I didn't start swimming until back in the mid-80s after I'd been out of h.s. for a few years. And although I've been swimming all those years...I'd never been to a h.s. swim meet until my daughter joined her h.s. swim team in 10th grade (she's in college now no longer swimming). When I went to her first meet I was disappointed that there was no scoreboard, nor even a clock being kept for spectators. I soon realized that h.s. swim meets are about the worst spectator sport there can be (at least here in Rhode Island). It's harsh on the senses! It's hot; it's loud; it's bright; there's usually an overpowering smell of chlorine; and no score or timing. I ask a parent of one of the upper classmen about scoring and timing for spectators and was told "they never do it." In the stands were essentially parents and families members with no knowledge of scoring, blindly cheering for their swimmers. No one would know the outcome of the meet until well after it. So, I decided that if I was going to enjoy the meets I'd at least have to learn how to score them. So I did...and I'd keep other parents in the stands apprised of the running score too. They liked that. Then, the coach found out that I knew how to keep score and she asked me to assist her on deck during meets. She wanted me to keep her apprised of the score, event-by-event, so she could more easily determine how to move swimmers into different events as the meet went on. I was kind of stunned to find out that even coaches had a hard time keeping up with the score. It was fun being involved. But I experienced occasions wherein the officials wouldn't even 'officially' inform a coach that a swimmer had been DQ'd for whatever reason. Crazy! So, I sent a few emails to the state h.s. athletic association telling them what I thought they needed to do to make swim meets more spectator friendly, to get more than just parents out there cheering for the swimmers -- at least provide a running score. No response. It all fell on deaf ears. Or, maybe no one ever reads the email addressed to their "info@" address. Anyway, fast forward to last week. I was at a h.s. basketball game and the assistant director of state h.s. athletics was there. I kind of know him, he used to be a teacher at our h.s. I bent his ear about my swim meet complaints and he really listened. He said he'd actually never been to a h.s. swim meet. But he said he's now going to go to some and look into making some of the additions/changes that I recommended. I feel better.
Dan
Reading this thread has been interesting about different areas of the country and different eras. I think one difference is where the emphasis is for swimming in your state: club or HS? In GA most club kids do both throughout the winter. I've heard in other states it isn't allowed, the kids have to choose.
I currently coach HS and while it is not as serious as USA Swimming meets we still have all the up-to-date technology and scoring. Most of our meets are bigger (no dual meets, usually 10+ teams), we use electronic timing boards plus backup stopwatches, all pools have boards for times during each heat and scores/results are updated and posted regularly.
Our Georgia HS State Meet is actually this weekend. While making a HS state cut isn't as big of a deal as making other time cuts it's still exciting for the kids to swim against the best swimmers in the state.
Reading this thread has been interesting about different areas of the country and different eras. I think one difference is where the emphasis is for swimming in your state: club or HS? In GA most club kids do both throughout the winter. I've heard in other states it isn't allowed, the kids have to choose.
I currently coach HS and while it is not as serious as USA Swimming meets we still have all the up-to-date technology and scoring. Most of our meets are bigger (no dual meets, usually 10+ teams), we use electronic timing boards plus backup stopwatches, all pools have boards for times during each heat and scores/results are updated and posted regularly.
Our Georgia HS State Meet is actually this weekend. While making a HS state cut isn't as big of a deal as making other time cuts it's still exciting for the kids to swim against the best swimmers in the state.
