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
First of all, I'd like to thank Leianne for your active role in this process. I love the proposal, and it's simplicity. I also like that there are no arbitrary measures for S/M/L team divisions. Now every team, in both Regional and Local team divisions will be rewarded for bringing as many people to Nationals as possible.
As Patrick points out, however, there seems to be a loophole in the definitions (i.e., NCMS). Perhaps for the Local team definition, it needs to be specified that a team must meet BOTH requirements in order to qualify as a Local team, otherwise they are a Regional team. Correspondingly, the definition of a Regional team would need to allow for exceptions such as NCMS to fall within its parameters. It seems clear to me that North Carolina Masters would be considered a Regional team.
I have another question, as I'm not as familiar with how USMS teams are registered throughout the country. What would a team like Gold Coast be considered? I know that they have 10-15 "workout groups" spanning probably 100 miles along the southern coast of Florida. Therefore, I would consider them a Regional team. Are their USMS registration cards for Gold Coast, or their respective Local team/workout group?
Are there any other exceptions out there? I love that we are working on this prior to the convention so that all the hiccups are worked out in advance to prevent 11th hour scrambling. :)
Thanks again everyone,
Brian
First of all, I'd like to thank Leianne for your active role in this process. I love the proposal, and it's simplicity. I also like that there are no arbitrary measures for S/M/L team divisions. Now every team, in both Regional and Local team divisions will be rewarded for bringing as many people to Nationals as possible.
As Patrick points out, however, there seems to be a loophole in the definitions (i.e., NCMS). Perhaps for the Local team definition, it needs to be specified that a team must meet BOTH requirements in order to qualify as a Local team, otherwise they are a Regional team. Correspondingly, the definition of a Regional team would need to allow for exceptions such as NCMS to fall within its parameters. It seems clear to me that North Carolina Masters would be considered a Regional team.
I have another question, as I'm not as familiar with how USMS teams are registered throughout the country. What would a team like Gold Coast be considered? I know that they have 10-15 "workout groups" spanning probably 100 miles along the southern coast of Florida. Therefore, I would consider them a Regional team. Are their USMS registration cards for Gold Coast, or their respective Local team/workout group?
Are there any other exceptions out there? I love that we are working on this prior to the convention so that all the hiccups are worked out in advance to prevent 11th hour scrambling. :)
Thanks again everyone,
Brian
