How do you assemble relays?

The fastest possible relay is not always the one that will place best or have the highest TT ranking. Sometimes it is better strategically to have a slower relay in an older age group. Or even a younger age-group: in SCY, for example, the 18+ relays are often slower than the 25+ versions. Or there may be fewer of them, so you are guaranteed a higher placing. There are indeed MANY intangibles and putting relays together for large teams can be a little frustrating at times. Some people want to swim in many relays; others only want to swim in a few. Some specify they want to swim in "fast" relays (ie, ones that have some possibility of scoring). Some people want to lead off certain relays to get an official time thru a split request. Sometimes that leads to arguments among relay members (Betsy will remember one such incident). Some people get their pride pricked if they are on a "B" relay instead of the "A" relay. When I help put relays together for VMST I usually use a spreadsheet to keep track of everyone's age, gender and estimated split times. Then you collect information from people about which relays they are willing to swim, and how many relays total they are willing to do. Two complicating factors: not everyone responds to the emails requesting that information, and also some people either don't show up at the meet, or they show up at the meet and want to do something different than what they said. Another factor, and not everyone will agree on this: I think everyone should be involved in relays unless they specifically request not to do so. When VMST won nationals in Atlanta, I had several of the slower swimmers (who didn't score in individual events) come up and thank me for including them in relays. It made them feel like part of the team effort. But sometimes that leads to resentment from faster swimmers who are "saddled" with slower swimmers on their relays. I also have received complaints from gung-ho team scoring types who feel like we should field the maximum number of relays, with each person swimming two (or more if possible) relays per session. I personally never try to hit the maximum number of relays, opting for a middle ground so that people who focus also on their individual races won't feel like they are getting too tired from being on a lot of relays. But -- to be clear -- most people are very good sports about it and participate in relays in the true "masters" spirit.

The fastest possible relay is not always the one that will place best or have the highest TT ranking. Sometimes it is better strategically to have a slower relay in an older age group. Or even a younger age-group: in SCY, for example, the 18+ relays are often slower than the 25+ versions. Or there may be fewer of them, so you are guaranteed a higher placing. There are indeed MANY intangibles and putting relays together for large teams can be a little frustrating at times. Some people want to swim in many relays; others only want to swim in a few. Some specify they want to swim in "fast" relays (ie, ones that have some possibility of scoring). Some people want to lead off certain relays to get an official time thru a split request. Sometimes that leads to arguments among relay members (Betsy will remember one such incident). Some people get their pride pricked if they are on a "B" relay instead of the "A" relay. When I help put relays together for VMST I usually use a spreadsheet to keep track of everyone's age, gender and estimated split times. Then you collect information from people about which relays they are willing to swim, and how many relays total they are willing to do. Two complicating factors: not everyone responds to the emails requesting that information, and also some people either don't show up at the meet, or they show up at the meet and want to do something different than what they said. Another factor, and not everyone will agree on this: I think everyone should be involved in relays unless they specifically request not to do so. When VMST won nationals in Atlanta, I had several of the slower swimmers (who didn't score in individual events) come up and thank me for including them in relays. It made them feel like part of the team effort. But sometimes that leads to resentment from faster swimmers who are "saddled" with slower swimmers on their relays. I also have received complaints from gung-ho team scoring types who feel like we should field the maximum number of relays, with each person swimming two (or more if possible) relays per session. I personally never try to hit the maximum number of relays, opting for a middle ground so that people who focus also on their individual races won't feel like they are getting too tired from being on a lot of relays. But -- to be clear -- most people are very good sports about it and participate in relays in the true "masters" spirit.