It is obvious that the new team scoring rules for National Championships has not achieved the purposes for which it was designed. At 2009 LC Nationals, many relatively small teams were classified as "regional teams" because their LMSC is so small that they all compete together at Nationals (ie., MOVY with 25 members), and many huge teams were not classified as "regional" teams because there were multiple teams in their LMSC (ie., IndySwimfit with 125 members). If the intent of the new rule was to prevent large teams from overpowering small teams in team scoring, the current rule has produced a ridiculous result.
I don't know why USMS abandoned the concept of Large Team/Small Team scoring years ago, but this concept would seem to work much more equitably. Some might argue that it is difficult to draw the line between large and small teams, but I think it becomes pretty obvious if you look at the Team Rosters from this year's meet. If the Championship Committee made this determination prior to each Nationals after the entries closed, which is the way they used to do it, if I remember correctly, we would minimize the potential problems with setting an arbitrary immutable limit for all Nationals.
First and foremost, I nor YMCA Indy SwimFit DO NOT "Control" teams/workout groups or clubs. YMCA Indy SwimFit is a YMCA sponsored program, with 2 Full Time Coaches and 8 Part Time Coaches, and all of the coaches are employees of the same YMCA. We use 3 YMCA facilities, 1 high school, and a university pool to accommodate the fitness swimmer, triathlete, and competitive masters swimmers who are members of our program. We offer 8 workouts a day Monday thru Friday and 2 on Saturday, with a coach on deck at all times. The workouts are provided by our Head Coach, and are the same at each location. It is not uncommon to have 30-40 swimmers in each of the two Saturday practices. We are a true "Club" by any one's definition, at this years LC Championship we had 17 swimmers who swam in their first Nationals and 23 swimmers who swam the relay day only. There are 5 other clubs in the Indianapolis area, three of them I have been working to develop Masters Programs for their membership within their facility. These clubs and their facilities see the value of having an adult aquatic fitness program for their members who have chosen aquatics as a means of exercise for a healthier lifestyle. Additionally, it has created an additional revenue stream for them during these tough economic times. Individual clubs create new membership and develop new leadership. In Indiana today we have 17+ Clubs, when we only used to have one and the US Masters Swimming membership growth in the LMSC is in direct correllation with number of new clubs. When it comes to club scoring everyone knows in a "Age Group" meet, the more swimmers you bring the more points you score. For example if Illinois Masters brought 200+ swimmers out of their 1500 membership there would be no way ISF could win...They didn't and we did...
First and foremost, I nor YMCA Indy SwimFit DO NOT "Control" teams/workout groups or clubs. YMCA Indy SwimFit is a YMCA sponsored program, with 2 Full Time Coaches and 8 Part Time Coaches, and all of the coaches are employees of the same YMCA. We use 3 YMCA facilities, 1 high school, and a university pool to accommodate the fitness swimmer, triathlete, and competitive masters swimmers who are members of our program. We offer 8 workouts a day Monday thru Friday and 2 on Saturday, with a coach on deck at all times. The workouts are provided by our Head Coach, and are the same at each location. It is not uncommon to have 30-40 swimmers in each of the two Saturday practices. We are a true "Club" by any one's definition, at this years LC Championship we had 17 swimmers who swam in their first Nationals and 23 swimmers who swam the relay day only. There are 5 other clubs in the Indianapolis area, three of them I have been working to develop Masters Programs for their membership within their facility. These clubs and their facilities see the value of having an adult aquatic fitness program for their members who have chosen aquatics as a means of exercise for a healthier lifestyle. Additionally, it has created an additional revenue stream for them during these tough economic times. Individual clubs create new membership and develop new leadership. In Indiana today we have 17+ Clubs, when we only used to have one and the US Masters Swimming membership growth in the LMSC is in direct correllation with number of new clubs. When it comes to club scoring everyone knows in a "Age Group" meet, the more swimmers you bring the more points you score. For example if Illinois Masters brought 200+ swimmers out of their 1500 membership there would be no way ISF could win...They didn't and we did...
