Poolrat is taking the fun out of my joke.
Sure, Fresno is a crummy place but some genuinely nice coastal cities like Monterey, Carmel, and Pacific Grove are just a three hour drive from Fresno. In fact, one could fly into Fresno and arrange to fly out of Monterey. Just a thought.
I was just messin' with you, Matt. I'll agree. These are some awesome places to visit.
Then find another facility to make a bid. We need to be thankful right now that someone did bid so we can have Nationals. It sucks that there was only one bid for SCY and one for LCM. The Clovis pool has hosted a few big meets - I hear it's a great pool. I'm going to do my best to attend. We'll see.
I'm looking forward to the Clovis meet because it's within driving distance. I hope you can make it.
...you didn't...
When are we going to get to go back to the Nassau County facility?
Yeah, thanks for pointing that out. I was referring to the zones meet nyswimmer was referring to. but i think you all know what i am saying.
A swimmer from New Jersey recently contacted me because she was very put out about Nationals being in Oregon. She commented about how often Nationals are on the west coast - "Why do they always have to be there?" she said, disdainfully.
The comment piqued my interest. So I did a little research and found there really is a distinct trend.
In the last decade, USMS held 19 Nationals. Here's the geographic breakdown by time zone:
Eastern = 10 (53%)
Pacific = 5 (26%)
Central = 2 (11%)
Mountain = 1 (5%)
Hawaii = 1 (5%)
The rough distribution by time zone came in about the same for Nationals I've attended - 24 since 1992 - all but three in the last decade. That includes 9 when I lived in N.J. – I escaped N.J. by car in 1998…it took about 5 days – and 15 since living in Oregon. Half of the Nationals I've attended were in the Eastern Time zone, 25% were in Pacific, and 25% were in other time zones.
Between 1997 and 2007, Florida held four Nationals - more than any other state during that time period.
I've only been swimming for about 2 years. The only Nationals on the east coast during that time period was in FLA, still a ways for me. But I wasn't being disdainful. I don't really expect to be able to attend that many travel meets, or even meets in general, with my family obligations. But the data is very interesting. I'm hoping to make it to Austin next year. Otherwise, I'm mostly a zones meet attender, and I feel very lucky that zones are often local.
For the record - the swimmer from N.J. was not "The Fortress"
Definitely not! I'm very psyched that SCY zones are nearby again next year! I feel very fortunate to have a couple fast pools in the area. And I'd love to try to get to Indy.
Crazy subway-ridin' new yorkers... its called a CAR!!! :wiggle:
So the Fresno-Yosemite International Airport isn't a real airport? I mean yeah, I've never heard of that one either, but it is an international airport - must be sorta important. Its airport code is FAT!
I'm sorry, if you can't fly direct from one of the largest airports in the country, it is not a real airport. And it's hours' drive from any plausible choices. (I grew up in Calif.--I am familiar with Fresno.) But there's turboprop service from LA! Yay!
Wow, might have just found a use for my 400,000 American Airlines miles. Looks like I finally found a destination that American flys to that I might want to go. Woot. Fresno 2009!!!!!
Paul
There were no other bids, for either Short Course or Long Course Nationals. This has been a problem the last few years. If there is a facility in your area that would be capable of holding a national meet (1000-2500 swimmers), please encourage them to bid.
WOW, but not surprising at all.
Perhaps the USMS Championship Committee should start compiling a list of facilities that would be capapable of holding such meets, and then approaching the teams, zones AND LMSCs associated with these venues. I don't think people think much 2 years in advance, and if USMS approached with interest and the zone and LMSCs pitched in to help, we could "spread the wealth."
In my area, GMU has proven the ability to host our SCY meet, continuing to draw over 500 people every year since '02 or '03, but it would be tough fitting 2500 swimmers on that deck and in the warmdown pools. UMD has more deck and bleacher space, and have hosted a few zone meets as well, but we'd have to find a way to use the outdoor pool for warmdown too.
We also have the PG Sports and Learning Complex, Naval Academy, Takoma Rec Center, Freedom/Manassas AC, UMBC, MAC, Germantown AC, outdoor RMSC, all with 50M pools and good-sized meet experience. But for a national meet??? Not so much.
Of course the easy solution to the "problem" is to do like the YMCA does, and use bids and just lock in a single location each for 3 SCY Nationals' and SCM Nationals. I vote for Ft Lauderdale/HOF for both!
I'm very psyched that SCY zones are nearby again next year! I feel very fortunate to have a couple fast pools in the area.
CZ = Same issues as nationally - only one bid every year.
While I enjoy not having to travel every year to SCY Zones, and SCM in Jersey is not too bad either, I do wish that more places would be encouraged by either USMS, their zone or their LMSC to host meets and put in bids for these zone meets. There are a lot of nice pools in the Colonies that I would love to swim at, but there are never meets there.
