Beginning in 2009, club scoring awards at Nationals have been divided into two separate categories: Regional and Local. A formal description of the two club categories is below (104.5.6B & from page 35-36 of the 2012 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 2012 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 March 12 for Greensboro and May 21 for Omaha).
Jeff Roddin
Championship Committee Chair
I am not educated on the history of the definitions, but they seem to defy good sense. A club is a club. We pay dues to the same entity, our coaches get paid by the same entity. We may work out at different sites, but we are essentially a team. This is not sour grapes...just common sense. An LMSC is probably not a team, and therein lies the problem. That's the gray area.
I know people in the know like Chris want to drop this. But as a real team swimmer with a dedicated coach who has pride in his life's work, it is disappointing to continually see his efforts to motivate a real team diminished by a silly definition. Bottom line...a conglomerate of many unrelated workout groups does not constitute a local team.
Clubs and teams are not the same thing. You seem to be using the two words interchangeably. Don't do that.
I am not educated on the history of the definitions, but they seem to defy good sense. A club is a club. We pay dues to the same entity, our coaches get paid by the same entity. We may work out at different sites, but we are essentially a team. This is not sour grapes...just common sense. An LMSC is probably not a team, and therein lies the problem. That's the gray area.
I know people in the know like Chris want to drop this. But as a real team swimmer with a dedicated coach who has pride in his life's work, it is disappointing to continually see his efforts to motivate a real team diminished by a silly definition. Bottom line...a conglomerate of many unrelated workout groups does not constitute a local team.
Clubs and teams are not the same thing. You seem to be using the two words interchangeably. Don't do that.
