I know this will sound a lot like, "if I don't get my way, I'm going to take my ball and go home," but it it not meant to be.
I have never swum a short course meters meet in my life and have no interest in making Nationals my first one. I would have no frame of reference for any times, no knowledge or feel for the extra distance and no way to prepare for any of this. One of my primary rules for major competitions is "Never try anything for the first time." Competing at a distance I have literally never swum seems just silly to me.
So, if the committee decides the format will be scm, I guess I will have a relaxing year and train for 2019
No reference for times is valid but otherwise I think you are making too much of the difference in courses. In terms of "no way to prepare" for SCM, that's just not true. You prepare for SCM the same way you prepare for SCY. Perhaps the most significant difference is the backstroke flags (at 5m instead of 5y), which -- if you are a backstroker -- maybe means going to a LCM pool to adjust. (But it isn't that hard.)
Our summer league swimmers somehow manage to switch back and forth between SCM and SCY (we have a mix of pools in our league) just fine.
I know this will sound a lot like, "if I don't get my way, I'm going to take my ball and go home," but it it not meant to be.
I have never swum a short course meters meet in my life and have no interest in making Nationals my first one. I would have no frame of reference for any times, no knowledge or feel for the extra distance and no way to prepare for any of this. One of my primary rules for major competitions is "Never try anything for the first time." Competing at a distance I have literally never swum seems just silly to me.
So, if the committee decides the format will be scm, I guess I will have a relaxing year and train for 2019
No reference for times is valid but otherwise I think you are making too much of the difference in courses. In terms of "no way to prepare" for SCM, that's just not true. You prepare for SCM the same way you prepare for SCY. Perhaps the most significant difference is the backstroke flags (at 5m instead of 5y), which -- if you are a backstroker -- maybe means going to a LCM pool to adjust. (But it isn't that hard.)
Our summer league swimmers somehow manage to switch back and forth between SCM and SCY (we have a mix of pools in our league) just fine.
