Meg,
The following is a friendly tone as the computer doesn't always convey tone well :)
I wasn't saying "we're this and you're not". Fritz asked me to define a club team. Of course I can only speak to my experience. The nature of swimming is many of the things I, and you, conveyed: travel, fun, etc. Your #s 2, 4, and 5 are THE differences I'm pointing out!
The fundamental difference remains we swim at the same pool with the same coaches. There is a BIG difference between having five different workout opportunities and swimming at different pools:
1) We are not bound to any one workout time. I mentioned I make use of many different times because of kids, etc. I know lots of people at any workout I go to. And swimming-wise, it's key, for me, to have the same coaches who know me. The workout times are conveniences.
2) We all compete for the same team ALL THE TIME- we're not WCM for some meets and then Pacific Masters for others.
3) When people sign up for WCM they sign up to swim with our coaches at our pool. I signed up over 10 years ago as Karen Heard and have forged many great friendships being part of this team. I interact with these people daily in a swimming environment.
I have a lot of "friends" who I see only at swim meets. The relationship is not the same as we don't see each other every day at practice... although I guess I could e-mail them like you do.
There is something to be said for doing the grueling, "ooh, that really hurt" workout, talking about it in the locker room and then going to get something to eat afterwards. I can't e-mail that.
There is that basic fundamental difference between the club team and the SUPERTEAM. It's not good or bad, it just is. I have to agree with Mark Gill that having the club team and SUPERTEAM divisions at Nationals doesn't take away from any group.
Just FYI, there is a much larger club team than WCM, USF (University of San Francisco) who regularly kicks our butt at the Pacific Masters Championships. It's sheer numbers. We never complain because they are just bigger (although if you divided the total points by the swimmers, we'd win :) ). But they all swim at the same pool, same coaches, etc. It's swimming apples with apples, not apples with oranges.
Meg,
The following is a friendly tone as the computer doesn't always convey tone well :)
I wasn't saying "we're this and you're not". Fritz asked me to define a club team. Of course I can only speak to my experience. The nature of swimming is many of the things I, and you, conveyed: travel, fun, etc. Your #s 2, 4, and 5 are THE differences I'm pointing out!
The fundamental difference remains we swim at the same pool with the same coaches. There is a BIG difference between having five different workout opportunities and swimming at different pools:
1) We are not bound to any one workout time. I mentioned I make use of many different times because of kids, etc. I know lots of people at any workout I go to. And swimming-wise, it's key, for me, to have the same coaches who know me. The workout times are conveniences.
2) We all compete for the same team ALL THE TIME- we're not WCM for some meets and then Pacific Masters for others.
3) When people sign up for WCM they sign up to swim with our coaches at our pool. I signed up over 10 years ago as Karen Heard and have forged many great friendships being part of this team. I interact with these people daily in a swimming environment.
I have a lot of "friends" who I see only at swim meets. The relationship is not the same as we don't see each other every day at practice... although I guess I could e-mail them like you do.
There is something to be said for doing the grueling, "ooh, that really hurt" workout, talking about it in the locker room and then going to get something to eat afterwards. I can't e-mail that.
There is that basic fundamental difference between the club team and the SUPERTEAM. It's not good or bad, it just is. I have to agree with Mark Gill that having the club team and SUPERTEAM divisions at Nationals doesn't take away from any group.
Just FYI, there is a much larger club team than WCM, USF (University of San Francisco) who regularly kicks our butt at the Pacific Masters Championships. It's sheer numbers. We never complain because they are just bigger (although if you divided the total points by the swimmers, we'd win :) ). But they all swim at the same pool, same coaches, etc. It's swimming apples with apples, not apples with oranges.
