Having just finished another summer league season of interminably long meets, 4-5 hours each, twice a week (and that's with no rain delays), I was wondering if anyone had good ideas for reducing the time it takes to run a meet. Some ideas I've had are:
1 - only announce event, heat and then full description of that event for the first heat. Subsequently, only announce heats.
2 - have kids on blocks when previous heat finishes
3 - drink more to make it less painful
We had one starter at an away meet who would spend 30-45 seconds after each heat talking to folks before she would get the kids on the blocks. I almost lost it.
In all honestly, any tips would be greatly appreciated.
Our summer league is 6 divisions, all busting with kids. It would be nice to have the A/B thing you mention. But, then, it would pretty much turn into a year round (A) kids meet and a summer (B) kids meet, which would probably drive away the year rounders who are also practicing and competing with their club teams. My daughter goes from summer league practice to year round practice every day. Charlotte is smaller than DC so most of the year rounders know each other. Kids are limited to 3 individual events.
You hate to be annoyed by it but it can wear on the nerves, although my 6 year old was quite the cute shrimp, although not as fast as one.
Sounds like you need more divisions. The A/B system doesn't drive away the USA swimmers here. My kid does both, although she doesn't swim LC every day. In fact our USA Junior Olympics were on Thurs-Fri-Sun to avoid interfering with the summer league A meets on Sat am. We also have quite a few non-USA swimmers competing in the A dual meets. Because the summer league events are so sprint oriented, a good athlete who dabbles in swimming can hop in and rip off a good 50. Now, by All Stars, you're pretty much looking at the USA swimmers except for the 8 & Unders and some 10 & unders. The 6 & unders are my fav group! I never tire of their belly flops. My 6 year old loved summer swim league!
Our summer league is 6 divisions, all busting with kids. It would be nice to have the A/B thing you mention. But, then, it would pretty much turn into a year round (A) kids meet and a summer (B) kids meet, which would probably drive away the year rounders who are also practicing and competing with their club teams. My daughter goes from summer league practice to year round practice every day. Charlotte is smaller than DC so most of the year rounders know each other. Kids are limited to 3 individual events.
You hate to be annoyed by it but it can wear on the nerves, although my 6 year old was quite the cute shrimp, although not as fast as one.
Sounds like you need more divisions. The A/B system doesn't drive away the USA swimmers here. My kid does both, although she doesn't swim LC every day. In fact our USA Junior Olympics were on Thurs-Fri-Sun to avoid interfering with the summer league A meets on Sat am. We also have quite a few non-USA swimmers competing in the A dual meets. Because the summer league events are so sprint oriented, a good athlete who dabbles in swimming can hop in and rip off a good 50. Now, by All Stars, you're pretty much looking at the USA swimmers except for the 8 & Unders and some 10 & unders. The 6 & unders are my fav group! I never tire of their belly flops. My 6 year old loved summer swim league!
