I could be wrong, but I don't think Kurt is implying only U.S. citizens be allowed in USMS. What he IS suggesting is that only U.S. citizens be eligible for USMS national records. In this case you would not have to "check everyone's citizenship," you would only need to check the citizenship of those who broke records. And since birth date is already being checked, would there really be a lot more effort to check citizenship?
The increase in effort would be significant. The reason is that birthdates only need to be proven once and then the proof is kept on file; most swimmers who break USMS records do so more than once. They would effectively be required to submit documentation EACH time they break a record; right now they just have to do so once and the record documentation thereafter is submitted by the meet director and/or the Top 10 recorder.
But these days one can store the proof electronically and email them to Walt Reid. Sure they can be doctored, but what can't nowadays. So the extra effort might not be all that bad. Practically speaking, I suspect the result is that more USMS Record applications than now would fail through lack of supporting documentation and missing the deadline (it happens), and there would be complaints.
But Kurt didn't mention just records but also national championships. And the same reasoning that would limit USMS records to US citizens would also apply to Top 10 lists, at least as far as I can tell. It is impractical to require proof of citizenship for such cases.
The only thing that might work is adding a checkbox to the USMS Registration process: "Are you a US citizen?" or some such. Sure it would be on the person's honor to tell the truth, but we are already there with age. And no one ever lies about that, right?
When results are uploaded they are checked against the registration database, and swims by foreigners could be flagged as ineligible for whatever we see fit. Similarly, if a meet has online registration, swimmers can be identified beforehand as ineligible for awards or whatnot.
Probably doable, though Jim M would have to weigh in. Mind you, I am not advocating for such a rule but I would rather have it debated on its merits if that is at all possible.
Fortunately, I am not in danger of ever breaking any national records (sorry USMS records!), but I suppose the people that it affects might care and think it worth some discussion (but perhaps not).
I think you're selling yourself short...
I could be wrong, but I don't think Kurt is implying only U.S. citizens be allowed in USMS. What he IS suggesting is that only U.S. citizens be eligible for USMS national records. In this case you would not have to "check everyone's citizenship," you would only need to check the citizenship of those who broke records. And since birth date is already being checked, would there really be a lot more effort to check citizenship?
The increase in effort would be significant. The reason is that birthdates only need to be proven once and then the proof is kept on file; most swimmers who break USMS records do so more than once. They would effectively be required to submit documentation EACH time they break a record; right now they just have to do so once and the record documentation thereafter is submitted by the meet director and/or the Top 10 recorder.
But these days one can store the proof electronically and email them to Walt Reid. Sure they can be doctored, but what can't nowadays. So the extra effort might not be all that bad. Practically speaking, I suspect the result is that more USMS Record applications than now would fail through lack of supporting documentation and missing the deadline (it happens), and there would be complaints.
But Kurt didn't mention just records but also national championships. And the same reasoning that would limit USMS records to US citizens would also apply to Top 10 lists, at least as far as I can tell. It is impractical to require proof of citizenship for such cases.
The only thing that might work is adding a checkbox to the USMS Registration process: "Are you a US citizen?" or some such. Sure it would be on the person's honor to tell the truth, but we are already there with age. And no one ever lies about that, right?
When results are uploaded they are checked against the registration database, and swims by foreigners could be flagged as ineligible for whatever we see fit. Similarly, if a meet has online registration, swimmers can be identified beforehand as ineligible for awards or whatnot.
Probably doable, though Jim M would have to weigh in. Mind you, I am not advocating for such a rule but I would rather have it debated on its merits if that is at all possible.
Fortunately, I am not in danger of ever breaking any national records (sorry USMS records!), but I suppose the people that it affects might care and think it worth some discussion (but perhaps not).
I think you're selling yourself short...
