OK, it may be over a year away but why not start a thread on 2011 Short Course (Spring) Nationals? This meet will be held at the newly-renovated Kino Aquatics Center in Mesa, which is just east of Phoenix. So go ahead and pipe in, I'm sure we will get some good conversation flowing.
1) change the rules if that is the only thing keeping them separate.
There is nothing in the rules that specifically "keeps them separate," and it definitely isn't the only thing. Yes, the OW people do have their regions and that is given some priority, but they also recognize the value in combining an OW championship with pool nationals.
I don't remember which were national OW championships or not, but Clovis, PR, AZ and Auburn all had or will have OW events on the same weekend as nationals. (Maybe it's just me, but it doesn't matter much to me if an OW race is called a "national championship or not.)
It is hard for a potential meet host to put together a good bid for a pool nationals (or OW nationals); it is hard for the championship and LD committees soliciting such bids, as well as choosing the winning bid. Many years there have been only single bids for pool nationals.
I do agree that the regional thing should be a lesser priority than the possibility of combining with nationals, and that administrative barriers to combining them should be as low as possible. But I also don't think it is worth accepting an vastly inferior bid for either nationals just for the sake of combining them.
So while it is great when they are able to be combined, it is definitely a lot easier said than done.
1) change the rules if that is the only thing keeping them separate.
There is nothing in the rules that specifically "keeps them separate," and it definitely isn't the only thing. Yes, the OW people do have their regions and that is given some priority, but they also recognize the value in combining an OW championship with pool nationals.
I don't remember which were national OW championships or not, but Clovis, PR, AZ and Auburn all had or will have OW events on the same weekend as nationals. (Maybe it's just me, but it doesn't matter much to me if an OW race is called a "national championship or not.)
It is hard for a potential meet host to put together a good bid for a pool nationals (or OW nationals); it is hard for the championship and LD committees soliciting such bids, as well as choosing the winning bid. Many years there have been only single bids for pool nationals.
I do agree that the regional thing should be a lesser priority than the possibility of combining with nationals, and that administrative barriers to combining them should be as low as possible. But I also don't think it is worth accepting an vastly inferior bid for either nationals just for the sake of combining them.
So while it is great when they are able to be combined, it is definitely a lot easier said than done.
