller LMSCs? (Not advocating this in the slightest, Michael -- just pointing out the other side of the coin.)
If I just put on my Pacific hat, it would be fun to watch team Pacific. How many records could we break. I put on my USMS hat, and I dont think it would be a good thing.
Actually, I would not have a problem with Team Pacific. If that's what you want to do, I would be a hypocrite if I objected. It really wouldn't bother me if Team Pacific dominated scoring at Nationals. But good luck to you putting all those relays together! I nearly had a nervous breakdown trying to put together relays for 60-something swimmers in Indy in 2004!
Sorry to take more than three sentences.
I would fail that test too!
Meg
The other elephant that no one is talking about, is when do you force LMSCs to form local teams. At over 2000, there should be enough clubs in Colorado to form competitive teams - the same for New England.
I would hope the answer to that would be "never." I don't believe it is in the best interest of USMS to force something on LMSCs when it is so clearly against their wishes. The regional team concept is something that has been with some teams since the dawn of USMS. On the face of it, it would seem that Colorado and New England have enough swimmers that they don't need to use the regional model. But although I would imagine that most of the swimmers in Colorado are concentrated in the Denver area, there are probably swimmers in small, remote towns who are most definitely served by the regional model. I realize this argument could be made for any LMSC. I would imagine there are also swimmers in Pacific who live in remote towns.
Here's another elephant in the room for you: at what point does USMS "force" large LMSCs to split up into smaller LMSCs? (Not advocating this in the slightest, Michael -- just pointing out the other side of the coin.)
If I just put on my Pacific hat, it would be fun to watch team Pacific. How many records could we break. I put on my USMS hat, and I dont think it would be a good thing.
Actually, I would not have a problem with Team Pacific. If that's what you want to do, I would be a hypocrite if I objected. It really wouldn't bother me if Team Pacific dominated scoring at Nationals. But good luck to you putting all those relays together! I nearly had a nervous breakdown trying to put together relays for 60-something swimmers in Indy in 2004!
Sorry to take more than three sentences.
I would fail that test too!
Meg
