I've heard several people (none from Irvine) mention that the annual Long Beach SCM meet in December has been canceled. I also read that there was a possibility that Las Vegas might run it instead, any word yet?
Quite a few people I know (my wife & included) were planning on shaving/tapering for LB and are now looking at New Orleans unless something comes up on the West Coast. It's coming down to the time when airfares need to be booked, if someones stepping up I hope they do so soon!
The SPMA website: ( www.spma.net ) 12/13-15/2002 Short Course Meters Zone and 10th Annual Holiday Championships - UNLV - Las Vegas Nevada Entry Form soon , entry deadline 12/01/2002
The sequence of events has not been posted yet.
Jim Clemmons
I heard today at workout that LB is definitely off and that there was at least some discussion re Phoenix Swim Club hosting a SCM meet in December. Not sure how advanced the discussions are (my sense is they are early stage), and I don't know any other details. I'll post more if I hear more; anyone else know anything about this?
--Brad
They just came up with Las Vegas as the alternate. For reasons unknown, they decided not to hold it at Long Beach. It was a last minute deal apparently.
I've helped Lucy Johnson run the LB meet in years past. The reason that we "lost" the Belmont Plaza site was not of our doing: the City of Long Beach, in their continued infinite wisdom, elected not to allow a short course meters meet because of the perceived hassle of changing the bulkhead (remember the SCM meters posts last January and February?) to meters. They will, however allow the bulkhead to be moved for NCAA water polo and USS meets as necessary, just not our SPMA meet.
We have, in years past, had upwards of 400-500 swimmers, conducted raffles with merchandise totaling over $2,000, gave cash awards for records in the Versatility Challenge (any world records in the 400 IM), conducted a meet ON THE SAND in the middle of December, and annually had more than 40-60 USMS AND FINA World Records broken at this pool. We have had swimmers and teams from all over the US, Canada, South America, as well as from Europe and Russia attend our meet.
The UNLV folks running the meet this year will surely do a tremendous job running a meet that will undoubtedly be smaller in size (but not in enthusiasm). Anyone with questions or complaints regarding the site change should contact the City of Long Beach and let them know how you feel. They may or may not listen.
Jim, thanks for the link to the meet. One of the ideas I've tried to promote through this forum is for meet directors and USMS to more aggresively "market" regional/zone championships. Not having Vegas listed on the USMS site for meets would mean most people would miss is (unless their from SPMA).
Not everyone can or wants to go to nationals, but would like to taper/shave, or attend a fast meet. Many of these meets are held in places around the country that people would like to visit and a meet may be just the excuse.
With the huge access to swimmers, coaches and teams that the web and email brings us, there's really no reason why meet hosts can't get information out. Direct (e)mail marketing works! Coaches that receive meet information and post it are more likely to get participation than those that leave the task of searching for meets to the swimmer.
SPMA has always tried to host a Short Course Meters Championship meet that would be amoung the best in the USA.
With the loss of Long Beach we had to scramble to find a location to run this meet. Being December we have two requirements, indoors if possible and a fast pool able to hold up to 500 swimmers on the decks. Just like the USMS Nationals, it is getting very hard to find people who want to give up so much time and work to host such a meet. This is also the Southwest Zone Short Course Meters Championship meet.
Arizona is having their Arizona Short Course Meters State Championships at ASU, October 26-27. This meet is at the same pool as next years short course national meet, in Tempe, Arizona. This meet attracts over 200 swimmers from Arizona as well as the surrounding states
We are fortunate that swimmers from Las Vegas and Lucy Johnson are able to team up to provide another great Short Course Meters at the University of Las Vegas Buchanan Natatorium/Pool.
From Thanksgiving to Christmas is an off season for Las Vegas, many hotels are under $50 for weekend days.
Cheap airfare on Southwest if booked early enough, and Jet
Blue was scheduled to start flying there this month, too.
Hopefully we will get a meet form out of Lucy soon.
Wayne McCauley, Chairman
Southern Pacific Masters Association
12841 Hawthorne Blvd. #302
Hawthorne, CA 90250
breastroker@usa.net
