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
I need a judge's ruling from Geek about whether this violates the spirit of the pledge. Personally, I detect a certain amount of whining in this "innocent" question. And I can't escape the sense that, if men traditionally went first, sprinters would question that practice as well.
I freely admit that I may be projecting the stereotypical diva sprinter behavior on what may have been a simple request for information.
I was mostly wondering if, as Karl notes, it was an anachronistic "ladies first" issue.
However, you correctly detected that it did cross my mind at NE SCM Champs the last few years that I could sleep another 30-40 minutes if it wasn't always ladies first. :D
I agree that events should be changed once in awhile to avoid past complaints. And 50 back should not be last so often!
Aquapocalypse. I love it. Somebody please start a "Swimmers' Dictionary" thread so that this can be the first entry...
Ha! Now, that would be the PERFECT project for That Guy, master of Swim Stereotypes. The two combined would make hilarious e-book. How about it, That Guy? You could put your avatar on the cover and be famous! :banana: :anim_coffee:
First, to un-hijack the thread I’ll sign the pledge! And to re-hijack it.
Rob,
As Chair of the USMS Championship Committee I beg you to retract your statement. If people read your comment, they'll stop going to Nationals and certainly no new swimmers will come...!
JeffJeff, I’ll issue a partial retraction. I noticed that the on-line entry system asks for gender, while the PDF version asks for sex. So I guess while on paper we can have sex, we can’t have sex on-line.:bolt:
I pledge not to whine right after I stick up for all backstrokers who occasionally have to deal with backstroke flags being stretched across the pool and tied to the nearest convenient anchor. 15ft? fogetaboutit! I've seen them crooked even. That's when you know the YMCA had the basketball coach set things up.
Ha! Now, that would be the PERFECT project for That Guy, master of Swim Stereotypes. The two combined would make hilarious e-book. How about it, That Guy? You could put your avatar on the cover and be famous! :banana: :anim_coffee:
I think my ransom-note font would get old after the first few hundred pages.
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
I am grateful, but I am perplexed, disappointed and frustrated when meets have a less than ideal order of events.
A simple rule of thumb is to ask:
What percentage of the swimmers might want to double various events and attempt to put one or 2 events between them
what might solve all this is if meets worked like this
have 3 or 4 sessions per day
where swimmers could create their own order of events
plus always put distance events at the end of each day
50 fl, bk, br or fr (pick one)
100 fl, bk, br fr or IM (pick one)
200 fl, bk, br fr or IM (pick one)
10 min break
I can't figure out why anyone would ever whine about order of events. Most meets cram every single event available into 2 days. Some put the distance events the day before or the week before. Given that, it is basically inevitable there will be back to back events or back to back to back events that you want to swim. That's the way it is so there's really no point in getting agitated about it. If you are a one trick pony you make the situation worse for yourself, which brings us full circle to the beauty of the 200 back.
I agree that events should be changed once in awhile to avoid past complaints. And 50 back should not be last so often!
The 50 back wil never be the last event at Nationals. It was a couple years ago and the Admin Refs told us to not do that again - that event has many missed pad hits and it's not good to end a meet with that kind of event because it takes too long to review all of the backup time data (people are waiting around for the final score instead of processing the 50 back while another event is being run). Also, the Admin Refs suggested we not end the last day of the meet with a relay for the same reason (delayed final score because relays can take longer to reconcile), so you'll note starting with Atlanta the last day relay(s) are toward the beginning of the day (just after the distance event) and not at the very end like they used to be.
Ande said:
A simple rule of thumb is to ask:
What percentage of the swimmers might want to double various events and attempt to put one or 2 events between them
Several years ago USMS conducted a survey to Top Ten swimmers on event preferences. The results of that survey have been used to do future event orders at Nationals to avoid popular "favorites." It is always a challenge coming up with an order of events to please the majority (note I didn't say all...). Particularly when there is a strange rule in the rulebook that prohibits the 400/500 free being the day after the distance day. That is why the 400 IM is almost always on Friday (assuming the meet starts on Thursday). Seems that the distance freestyle swimmers are so tough they want to swim both distance events on the same day, however, they are not able to swim the 400/500 the next day..:bolt:
Jeff
plus always put distance events at the end of each day
Personally, I think this idea is horrible. Don't take it badly... I just swim my 1650s best when they're first thing on the day, instead of waiting till the end after I've already swum 4 other events plus relays prior to a distance event.
Last weekend I did my distance race with a best time 1000 split (age group record) in my 1650, and then 30 minutes later popped off a masters personal best 200 Fly as well. Had the 1650 been at the end of the meet, I doubt I would've made the 1000 time I was going for.
