I'm guilty of it. I imagine we're all guilty of it: seeing a meet announcement and seeing our favorite two events back to back, or four events we want to swim on one day and then only 1 then next day. We get irritated and wonder why the meet director couldn't have designed this to better suit our needs? We moan at workout, whine on the forums, ***** on our blogs, etc. I'd like to encourage my fellow forumites to join me in taking a pledge:
I hereby pledge to:
just be grateful that there are volunteers, teams and facilities willing to host Masters meets,
recognize that no matter how hard these dedicated volunteers try, they'll never be able to create the order of events that satisfies all Masters swimmer,
recognize that, even if I can't swim those two favorite events in this meet because they are back to back (or whatever my complaint is), I've got a multi-decade Masters career ahead of me in which to swim them at different meets,
to, therefore, stop whining/moaning about the order of events, and
look at a different order of events as an opportunity to branch out and try new events!
Signed,
Patrick "Indebted to Masters Meet Directors/Officials/Volunteers" Brundage
BEST IDEA EVER: Organize a 2-day SCM meet for December 31 & January 1. The first day of the meet is a true last-chance opportunity for the ending SCM season, and the second day is a first-chance opportunity for the new season, especially for people who are aging up. The best part is that simply by having half the events the first day and half the second day, there is absolutely no chance that anyone will be happy with the event order. The meet director can judge the success of the meet by the number of whiny forum threads, anguished emails, desperate split requests, and actual on-deck faintings. The timing of the meet would really be a non-issue since New Year's Day is a dumb holiday anyway. The more I think about this, the more I like it! :agree:
BEST IDEA EVER: Organize a 2-day SCM meet for December 31 & January 1. The first day of the meet is a true last-chance opportunity for the ending SCM season, and the second day is a first-chance opportunity for the new season, especially for people who are aging up. The best part is that simply by having half the events the first day and half the second day, there is absolutely no chance that anyone will be happy with the event order. The meet director can judge the success of the meet by the number of whiny forum threads, anguished emails, desperate split requests, and actual on-deck faintings. The timing of the meet would really be a non-issue since New Year's Day is a dumb holiday anyway. The more I think about this, the more I like it! :agree:
