Right now there is a lot of talk about bids for Nationals and proposed rules changes on where Nationals can be held.
Why not discuss good places to have Nationals in the future?
For fun, what pool would you suggest as a great place for Nationals? This may help prime the pump with more pools that can/will bid on future events.
I will start things off with my submission, University of Minnesota for LCM.
Why?
I am from MN and have swum in it many times during college and in Masters. It is a great facility and is fast. Plus I have family in the Twin Cities and know my way around.
It is indoors and as anybody from the Midwest knows, the weather can get unpredictable in August.
They did a great job in 1999 for LCM, very well-run meet.
An open water swim could be run at Lake Hariett or one of the other metro lakes.
Airport is a hub for NWA (soon to be Delta) and is accessable from any major metro area.
Location is in Central US, meaning flights from anywhere in the US won't take all day.
Pool is on the U of M campus with lots of places to eat, hotels, and parking.
There have been many meets run at this facility since it opened and I think that the hosts would do an excellent job. I don't know why they have not submitted a bid but would love to vote for it if they ever did.
Just my opinion, go ahead and share yours.
I think the Championship Committee has a list of the "desired" locations (the best pools in USA) for our USMS National Championship. The USMS Championship Committee then annually mail bid packets to them, and hopes at least a few return them.
For any facility that has not hosted, I think USMS Championship Committee should assign a mentor to faciliate more bids and to support efforts by LMSC to get these facilities to bid.
The approach that USMS should use in the future is a more active one. Hope is a town in Arkansas, it is not a strategy or plan. The "hope" route is inferior to the "take charge" route along with active engagement of all parties. Mailing a bid packet out is a waste of resources if there is nobody on the receiving end that will own the bid.
The word I get is that the USMS process is needlessly difficult, hence teams/pools don't bid. This happens even when there is a successful event at a venue.
My point is that USMS should look at a way of actively engaging facilities. The idea of having a mentor is a great one, but the overall mindset should be on taking the initiative and actively seeking out locations. Having only one or two bids for a given National Championship Meet is a sign that something is broken. We should have places beating down the door to host our events.
We have a great facility within our LMSC (Missouri Valley has Univ Missoui-Columbia with a new 8-lane LCM Plus diving pool complex), but getting the facility and LMSC to combine toward a bid has been a challenge.
Anthony Thompson
Missouri Valley LMSC
swimtotoswim@msn.com
By the way, that would be a great place to have a meet. It would be in the central US and indoors I presume.
Has your LMSC formed a committee to work on getting together with UM-Columbia to make a bid? How about getting advice from people like Mark Gill, Mel Goldstein, and others on how to do this? I think there should be some degree of interest on the part of USMS to help LMSCs overcome obstacles that they face when bidding on Nationals.
I wish you good luck and hope to see a bid for an LCM meet at UM-Columbia in the future.
How about Irvine? I know USA Swimming has held Nationals there.
Looking at the list of where past Nationals have been it struck me as a little odd that the last time they've been held in L.A. County was 1990. It seems like there are a number of facilities that could host Nationals there.
And, yes, I know Irvine is in Orange County. Two separate thoughts here :) In any event, it seems like there are lots of facilities in Southern Cal that could host Nationals.
How about Irvine? I know USA Swimming has held Nationals there.
Looking at the list of where past Nationals have been it struck me as a little odd that the last time they've been held in L.A. County was 1990. It seems like there are a number of facilities that could host Nationals there.
Do you think Coach Mike Collins and the people at NOVA would submit a bid for Nationals? I think that bid would get a lot of support, at least west of the Mississippi...
Good suggestion, any other merits of this facility that need to be mentioned?
Would love to see an SCY Nats hosted in the DC area. The only site that I know that even comes close to being able to handle that would be UMD's beautiful natatorium. 50m indoor woth moveable bulkheads. But spectator and warmup/down space are issues. Not to mention even GETTING that facility. George Mason's facility is about the same in terms of amount of water availble but isn't quite as large in terms of deck space or other areas.
BP, want to talk about that sometime? I would LOVE to be involved in trying to put a bid together. Wanna grab a beer or three and talk it over?
Do you think Coach Mike Collins and the people at NOVA would submit a bid for Nationals?
I have no idea, but at least we know there's a strong masters presence in that area. Also no one can complain that LA is difficult to get to.
I have no idea, but at least we know there's a strong masters presence in that area. Also no one can complain that LA is difficult to get to.
NOVA (Irvine) is among the host of strong teams in the LA area. In 2006 Mission Viejo (also in Orange County) submitted a bid for LCM Nationals in 2008. They lost out to Portland but will probably bid again in the future. I also heard a rumor that Santa Clarita (across the moutains from Burbank) may make a bid too.
There are also two venues in Arizona that are contemplating bids in the future for SCY Nationals...
Bids from the Western US probably won't be an issue, there are at least a few venues willing and able to host Nationals (Portland, Federal Way, Mission Viejo, and Fresno/Clovis amongst others). The key will be getting non-Florida venues to make bids on the East Coast.
Out of curiosity, my understanding is that it is a heck of a lot of work by a heck of a lot of people, mostly volunteers, to put on a nationals; outside of altruism what is the motivation to be beating down anyone's door to sign up for that amount of work?
For the LMSC, there is increased membership.
For the venue there is publicity.
For the host there is a lot of fun (and work) associated with being a part of an event of this caliber.
When SCY Nationals were in Tempe in 2003, Sun Devil Masters gave ASU a very big "Thank$" for having the meet at Mona Plummer. This has had a positive affect in SDM's dealings with the University.
Mark Gill can provide more details but it was a win-win situation for the LMSC, the University, and the host team (SDM).
The key will be getting non-Florida venues to make bids on the East Coast.
Isn't there a decent facility on Long Island? I haven't been there, but recall they hosted Div I NCAAs a couple years ago.
There are also quite a few newer facilities in the eastern U.S., but not exactly on the coast, that would seem to be strong candidates such as Tennessee, Ohio State and Purdue.
How much do the high-quality temporary competition pools (e.g. Long Beach; Omaha Trials) cost to set up and run for a week? How do the temporary venues deal with the warm-up/cool-down pool issues?
In a long-ago thread, someone (Michael Heather, I think) initiated discussion about whether USMS should own a pool. The answer seemed to be generally no. But I wonder how much a temporary pool would cost USMS to own or rent? And, being apparently generally filled with wonder today, I wonder whether it might make it easier to find suitable Nationals locations if we only needed a decent warm-up/cool down pool, locker/shower rooms, and space to set up a really, really big back yard pool (and bleachers, and hospitality, and deck space and on and on and on)?
"USMS Nationals, coming soon to a parking lot near you!"
