From other threads it's seemed some people from small teams feel left out at Nationals because they don't have enough people for relays. How about not counting the relay points for the Small Team Awards and letting the small teams pool swimmers for relays. Pooled relays would not count for records or Top Ten but could win medals.
Few of us are familar with the inner workings of FINA so can you explain to me why they would not to compete as "countries" vs. "clubs"?
I dont know. I would guess that Masters has somewhat established itself before FINA came on the scene. Masters started about 1970 and the first FINA World Masters Championships was about 1984, so maybe they just went with the established order.
Masters is supposed to be about fun, fitness and competition, not about international competition between federations. If it was about competition between federations then you would have most likely have a fewer competitors. How would one qualify for a federation team? Could be a problem.
If they left it the current way, then have everyone eligible for a relay team, who is going to do the selection? I have seen Pacific Masters Coaches pulling their hair out making up relays teams, could you imagine trying to put together a team when you have 2000 swimmers to select from to put together dozens of teams - think age groups, gender and strokes and all the permutations to select a fast team.
Anyway just a guess.
michael
Few of us are familar with the inner workings of FINA so can you explain to me why they would not to compete as "countries" vs. "clubs"?
I dont know. I would guess that Masters has somewhat established itself before FINA came on the scene. Masters started about 1970 and the first FINA World Masters Championships was about 1984, so maybe they just went with the established order.
Masters is supposed to be about fun, fitness and competition, not about international competition between federations. If it was about competition between federations then you would have most likely have a fewer competitors. How would one qualify for a federation team? Could be a problem.
If they left it the current way, then have everyone eligible for a relay team, who is going to do the selection? I have seen Pacific Masters Coaches pulling their hair out making up relays teams, could you imagine trying to put together a team when you have 2000 swimmers to select from to put together dozens of teams - think age groups, gender and strokes and all the permutations to select a fast team.
Anyway just a guess.
michael
