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
Thanks for the information on opting out! Good to hear teams can do that.
To what imspoiled said about S/M/L teams, there are a few counter arguments to each of these points: (sorry, I don't know how to se the Quote function that everyone has figured out!!) :)
1) "No team like to see their name at the bottom of the list."
Well, if we create S/M/L divisions, then 3 times as many teams will see their name at the bottom of the list.
2) # of swimmers vs. # of splashes.
While # of splashes is slightly more fair (if we are to divide into size divisions), it is still directly related to the number of swimmers. I would venture to say that this would only affect maybe 4 teams in determining their size division. As you point out, the cost to attend Nationals is usually quite significant, so it is HIGHLY unlikely that any team woud have a large number of swimmers with only 2-3 events. Those swimmers in large part do not attend Nationals. I would say the vast majority of swimmers who take on the cost of going to Nationals are those who swim 5-6 events. (I could be wrong though!! I'm sure someone on here has that statistic breakdown.) But, at the end of the day, # of splashes IS a SLIGHTLY better method, if we are going to go down that road at all.
3) "Size divisions may encourage participation"
I see how this may work for smaller teams who are trying to get a banner, but it also has a chilling effect for so many other teams who are not in that position. So, while this may work for your team, it doesn't work that way for all - for example, teams who are afraid of breaking into the medium or large team divisions (because then they would place lower). I just think it would be a shame to see ANY chilling effect that would discourage any swimmers from attending. Allowing just the Regional/Club team divisions does not discourage anyone, but instead, encourages everyone.
Thanks for the information on opting out! Good to hear teams can do that.
To what imspoiled said about S/M/L teams, there are a few counter arguments to each of these points: (sorry, I don't know how to se the Quote function that everyone has figured out!!) :)
1) "No team like to see their name at the bottom of the list."
Well, if we create S/M/L divisions, then 3 times as many teams will see their name at the bottom of the list.
2) # of swimmers vs. # of splashes.
While # of splashes is slightly more fair (if we are to divide into size divisions), it is still directly related to the number of swimmers. I would venture to say that this would only affect maybe 4 teams in determining their size division. As you point out, the cost to attend Nationals is usually quite significant, so it is HIGHLY unlikely that any team woud have a large number of swimmers with only 2-3 events. Those swimmers in large part do not attend Nationals. I would say the vast majority of swimmers who take on the cost of going to Nationals are those who swim 5-6 events. (I could be wrong though!! I'm sure someone on here has that statistic breakdown.) But, at the end of the day, # of splashes IS a SLIGHTLY better method, if we are going to go down that road at all.
3) "Size divisions may encourage participation"
I see how this may work for smaller teams who are trying to get a banner, but it also has a chilling effect for so many other teams who are not in that position. So, while this may work for your team, it doesn't work that way for all - for example, teams who are afraid of breaking into the medium or large team divisions (because then they would place lower). I just think it would be a shame to see ANY chilling effect that would discourage any swimmers from attending. Allowing just the Regional/Club team divisions does not discourage anyone, but instead, encourages everyone.
