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
In response to Rob wanting to extend a courtesy to the Championship Committee and let them decide this issue: Multiple old rules have been taken out of the Rule Book and put under the purview of the Championship Committee (appropriately so), such as figuring out NQT's, setting surcharges, etc. I believe that, philosophically,this issue (partly because it was already brought to the House, debated there, and one proposal about it garnered over 60% of the vote) needs to be brought back to the House to be changed. Furthermore, right now club scoring is a Rule, and any "Rule" cannot be changed unless and until it goes through the Rules Committee on a "Rules" year. In addition, a subcommittee of the Championship Committee, asked to review the rules governing national championship meets, did that review, and decided that section (Article 104) needs to remain in the RuleBook. So again, let's decide about definitions and whether we want size divisions also.
Carolyn, it's not often that I disagree with you but I don't understand why we have a Championship Committee if we don't charge them with running the championships. Yes, it is currently in the rule book that the HOD decides on team scoring. I think what should happen next year is that we change that rule to say that it's up to the Championship Committee, the same way that we changed it a few years ago that we leave it up to Championship to determine NQTs. Championship could be busy from now until next convention coming up with a plan for changing team scoring. It would be finalized (hopefully) at convention. I bet that would be one of the best attended Championship meetings ever! People not on the committee would have the opportunity to provide input at that meeting. Then whatever resolution Championship comes up with would be included in the committee minutes, which the HOD has to vote to approve. If there was still disagreement over Championship's decision, I have no doubt that that would be pulled for discussion and hotly debated.
To Karen: I appreciate that you conceded a few posts back that the regional model works well for more rural states. It's clear to me that the regional teams have agreed to separate scoring. I thought we had all agreed that (or at least were paying lip service to) neither model is better, they're just different. I am happy for you that you have such a wonderful relationship with your Walnut Creek teammates. I think I have a pretty wonderful relationship with my Swim Kentucky teammates too. I see them quite a bit more often than just once a year at nationals. I have been to weddings and birthday parties of teammates in Louisville and elsewhere (thankfully, no funerals yet!). I am also in frequent email and phone contact. So it sounds like we're both blessed with great teammates!
In response to Rob wanting to extend a courtesy to the Championship Committee and let them decide this issue: Multiple old rules have been taken out of the Rule Book and put under the purview of the Championship Committee (appropriately so), such as figuring out NQT's, setting surcharges, etc. I believe that, philosophically,this issue (partly because it was already brought to the House, debated there, and one proposal about it garnered over 60% of the vote) needs to be brought back to the House to be changed. Furthermore, right now club scoring is a Rule, and any "Rule" cannot be changed unless and until it goes through the Rules Committee on a "Rules" year. In addition, a subcommittee of the Championship Committee, asked to review the rules governing national championship meets, did that review, and decided that section (Article 104) needs to remain in the RuleBook. So again, let's decide about definitions and whether we want size divisions also.
Carolyn, it's not often that I disagree with you but I don't understand why we have a Championship Committee if we don't charge them with running the championships. Yes, it is currently in the rule book that the HOD decides on team scoring. I think what should happen next year is that we change that rule to say that it's up to the Championship Committee, the same way that we changed it a few years ago that we leave it up to Championship to determine NQTs. Championship could be busy from now until next convention coming up with a plan for changing team scoring. It would be finalized (hopefully) at convention. I bet that would be one of the best attended Championship meetings ever! People not on the committee would have the opportunity to provide input at that meeting. Then whatever resolution Championship comes up with would be included in the committee minutes, which the HOD has to vote to approve. If there was still disagreement over Championship's decision, I have no doubt that that would be pulled for discussion and hotly debated.
To Karen: I appreciate that you conceded a few posts back that the regional model works well for more rural states. It's clear to me that the regional teams have agreed to separate scoring. I thought we had all agreed that (or at least were paying lip service to) neither model is better, they're just different. I am happy for you that you have such a wonderful relationship with your Walnut Creek teammates. I think I have a pretty wonderful relationship with my Swim Kentucky teammates too. I see them quite a bit more often than just once a year at nationals. I have been to weddings and birthday parties of teammates in Louisville and elsewhere (thankfully, no funerals yet!). I am also in frequent email and phone contact. So it sounds like we're both blessed with great teammates!
