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
Paul,
I will assume (there I go again!) that you are not suggesting that I have a holier than thou attitude. I would think you know me well enough to know that is not me, nor is it my intent.
As you are writing from a regional team perspective I am writing from a team perspective. I will respectfully disagree that a pool doesn't make a team. The heck it doesn't. I can go into any one of five workouts during the day and know at least half the people working out! And I've been on the one day a week plan for the past 8 months! The people I haven't met at the pool, I've met at meets. (I really try to avoid that 5:30am group! They're grumpy! They get in, get'rdone, and get out to go to work. But I digress.)
It also seems to me that while you've swam with us a handful of times (and you are always welcome) that you are not at all qualified to have an opinion that a "vast majority of our team does not share an interest in competition." Because I actually know most of my teammates very well, I can tell you flat out that you're wrong. Many don't compete at Nationals for all of the same reasons most Masters don't compete: time, money, family. If you'll recall all of the Nationals in Santa Clara we had a tremendous showing. It was an hour away, cheap (no hotels, airfare, or meals), and family could even come watch.
Plus, I know you've swum in college, and probably age-group although I don't know that for sure. Are you going to tell me that a college team that trained in different states and in different pools with different coaches has the same camraderie as the college team that trains on the same campus? Come on. If that's the case, what's the point of swimming for a college? College students could just take classes via the Internet. Natalie Coughlin could have lived in say, Florida, took classes at Cal via the Internet, trained in FL, and swam for CAL! College swimmers don't care about swim team pride, do they? Ridiculous. Just look at this forum alone. How many UT swimmers are out there, anyway? You all are just as feisty as ever regarding UT. Same thing with USMS teams (like WCM). The point is: teams (college and otherwise) do swim in the same pool!
I will not argue (as that would be absurd because I don't know) that people are planning to meet in Austin, swimming for CMS, and that they're getting pumped communicating regularly, etc... however, no matter the circumstances, you CANNOT convince me that a group that actually gets in the same pool day in and day out TOGETHER, is the same kind of a team that CMS is. They are different, and that is a fact.
So, someone asked or didn't (!), my definition of a club team: a team where the registered members list the club team as their team, and don't swim under any other name for any other meets (including Nationals). A club team does not need to combine with any other team to form relays. A club team is run by one or more coaches out of one facility in one city. That is my definition. And, IMHO regarding USMS, if you're not a club team, you are a regional team.
Oh, and a club team doesn't need to pull anybody out of the woodwork. You simply look at the next lane over and say, "Hey, are going to Nationals?"
Paul,
I will assume (there I go again!) that you are not suggesting that I have a holier than thou attitude. I would think you know me well enough to know that is not me, nor is it my intent.
As you are writing from a regional team perspective I am writing from a team perspective. I will respectfully disagree that a pool doesn't make a team. The heck it doesn't. I can go into any one of five workouts during the day and know at least half the people working out! And I've been on the one day a week plan for the past 8 months! The people I haven't met at the pool, I've met at meets. (I really try to avoid that 5:30am group! They're grumpy! They get in, get'rdone, and get out to go to work. But I digress.)
It also seems to me that while you've swam with us a handful of times (and you are always welcome) that you are not at all qualified to have an opinion that a "vast majority of our team does not share an interest in competition." Because I actually know most of my teammates very well, I can tell you flat out that you're wrong. Many don't compete at Nationals for all of the same reasons most Masters don't compete: time, money, family. If you'll recall all of the Nationals in Santa Clara we had a tremendous showing. It was an hour away, cheap (no hotels, airfare, or meals), and family could even come watch.
Plus, I know you've swum in college, and probably age-group although I don't know that for sure. Are you going to tell me that a college team that trained in different states and in different pools with different coaches has the same camraderie as the college team that trains on the same campus? Come on. If that's the case, what's the point of swimming for a college? College students could just take classes via the Internet. Natalie Coughlin could have lived in say, Florida, took classes at Cal via the Internet, trained in FL, and swam for CAL! College swimmers don't care about swim team pride, do they? Ridiculous. Just look at this forum alone. How many UT swimmers are out there, anyway? You all are just as feisty as ever regarding UT. Same thing with USMS teams (like WCM). The point is: teams (college and otherwise) do swim in the same pool!
I will not argue (as that would be absurd because I don't know) that people are planning to meet in Austin, swimming for CMS, and that they're getting pumped communicating regularly, etc... however, no matter the circumstances, you CANNOT convince me that a group that actually gets in the same pool day in and day out TOGETHER, is the same kind of a team that CMS is. They are different, and that is a fact.
So, someone asked or didn't (!), my definition of a club team: a team where the registered members list the club team as their team, and don't swim under any other name for any other meets (including Nationals). A club team does not need to combine with any other team to form relays. A club team is run by one or more coaches out of one facility in one city. That is my definition. And, IMHO regarding USMS, if you're not a club team, you are a regional team.
Oh, and a club team doesn't need to pull anybody out of the woodwork. You simply look at the next lane over and say, "Hey, are going to Nationals?"
