Saw one of the more interesting articles about the past, present, and future aspects of competitive swimming on SwimInfo's website the other day from Wayne Goldsmith..
www.swiminfo.com/.../7720.asp
I think it provokes a great deal of thought in this arena and specifically within this group since many of us either participate, have friends/relatives who participate, or remember participating in competitive swim meets.
I particularly appreciate the parents perspective provided in the article. While I have little children (5 and almost 3 years old), the thought of going through what my parents did with me makes me hesitate to sign up for the first set of SwimAmerica lessons or summer club swim team to introduce them to swimming. While I swam through my school age years, I didn't really consider just what my parents had to go through right along with me.. I was always thinking about what i was going through. Wow!
Check out the article and see what you think...
Rob
Parents
Former Member
Originally posted by Matt S
Question about your touch-pad "workout" meet. Why couldn't you sanction it as an official (if screwey)meet?
Cost. We wanted minimum overhead and a sanction fee affects the bottom line. After paying rent for the pool spacetime there wasn't much of a bottom line to work with.
Officials. That is always a limiting factor around here as the kid's calendar is full enough that officials are often not available. You have to lock them in well in advance.
Hassle. Sanctioning increases lead-time requirements, requires that official results are produced etc. We wanted this to be a format that we could launch with minimum possible lead time and effort - ie a one-person show that would not burn up lots of administrative or volunteer resources.
Fun events. We wanted to be able to add unsanctionable events.
Focus. This meet isn't about the official times, its about the fun of close team competition. We did not perceive officials were a necessary ingredient to that - think "pick-up basketball game".
Originally posted by Matt S
Question about your touch-pad "workout" meet. Why couldn't you sanction it as an official (if screwey)meet?
Cost. We wanted minimum overhead and a sanction fee affects the bottom line. After paying rent for the pool spacetime there wasn't much of a bottom line to work with.
Officials. That is always a limiting factor around here as the kid's calendar is full enough that officials are often not available. You have to lock them in well in advance.
Hassle. Sanctioning increases lead-time requirements, requires that official results are produced etc. We wanted this to be a format that we could launch with minimum possible lead time and effort - ie a one-person show that would not burn up lots of administrative or volunteer resources.
Fun events. We wanted to be able to add unsanctionable events.
Focus. This meet isn't about the official times, its about the fun of close team competition. We did not perceive officials were a necessary ingredient to that - think "pick-up basketball game".
