How do you feel about copying the kid's swimming method of organizing Masters by time standards??
For example, there would be A, B and C times for all ages and both sexes. Local meets would be either A, A/B, B, B/C, C or OPEN.
There could be Championships for any of these categories at the LMSC level. To go to Regionals would require having made a new category, the Regional time. National entrantrants would come from the Regional pool or perhaps from the "A" pool.
I'm ambivalent on this as it seems too unwieldy at this early stage of our development but does answer the needs of folks who are looking for the mythical level playing field.
Emmett; we could still have the "Mediocre" Champs as an extra event (suggested in your earlier post). Since there are 26 letters in the alphabet, we could go an even larger number of categories with an ever declining number of swimmers. (Avoiding, of course, the politically incorrect "F" time standard.)
Heck, I can see a day when EVERYONE wins something !
Parents
Former Member
OK Paul, I am a member of the championship committee and will try to address a few of your questions. These are my opinions and not an official position of the committee.
First, I like the idea of a SCM Nationals. Ken is correct on point number 3 that we currently have the option of hosting our Short Course meet as a meters meet. In fact, 2 years ago at convention, I started to present the bid from Arizona as a SCM meet, but got beat up so badly by USMS members at the meeting that we were forced to switch to SCY or be eliminated.
Ken is also correct that there is a potential problem with getting enough facilities capable of bidding. I suspect if we offered a SCM National championship meet, it would be popular. Given that we currently have several SCM LMSC and Zone meets that are very large, a national championship would require two 25-meter pools plus warm-up space. There is a small list of facilities in the US that could host a meet in 2 25-meter pools. One thing that would be helpful in making an argument in favor of offering a SCM Nationals would be to come up with a list of facilities that are capable of host such a meet. The requirements would be as follows: 2 25-meter tanks with deep water, additional pool space for warm-ups and a large amount of seating (1500 or more). Unless a 50 meter pool has a movable bulkhead, it couldn't qualify.
We also have to get teams and facilities interested. Currently, we don't have a large number of facilities bidding to host our national championships. Going into convention last year, there were 3 bidders for Long Course and no bidders for Short Course. The championship committee approached Indianapolis and asked them to switch their bid from LC to SC so we could have a SC meet.
Paul, your goal of having the first SCM Nationals in 2004 is probably a bit early. At convention this year, we are voting on the bids for 2005 SCY and LCM. Clubs that are going to bid are already working on getting ready for those meets. Having just hosted a national championship meet with Sun Devil Masters, I can assure you, it really takes that long to get ready for a national championship. Not to mention, there will be some added complexity to the fact that USMS has not hosted a national SCM meet before. I have hosted a number of state and zone meets at the ASU facility. I was surprised at how much more difficult everything becomes when you go from a meet of 200 - 300 swimmers to 1900 swimmers.
Rob is correct that bureaucracy will take a hold of this idea and slow it down. Next year's convention is where this idea could actually be brought before the House of Delegates. Assuming it passes on the first go around, the 2005 Convention is where bidding would begin for the 2007 SCM Nationals. While it is not a short road, I do think it is a worthwhile endeavor.
Mark Gill
OK Paul, I am a member of the championship committee and will try to address a few of your questions. These are my opinions and not an official position of the committee.
First, I like the idea of a SCM Nationals. Ken is correct on point number 3 that we currently have the option of hosting our Short Course meet as a meters meet. In fact, 2 years ago at convention, I started to present the bid from Arizona as a SCM meet, but got beat up so badly by USMS members at the meeting that we were forced to switch to SCY or be eliminated.
Ken is also correct that there is a potential problem with getting enough facilities capable of bidding. I suspect if we offered a SCM National championship meet, it would be popular. Given that we currently have several SCM LMSC and Zone meets that are very large, a national championship would require two 25-meter pools plus warm-up space. There is a small list of facilities in the US that could host a meet in 2 25-meter pools. One thing that would be helpful in making an argument in favor of offering a SCM Nationals would be to come up with a list of facilities that are capable of host such a meet. The requirements would be as follows: 2 25-meter tanks with deep water, additional pool space for warm-ups and a large amount of seating (1500 or more). Unless a 50 meter pool has a movable bulkhead, it couldn't qualify.
We also have to get teams and facilities interested. Currently, we don't have a large number of facilities bidding to host our national championships. Going into convention last year, there were 3 bidders for Long Course and no bidders for Short Course. The championship committee approached Indianapolis and asked them to switch their bid from LC to SC so we could have a SC meet.
Paul, your goal of having the first SCM Nationals in 2004 is probably a bit early. At convention this year, we are voting on the bids for 2005 SCY and LCM. Clubs that are going to bid are already working on getting ready for those meets. Having just hosted a national championship meet with Sun Devil Masters, I can assure you, it really takes that long to get ready for a national championship. Not to mention, there will be some added complexity to the fact that USMS has not hosted a national SCM meet before. I have hosted a number of state and zone meets at the ASU facility. I was surprised at how much more difficult everything becomes when you go from a meet of 200 - 300 swimmers to 1900 swimmers.
Rob is correct that bureaucracy will take a hold of this idea and slow it down. Next year's convention is where this idea could actually be brought before the House of Delegates. Assuming it passes on the first go around, the 2005 Convention is where bidding would begin for the 2007 SCM Nationals. While it is not a short road, I do think it is a worthwhile endeavor.
Mark Gill
