I am attendind the BSG again this year. I made it to finalls, which are at Harvard (long corse) It's a great meet it's fun you meet great people but I guess the thing is that since they took the master division away alot of master swimmers stopped going which is totally understanable concidering tht past 2 years I've swum against kids half my age. But If you love the sport this should not be to big of a deal. I still go, this will be my 3rd year. I talked to a gentleman from the BSG commitee and he said the more turn out or comments he gets the better the chance of getting what was taken away from us. So swimmers unite, it's really fun and a great expearence for all. Hey, even some of you with kids can bring them along to swim. So if you want to make a comment contact Gary at BSGgary@hotmail.com
Note that the masters division was never "taken away" -- it was never really there in the first place. For years and years and years, we've had three age categories - junior, scholastic and open. The only real change is that the low-age for the Open category has dropped a couple of years - it's now 17 and over. (I believe it used to be 19 and over at one point.) The big reason for this is that we simply couldn't get older people to show up. We'd run an open event at the finals, and we'd have 3 or 4 people competing. So we had to drop the low-age so that we'd get more people into the age group.
If you have comments about the Bay State Games (which is in Massachusetts), please feel free to share them here. I run the finals portion of the competition at Harvard, and have been doing so for many years now. I will certainly pass along any comments to the BSG organizing committee, etc.
Note also that we are looking at ways to bring masters swimmers into the Bay State Games. For next year (summer 2003), we are contemplating adding an older age group or two for masters swimmers, and possibly making those events timed-finals only at the Harvard finals week-end. (I.e., no regional try-out, and then you'd only swim once at the finals week-end instead of a morning prelims and an evening finals.)
There are, naturally, logistical things we always have to worry about. If we add events, it makes our meet longer, and we may not have enough time given our pool space/time restrictions. Etc., Etc. But it's something we're actively thinking about.
-Rick Osterberg
Bay State Games Swimming site
Note that the masters division was never "taken away" -- it was never really there in the first place. For years and years and years, we've had three age categories - junior, scholastic and open. The only real change is that the low-age for the Open category has dropped a couple of years - it's now 17 and over. (I believe it used to be 19 and over at one point.) The big reason for this is that we simply couldn't get older people to show up. We'd run an open event at the finals, and we'd have 3 or 4 people competing. So we had to drop the low-age so that we'd get more people into the age group.
If you have comments about the Bay State Games (which is in Massachusetts), please feel free to share them here. I run the finals portion of the competition at Harvard, and have been doing so for many years now. I will certainly pass along any comments to the BSG organizing committee, etc.
Note also that we are looking at ways to bring masters swimmers into the Bay State Games. For next year (summer 2003), we are contemplating adding an older age group or two for masters swimmers, and possibly making those events timed-finals only at the Harvard finals week-end. (I.e., no regional try-out, and then you'd only swim once at the finals week-end instead of a morning prelims and an evening finals.)
There are, naturally, logistical things we always have to worry about. If we add events, it makes our meet longer, and we may not have enough time given our pool space/time restrictions. Etc., Etc. But it's something we're actively thinking about.
-Rick Osterberg
Bay State Games Swimming site
