US Masters 2023 Open Water Nationals is being held on Rosh Hashanah, does this bother anyone?

I am very much bothered.

Feel free to make your voice heard, I have reached out to the following, all can make their voices heard:

Dawson Hughes, CEO

US Masters Swimming

dhughes@usmastersswimming.org

Tom Hinchey, CEO

USA Swimming

ceo@usaswimming.org

Tina Wallen

Colorado Timing, USMS sponsor

970-222-6358

Finis Inc

USMS Sponsor

925-980-3615

Lake Mission Viejo Association (hosts of the competition)

949-770-1313

Andrew Come, Manager

The Assoc Board can be reached at x201

Brian Goodell, Mayor

Mission Viejo, CA

bgoodell@cityofmissionviejo.org

Governor Gavin Newsome, California

916-445-2841, x1,x6

govpressoffice@gov.ca.gov

Governor Ron DeSantis

850-717-9249

Congressman Jared Moscowitz

754-240-6330

Ask for Teresa Bryer

Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz

954-845-1179

Congresswoman Young Kim

40^th California representing Mission Viejo

949-268-6706

Linette Choi, District Director

Linette.choi@mail.house.gov

Nope. If you can't make it, don't come.  Between Christianity, Islam, and Judaism there are two dozen holidays.  Counting virtual swims, there are 13 annual National Championships.  Plenty of opportunities. 

Kurt will probably be SHOCKED that I actually agree with him on something, but I do agree with him on this-- only after reading his complete response.  He brings up a good point:  Between all of the religions, there are several religious holidays that make scheduling a challenge.  And, there are a lot of other opportunities.

By the way, although I do not celebrate religious holidays, I was raised Jewish and understand how important religious holidays are to those who participate.  It comes down to personal choice:  Be where you need/want to be and accept you can't be both places at once.

I would hope those who celebrate Christmas and Easter would feel the same way as Kurt and I do if an event was scheduled on those holidays.  (Of course, they wouldn't, though; we are in the U.S.A.!)

This isn't just any random holiday.  This happens to be one of the most important holiday's of all.  I don't care how many holidays there are across all religions, it needs to be considered and adjusted, PERIOD.  What kind of an insensitive comment to say "If you can't make it, don't come.  Between Christianity, Islam, and Judaism there are two dozen holidays.  Counting virtual swims, there are 13 annual National Championships.  Plenty of opportunities."  Just because you do not care, does not mean it is okay for everyone to not care.  You should be ashamed of yourself.

I have worked as an emergency physician for 30 years.  As a Christian, I am required to work my Sabbath probably 2/3 of the time.  Should I insist my partners work for me despite the unfairness of the request. Perhaps I should insist the hospital close to accommodate me.  Maybe I could convince people to stop getting sick on Sunday? You and your ilk are self-centered narcissists. Save your outrage; if USMS decided to have nationals on Christmas day, I would be requesting that day off 6 months in advance and selling the advantages of Christmas in Greensboro to the family.

Thank you for all your service and dedication.  There is a difference between business and pleasure.  You chose to be a physician and make sacrifices to help those in need.  This is different.  More consideration should be exercised in the decision making in this circumstance.

Agree to some extent.  Is USMS business or pleasure or is it situational? For Mark Moore, USMS is a business (I would say his very livelihood) and the lake he's running the event in, is a private lake.  Is it possible those dates are the only dates he could get permission to use it?  Of course, open water season is only essentially June to mid-September. Between age group, international, pro, and masters meets (not to mention a plethora of diving competitions), Mission Viejo is a very, very busy place.

I would also say that perhaps the time for dissent was a year ago when it was announced rather than a month before the event.

I agree for Mark it is a business.  For me, it is pleasure.  I also agree that the schedule is packed full of events and this issue should have been raised a year ago.  It is unfortunate that no one had the foresight to have a calendar in front of them to have realized the possible conflict.  The only place I disagree with you is the season issue.  USMS changes the calendar of the season if and when they need to.  I realize the changes have been few and far between.  Finally, I'm glad people or groups are still submitting bids for championship events

Kurt,

Would you be ok if the USMS scheduled a National Championship meet on Christmas? I wouldn't and I'm not Christian. If we were talking about any random meet you're right, whatever. There are 52 weeks in 2023, the USMS made a conscious decision that scheduling Open Water Nats on Rosh Hashannah was a "business decision", they admitted that to me.

Let's get back to Christmas, we both know the uproar that would happen if the USMS scheduled a National Championship meet to be held on Christmas, I would be one of those folks calling for heads if they did.

We are talking about an organization is national, whose membership is diverse.  We are talking about a National Championship meet. This is beyond disrespectful. This is a big FU to the Jewish community because they know they can.