Phil,
Just a quick response, and I don't think we disagree on too many points. I see the basis for your concern about too many National meets sucking dry our volunteer base. I have several observations:
1st, for the near term I am willing to bet that "SCM Nationals" will in fact be one of the many good regional SCM meets you mentioned, with the label of "USMS SCM Championships" stuck on it. Same meet, same people running it, new gloss for the pre-meet publicity, moderately increasing number of swimmers as SCM Nationals are taken more seriously with each passing year. It will be a while before we see a substantial difference.
2nd, I agree a third USMS National meet might siphon off swimmers from the other two. At least in the case of SCY Nationals, I view that as a good thing. I'm with you, I like LCM. But, let's face facts, most Masters swimmers love SC formats. I can go to LCM Nationals, and not feel like Rodney Dangerfield dropped into the middle of the PGA Championships, but if I go to SCY Nationals, I know the field will bury me. I can swim my heart out, finishing 38th out of 44, or swim my usual, and finish 40th, or show-up sick, sleep-deprived and hung-over, and finish 42nd. I know that is not representative of my ability; I know where I stack-up among Masters swimmers in general. But, lots of people my speed (i.e. not meeting NQT's) do not bother with SCY Nationals because there is no meaningful competition for us. If some of the middle of the pack competition gets spread out among three USMS Nationals, it may make these events more accessible for more swimmers.
3rd, I do not agree that a smaller meet is just as hard to run as a full-blown, USMS Nationals extravaganza. If it was, why are there some many regional meets and Zone Championships which are middlin' large run at the same places every year? These meets are not burning out the local volunteer base. Why should one more middlin' large meet that rotates location burn out the national volunteer base?
4th, I do, however, share your concern that we not burn-out our volunteer base. At some point SCM Nationals could get big enough to be a burden comparable to the other two Nationals, and will we be able to find three groups of suckers, er... heroes willing to take on this task? Let me humbly suggest that if USMS gets big enough to run three annual events the size of LCM Nationals or bigger, we will probably be generating enough revenue to hire professionals to do some of the labor intensive drudgery behind a Nationals meet.
As far as the December time frame is concerned, I see your point. But, let me suggest that there is no time frame anywhere in the calendar that does not conflict, at least a little, with other major life commitments. In May, the kids are still in school, or if they are in college taking Finals or moving out of the dorms, and there are potential conflicts with Easter or Mothers' Day. August is prime-time family vacation time, and some schools start up again well before Labor Day. Early December ain't great, but what is? Looking at this purely from a swimming point of view, Dec is just about perfect if you prefer metric formats. The big problem with doing SCY and LCM both, is that the late finish for SCY really compresses the LCM season. If in contrast you can do LCM followed by SCM, you get a two-fer benefit. First, you get a nice long 7+ month season to prep for LCM's, and then, while you are still in shape, before the Holidays really bite (or before you bite them, as the case may be), you get to take a run at SCM, AND all you have to give up is SCY Nationals. This is a really good deal if you like meters!
So, I follow what you are saying, mostly agree with it, but differ as to whether the "problems" you see are good things, or bad.
Matt
Phil,
Just a quick response, and I don't think we disagree on too many points. I see the basis for your concern about too many National meets sucking dry our volunteer base. I have several observations:
1st, for the near term I am willing to bet that "SCM Nationals" will in fact be one of the many good regional SCM meets you mentioned, with the label of "USMS SCM Championships" stuck on it. Same meet, same people running it, new gloss for the pre-meet publicity, moderately increasing number of swimmers as SCM Nationals are taken more seriously with each passing year. It will be a while before we see a substantial difference.
2nd, I agree a third USMS National meet might siphon off swimmers from the other two. At least in the case of SCY Nationals, I view that as a good thing. I'm with you, I like LCM. But, let's face facts, most Masters swimmers love SC formats. I can go to LCM Nationals, and not feel like Rodney Dangerfield dropped into the middle of the PGA Championships, but if I go to SCY Nationals, I know the field will bury me. I can swim my heart out, finishing 38th out of 44, or swim my usual, and finish 40th, or show-up sick, sleep-deprived and hung-over, and finish 42nd. I know that is not representative of my ability; I know where I stack-up among Masters swimmers in general. But, lots of people my speed (i.e. not meeting NQT's) do not bother with SCY Nationals because there is no meaningful competition for us. If some of the middle of the pack competition gets spread out among three USMS Nationals, it may make these events more accessible for more swimmers.
3rd, I do not agree that a smaller meet is just as hard to run as a full-blown, USMS Nationals extravaganza. If it was, why are there some many regional meets and Zone Championships which are middlin' large run at the same places every year? These meets are not burning out the local volunteer base. Why should one more middlin' large meet that rotates location burn out the national volunteer base?
4th, I do, however, share your concern that we not burn-out our volunteer base. At some point SCM Nationals could get big enough to be a burden comparable to the other two Nationals, and will we be able to find three groups of suckers, er... heroes willing to take on this task? Let me humbly suggest that if USMS gets big enough to run three annual events the size of LCM Nationals or bigger, we will probably be generating enough revenue to hire professionals to do some of the labor intensive drudgery behind a Nationals meet.
As far as the December time frame is concerned, I see your point. But, let me suggest that there is no time frame anywhere in the calendar that does not conflict, at least a little, with other major life commitments. In May, the kids are still in school, or if they are in college taking Finals or moving out of the dorms, and there are potential conflicts with Easter or Mothers' Day. August is prime-time family vacation time, and some schools start up again well before Labor Day. Early December ain't great, but what is? Looking at this purely from a swimming point of view, Dec is just about perfect if you prefer metric formats. The big problem with doing SCY and LCM both, is that the late finish for SCY really compresses the LCM season. If in contrast you can do LCM followed by SCM, you get a two-fer benefit. First, you get a nice long 7+ month season to prep for LCM's, and then, while you are still in shape, before the Holidays really bite (or before you bite them, as the case may be), you get to take a run at SCM, AND all you have to give up is SCY Nationals. This is a really good deal if you like meters!
So, I follow what you are saying, mostly agree with it, but differ as to whether the "problems" you see are good things, or bad.
Matt
