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.
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.!)
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.
