The FINA Bureau approved the dates, the schedule of events and the qualifying times for the XI FINA Masters Championships that will be held at the Avery Aquatic Center, Stanford University, Stanford California - August 4 - 17, 2006
Qualifying Times
The qualifying times are now posted. These times are easier than the USMS Long course times, however, remember if you do not swim at or faster than the qualify time you will receive "no time" for your effort - your swim will not count.
Schedule of Events
The schedule of events is up. The swimming portion will take place August 4th through 10th; and will include a day of relays. The open water swim will be on August 11th. There are also schedules for the other aquatic disciplines.
Hotel Rooms
The organizing committee has been working with a destination management company to get hotels at a good rate for swimmers. Those rates are only available if you book through the Internet portal that has been set up that has been set up or if you call the toll free number. Once to the home page of the hotel registration select your stay dates and number of guests in the room first then you will get a list of available hotels.(Also the Internet portal works best with IE 5.01 and IE 6.0+) .
Web Site
All of the above information can be found at the XI FINA World Masters Championship web site - www.2006FINAMasters.org .
Vacation destination
San Francisco and northern California is one of the premeire tourist destinations in the world. Besides the great swimming venue, there will be many day trips scheduled for you or your significant other (or children). This will be a great time to plan a vacation to the golden state.
The Organizing Committee is working on days trips and discounted airfares. Announcements will be made as the plans are made final.
michael
Michael W. Moore, president
XI FINA World Masters Championships - 2006
Stanford Unversity
Stanford California
Former Member
Well what if you have your three best events all in a row in a championship meet?
There is an anti-sandbagging rule in the rule book. See 104.5.5A (11) in the section on national championships, which reads:
If a swimmer enters a deck-seeded event with a time significantly slower than his/her recently recorded time, the meet director may, after notifying the swimmer, change the seeded time to a realistic time.
This rule was added a few years ago, specifically targetting sandbaggers at nationals.
I think that sandbagging for the purpose of gaining a competitive advantage is unsportsmanlike and has no place in Masters swimming.
Putting in a slower seed time so that you can make your flight out isn't the best thing, but if it's an unusual circumstance I probably wouldn't have a problem with it.
People who put in slower seed times ALL the time, because they want clear water, or more rest, are the problem. They anger the people who are stuck swimming with them, and the people they should be swimming against.
I remember a few specific examples from my time in Northern California that were brought to the attention of the LMSC Committee.
I'm not sympathetic to the "I have to leave early" excuse. You know in order to compete you must travel. It's a part of the sport you have chosen to participate in. You should plan accordingly.
I've looked at the event schedule for this particular meet and it's sad that instead of 2 or 3 events, my schedule will only permit 1. There's no justification for anyone to lie about their ability in order to accomodate their personal schedule.
Quite selfish and again, not in the spirit of competition. Just because there is not a current rule specially banning the practice doesn't make it right. FINA's "honor system" is just that. They hope that you will do the right thing.
I entered a meet with the times I had swum consistently at in season meets ... I smoked my 500 seed time big time. I probably would have been two heats, maybe three ahead... tapering does wonders ... also if you switch between courses it's hard to gage your times.
Of course that is different from intentionally sandbagging ... but people will always do that ... the only thing you can do is to write down your times as accurately as possible ...
On the flip side of this argument what about those people that seed themselves in a heat with too fast of a time ... that can be detrimental to the other swimmers too ...
I never said that the point of racing was to defeat youth and talent. I have edited my post to help you understand.
I would normally be quite amenable to having a flame war with you and your ilk, but it does not serve the purpose of this DF.
I will say that I am a little lost on the reasons that some people are so emotionally upset about sandbagging. It is not contrary to the rules as they now exist, so it is not dishonest. The only way to sandbag at nationals is the way I did it, in a distance event, since all other heats are seeded by age groups. This must truly be a local issue, and I am sorry if a horde of sandbaggers are making your lives miserable.
At the short course nationals I sandbagged this year and didn't even know what it was called but it wasn't by any means a deliberate strategy on my part.....
I had to submit the registration in March or Early April....I don't remember.......
The times I put down for the meet were far off from what I did down there.....
Last year I swam the 100 free once and got a 1:13.....I didn't swim the event again until late april of this year so I entered the 1:13 time.....At nationals I swam a 1:02......And I wish I could have been put in another heat because I fell short of a medal by 10ths of a second......If I had some competition I might have done better......
Here's a list of the times I put down and the results at the Nationals:
Event 8 Women 50 Yard Breaststroke
18 Kyff, Jennifer J 31 METR 43.26 Result: 40.97
Event 14 Women 50 Yard Freestyle
14 Kyff, Jennifer J 31 METR 29.53 Result: 27.41
Event 26 Women 100 Yard Freestyle
18 Kyff, Jennifer J 31 METR 1:13.59 Result: 1:02.71
Can you change your seeding at the Nationals if you improved a great amount?
I still don't understand why you would sandbag unless you were trying to get points for your team.....
If you get tired and that's your reason why not just swim less events, or practice more so you have the endurance.....
Anyway I've got too many emails about this so I've got to turn of the setting for a while.....I guess a lot of people get heated about this....
I'm not really emotionally upset. It is interesting that you find lying to be acceptable when is disrupts competition, but, then again, it's all about your time and you defeating youth and talent, the well established themes of USMS.
There are many things not explicitly prohibited by the rules but that does make them acceptable. Might want to ask MLB about that and their recent current crisis.
I am more interested in why you think that lying is not dishonest and why your own personal pursuits by sandbagging contribute to the overall goals of USMS. That might cause me to change my opinions.
Originally posted by aquageek
PeirsolFan:
Well, I think I have to disagree a little on this, especially when it comes to nationals. Nationals seem to be either on the east or west coast, for the most part. That really puts some challenges up for those that have to travel cross country and have long flights with big time changes. If you have already taken a couple days off work, abandoned your family, etc adding a few seconds to your time so that you can make a flight back by end of day Sunday versus Monday is ok by me.
Sandbagging to avoid divorce court should be allowed in section 43.b.VO2Max.
Yes on the divorce court idea...
Some athlete was talking about what it takes to be the best and train - it's a part-time job and it doesn't pay your bills. Yeah. A day or two off work is a hassle, but what about your competitors who will come from Japan and Germany next year? If they make the effort...
It's a part-time chore/job that doesn't pay. If it happens that I don't have time to make a meet because of work I'll either get a different job, work different hours, or not compete. To be openly and knowingly dishonest to further my own agenda would be very wrong. But it's what this country was founded on! :D
Is this the same Michael Heather who has been nominated for VP National Operations? Frankly, I'm a bit surprised at your response(s). Count me among geek's "ilk" if you will--I agree with him. And I think Phil stated the argument against sandbagging very eloquently. No, I am not emotionally upset about it, nor does it make my life miserable, but I think the practice should be discouraged as it is not consistent with the spirit of Masters competition.
As for this being a "local" issue, geek is in Charlotte, and as they say around these parts, you can't get there from here. **JOKE ALERT**
BTW, I'd be happy to continue this discussion on another thread.
