SCM Championships

First, I applaud chowmi and Midas for recognizing the mostly volunteer work required behind the scenes to allow us all to get up and race. If we were to run a SCM Nationals late in the calendar year, keep in mind it would likely impact existing large SCM meets (New England, Long Beach, etc.) and those existing hosts probably wouldn’t be thrilled with this idea. However, that by itself is obviously not a reason to rule out the idea. If the suggestion is to “promote” one of these meets into Nationals, there are a lot of considerations to take into account. Many of the responsibilities to host would already be in place whether it is a local/LMSC/Zone meet or Nationals (still need awards, timers, facility rental, etc.). However, many of the “extras” required at Nationals drives up meet expenses and substantially increases the number of volunteers needed to plan and support the meet. For instance, Nationals requires specific medical support (ambulance onsite with EMTs and ACLS for the entire meet, including warm ups). Figure around $5k for this unless you are fortunate to get this donated (most Nationals hosts are not so fortunate). The USMS National Office provides a lot of services to Nationals hosts – would they be expected to do the same thing at this SCM Nationals? If so, their time is not free! Some of their services include the SWIMMER magazine entry form and promotional article, entry processing, meet program, arranging for USMS sponsors to name just a few. Or would the host be doing all of this? How about the daily videos with Rob Butcher, Rowdy, Misty, etc. - if it is Nationals would that be expected? Are you going to sell merchandise and utilize an event logo? Can this host coordinate room blocks at multiple hotels? This is a profit sharing opportunity for the host, but it also requires more volunteer time than most local meets have available. Similarly, many Nationals hosts arrange for a shuttle. Would this meet have one to the hotels? Most events at Nationals are seeded by age group. Zone meets are typically seeded by time. How would this meet be seeded? If by age group you definitely need two courses. And you can count on a much longer day than the same number of swimmers at Zones seeded by time. Nationals typically has more stringent requirements for national level officials. Would the host be willing to fly them in and house them like they are at Nationals or would it be ok to just use local officials? How about hospitality – would this host be required to support Gold Medal Sponsors (this could be a profit item but you would still need the volunteers for staffing and planning)? How about on-deck coaching – would you have to have this because it is Nationals? The requirement for Safety Marshals is also higher for Nationals than all other meets, which again equals more volunteers. Would this host have the means to travel to a couple or three conventions (leading up to and afterwards) and/or travel to the SCM Nationals prior to this one to learn behind the scenes what goes on at Nationals since it is different than local meets? I guess my point is you can’t just take a large SCM meet and “promote” it to Nationals. Lastly, my concern would be finding eligible & willing hosts. They’re not exactly knocking on our door to host Spring and Summer Nationals… Jeff

First, I applaud chowmi and Midas for recognizing the mostly volunteer work required behind the scenes to allow us all to get up and race. If we were to run a SCM Nationals late in the calendar year, keep in mind it would likely impact existing large SCM meets (New England, Long Beach, etc.) and those existing hosts probably wouldn’t be thrilled with this idea. However, that by itself is obviously not a reason to rule out the idea. If the suggestion is to “promote” one of these meets into Nationals, there are a lot of considerations to take into account. Many of the responsibilities to host would already be in place whether it is a local/LMSC/Zone meet or Nationals (still need awards, timers, facility rental, etc.). However, many of the “extras” required at Nationals drives up meet expenses and substantially increases the number of volunteers needed to plan and support the meet. For instance, Nationals requires specific medical support (ambulance onsite with EMTs and ACLS for the entire meet, including warm ups). Figure around $5k for this unless you are fortunate to get this donated (most Nationals hosts are not so fortunate). The USMS National Office provides a lot of services to Nationals hosts – would they be expected to do the same thing at this SCM Nationals? If so, their time is not free! Some of their services include the SWIMMER magazine entry form and promotional article, entry processing, meet program, arranging for USMS sponsors to name just a few. Or would the host be doing all of this? How about the daily videos with Rob Butcher, Rowdy, Misty, etc. - if it is Nationals would that be expected? Are you going to sell merchandise and utilize an event logo? Can this host coordinate room blocks at multiple hotels? This is a profit sharing opportunity for the host, but it also requires more volunteer time than most local meets have available. Similarly, many Nationals hosts arrange for a shuttle. Would this meet have one to the hotels? Most events at Nationals are seeded by age group. Zone meets are typically seeded by time. How would this meet be seeded? If by age group you definitely need two courses. And you can count on a much longer day than the same number of swimmers at Zones seeded by time. Nationals typically has more stringent requirements for national level officials. Would the host be willing to fly them in and house them like they are at Nationals or would it be ok to just use local officials? How about hospitality – would this host be required to support Gold Medal Sponsors (this could be a profit item but you would still need the volunteers for staffing and planning)? How about on-deck coaching – would you have to have this because it is Nationals? The requirement for Safety Marshals is also higher for Nationals than all other meets, which again equals more volunteers. Would this host have the means to travel to a couple or three conventions (leading up to and afterwards) and/or travel to the SCM Nationals prior to this one to learn behind the scenes what goes on at Nationals since it is different than local meets? I guess my point is you can’t just take a large SCM meet and “promote” it to Nationals. Lastly, my concern would be finding eligible & willing hosts. They’re not exactly knocking on our door to host Spring and Summer Nationals… Jeff