Major 1650 sandbagging by a forum member

Your suit may fall off. So might your goggles or caps. The person next to you false starts. You false start. You get psyched for nationals and find an empty lane next to you. Or both. Or you miss your lane and event. Someone gets a split request next to you. You get a split request. Someone swims the elementary backstroke for the 1650. That someone is you (!). This is what masters s all about. It's for everyone, but that doesn't mean you can have everything your way all the time. We have to accomodate each other. Budget your whole day, bring your snacks, and just have a good time. I was going to comment on the childish, petulant vein that this thread has plumbed, even wanting to berate one or more for calling others rude names unnecessarily, but Michelle has encouraged me that not everyone is looking to deny someone else the opportunity to enter an event on their own terms and within the rules. Any anti sandbagging rule will necessarily carry with it unintended consequences, possibly severe. What those may be is open to speculation, but I would guess that it could reach beyond the pool deck, possibly affecting entries to some meets. Lest the members here think this is an exclusive hand wringing process of the forums, please know that the Championship committee wrestles with the subject on a regular basis. Not because of the ethics or moral nature of sandbagging, but because it can affect timelines of nationals adversely and an 8 hour day can easily turn into 10 or 12 if the right people sandbag and cause a particular modification of the seeding. I sandbagged my time for the 1000 today (by about 2 minutes) and won my heat, but I was in a heat with 7 other sandbaggers so I didn't win by much. I am a sprinter by nature and like to swim middle distance events, I just don't feel like competing against people who take it too seriously. The slower heats have a camaraderie, or feeling of participation rather than head to head competition. Other than nationals, most heats are made up of several age groups and both sexes, so it is less likely that one is going to have all of their direct competitors all together, no matter what the rules do. I'm still waiting to see the suit-falling-off scenario.

Your suit may fall off. So might your goggles or caps. The person next to you false starts. You false start. You get psyched for nationals and find an empty lane next to you. Or both. Or you miss your lane and event. Someone gets a split request next to you. You get a split request. Someone swims the elementary backstroke for the 1650. That someone is you (!). This is what masters s all about. It's for everyone, but that doesn't mean you can have everything your way all the time. We have to accomodate each other. Budget your whole day, bring your snacks, and just have a good time. I was going to comment on the childish, petulant vein that this thread has plumbed, even wanting to berate one or more for calling others rude names unnecessarily, but Michelle has encouraged me that not everyone is looking to deny someone else the opportunity to enter an event on their own terms and within the rules. Any anti sandbagging rule will necessarily carry with it unintended consequences, possibly severe. What those may be is open to speculation, but I would guess that it could reach beyond the pool deck, possibly affecting entries to some meets. Lest the members here think this is an exclusive hand wringing process of the forums, please know that the Championship committee wrestles with the subject on a regular basis. Not because of the ethics or moral nature of sandbagging, but because it can affect timelines of nationals adversely and an 8 hour day can easily turn into 10 or 12 if the right people sandbag and cause a particular modification of the seeding. I sandbagged my time for the 1000 today (by about 2 minutes) and won my heat, but I was in a heat with 7 other sandbaggers so I didn't win by much. I am a sprinter by nature and like to swim middle distance events, I just don't feel like competing against people who take it too seriously. The slower heats have a camaraderie, or feeling of participation rather than head to head competition. Other than nationals, most heats are made up of several age groups and both sexes, so it is less likely that one is going to have all of their direct competitors all together, no matter what the rules do. I'm still waiting to see the suit-falling-off scenario.