Nationals Scoring: Regional vs Local Club Categories
The USMS House of Delegates passed a rules change regarding club scoring at Nationals that took effect beginning with 2009 Short Course Nationals in Clovis.
Previously, club awards at Nationals simply went to the top ten highest scoring clubs in Men’s, Women’s and Combined categories. The new rule established two separate club categories: Regional and Local. A formal description of the two club categories is below (104.5.6B & from page 34 of the 2010 USMS Rule Book):
(1)Regional - For competition at national championship meets, a Regional Club consists of a club made up of those swimmers who represent a club at nationals, but at competitions within their LMSC, they compete for an entity or subgroup (such as a workout group) that is different than the one they compete with at nationals.
(2) Local - For competition at national championship meets, a Local Club consists of a club that does not qualify as a Regional Club.
Based on these definitions, the following scoring categories will be in place for 2010 Nationals:
Regional Clubs:
AFAM
AKMS
ARIZ
CMS
FACT
GAJA
HIMA
HMS
IAMA
IM
MICH
MM
NCMS
NEM
NIAG
NMMS
OREG
PNA
SKY
SMS
SWOM
UTAH
WMAC
WMSC
Local Clubs: all other registered USMS clubs.
Please note clubs may contest their designation or the designation of another club by filing an appeal with the chair of the Championship Committee (Jeff Roddin, Championship@usms.org) at least 45 days prior to the national championship meet (those deadlines would be April 5 for Atlanta and June 25 for Puerto Rico).
Jeff Roddin
Championship Committee Chair
Correct. I have no problem with the rule conceptually. Just, as always, it's very hard to write any sort of legislation without creating potential loopholes. For me, this rule is certainly clear enough that I certainly understand the spirit of it, and have absolutely no objection to the spirit of it. Just will be interesting to see if anyone tries to create a loophole, etc.
I had forgotten (not really, but temporarily forgotten) that USMS has made workout groups slightly more official in that they're on the registration card, and thus tracked in the registration database. That does certainly help to make this a more black and white with far fewer shades of gray.
-Rick
Correct. I have no problem with the rule conceptually. Just, as always, it's very hard to write any sort of legislation without creating potential loopholes. For me, this rule is certainly clear enough that I certainly understand the spirit of it, and have absolutely no objection to the spirit of it. Just will be interesting to see if anyone tries to create a loophole, etc.
I had forgotten (not really, but temporarily forgotten) that USMS has made workout groups slightly more official in that they're on the registration card, and thus tracked in the registration database. That does certainly help to make this a more black and white with far fewer shades of gray.
-Rick
