I left convention again (which was great this year by the way!) with a nagging question...why do we have "Zones" within the structure of USMS?
- They wield little if any "power" within the organization
- LMSC's are already often challenged with getting volunteers
- The only people that can participate pretty much have to be at convention
- One additional "layer" of "management?
- The lines that have been drawn are crazy...have you seen the Breadbasket?
I'd prefer to see a consolidation into 4 Regions...then realign the meet calendar so that "Regional" Championships actually mean something and are a viable alternative to folks that can't make Nationals for whatever reason.
Along with this I would prefer to see the competitive seasons "balanced" a bit as follows:
- Short Course = Mid-December until the end of April. State meets held around the first of March, Regional's two weeks later, Nationals two weeks after Regional's.
- Long Course = May 1 thru the end of August. State championships held around the first of July, Regional's two weeks later, Nationals two weeks after Regional's
- Short Course Meters = September 1 thru mid December. State meets in late October, Regional's in November, Nationals the first or second week of December.
I like our current Zones.A ZR is easier to get than an RR would be(By the way NW is the biggest Zone since we have AK which pretty much invalidates any easy driving arguments.)Also I don't get the changing of the course seasons.What if you go to Canada's Nats in April,do your swims not count for USMS?Same for a SCY meet in the fall or an SCM meet in the spring.
I like our current Zones.A ZR is easier to get than an RR would be(By the way NW is the biggest Zone since we have AK which pretty much invalidates any easy driving arguments.)Also I don't get the changing of the course seasons.What if you go to Canada's Nats in April,do your swims not count for USMS?Same for a SCY meet in the fall or an SCM meet in the spring.
