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.
Where the pick for "it's a moot point because there's no such thing as a small team award anymore."
This is the case, isn't it?
I don't know if I want to start a thread or poll specifically about it, but have the relays ever been at the beginning of the day or has there been any discussion about doing it that way? It seems to me relay participation would increase quite a bit if they weren't at the end of each day's competition--especially on Sunday.
EDIT: OK, I guess the main question deals with letting people from different teams swim together on relays. I have no problem with that.
Allen,
You can get rid of relay points..... I personally don't care either way...... but you're not going to solve the scoring imbalance or help small teams that much with your proposal.
Even if a small team has several elite high scoring individuals, they can't make up the ground in total points due to the vast number of entries that large teams like Rocky Mtn has. It's just not going to work. It may help a bit but not a lot.
May I suggest that smaller teams in common regional areas that are unsatisfied ban together at nationals for better relays. This is probably an easier solution.
John Smith
Originally posted by Karen Duggan
Wouldn't that truly show who the best team is?
No, that shows the average points per swimmer on the team. It would also discourage teams from taking swimmers who didn't score.
I agree with geek. With the current system a swimmer who ekes out a couple points is a contributor, if the scoring was points/swimmer that person becomes a liability.
Geek and Kirk:
I agree with both your thoughts. I think of the term elitism if I didn't agree with you. The less accomplished swimmers are as much a part of the team as the big guns. It's a group working together. A real team atmosphere.
I always wondered what would happen if you took the number of total points scored by a team and then divided them by the numbers of swimmers that actually swam? Wouldn't that truly show who the best team is?
I think if this were done you would have to bring back small, medium and large divisions because if, say, Karlyn Pipes-Nielsen were on a team by herself: she wins all 6 events and earns 54 points... all by herself she'd be the best "team" by average. :p
Just a thought.
I think there would be less participation if the results didn't count.
One of the reasons this started was because people we're jumping teams (which I don't agree with fwiw) in order to put together a "better than all the others" team - which is fine, but I think it does the word "team" a disservice.
It might be fun occasionally to put a group together of non-teammates but after awhile, getting wet for "exhibition" sake, I think would get old. Especially if it's the fourth or fifth time you've gotten in the water to race that day.
I voted "no".
Jim
I voted yes for basically the same reasons the other voters stated. Why not let more people swim on relays? It is unlikely to affect the outcome, to the extent anyone cares about the outcome of the team competition.
However, I see the yes voters are the vocal minority on this question. I'd like to hear from those voting no.
Matt
