I posted this idea on another thread, where it more or less disappeared into the void. If it thusly disappears again, I will acknowledge that it deserves to disappear.
But before such acknowledgement, one more shot. To wit:
I think it would be kind of fun to come up with some kind of "all around freestyle" ranking. Usually you have your drop dead sprinters on one end, and your never say die distance people on the other end. But what about those of us who are sort of evenly mediocre at all distances?
Since freestyle has the most number of "in the pool" events, maybe we could come up with a freestyle decathalon event where you can score points (say, the inverse of the Top 25 in each event--where no. 1 gets 25 points, and no. 25 gets 1 point), add all these up, and get the cumulative score.
50
100
200
500
1000
1650
half hour swim
hour swim
5k
10k
I think all of the above, with the possible exception of the half hour swim, are now official USMS events. You could argue that the 50, 100, and 200 are sprint-ish events; the 500, 1000, and 1650 (and possibly the half hour swim) are middle-ish or shortish distance events; and the rest are actual distance events.
In any event, I throw this topic out for the rumination of my fellow freestylers in the hopes that someone could come up with a fair rating system. My inverse points concept is only one possibility. Another might be to figure out a person's average per 100 pace for each event, total these, then divide by 10--
example--for the sake of brevity, I will just do this for 5 free events:
24 for 50 = :48
52 for 100 = :52
1:58 for 200 = :59
5:25 for 500 = 1:05
11:40 for 1000 = 1:10
total time: 4:54
divide, int his case by 5, and...
average 100: 59.2
Obviously, if we include the 1650, half hour swim, and hour swim, the average 100 pace would continue to climb upwards.
Anyhow, I am not sure how to weight things fairly, but the aim--it seems to me--would be to have the world's best sprinter, and the world's best distance swimmer--end up scoring roughly the same.
And I am hoping that the ingenuity of my fellow math-inclined (and possibly somewhat bored, with plenty of time on their hands) masters swimmers might be able to combine to create a perfect Freestyle Decathlon event as a possible motivation for all around freestylers to branch out their efforts for compleat bragging rights.
Note: you would have to swim each event in a sanctioned USMS meet and/or postal event to qualify. This would surely encourage more people to do some of the longer swims, and maybe some of the distance people to sign up for actual meets and do short things like 50s! A win-win for attendance.
We could call this--for wont of a better name--the Thornton Index.
Of course, we could call it something else, too, like maybe the Thornton Freestyle Decathlon, or even just "The Jim."
Or the Freestyle Decathlon.
Chris, I just emailed you some fodder for software thought. I also sent this to Mary Sweat, who does the Go the Distance program and seems intrigued with the concept of the Freestyle Decathalon.
For what it's worth, I used your VA Masters age calculator, and my friend Bill's 100 pace caclulator, and established an 88.1 ranking.
Since I am the first and only person, to my knowledge, to ever do this, I am now the undisputed #1 Freestyle Hexathlon Champion of the universe and will remain so until someone, Ion Beeza?, does the calculations and beats me!
I guess Naithsmith was the best basketball player in the universe, too, for the few minutes where he was the only one to know the rules!
If anyone else with programming interest would like to help create a plug in calculator, I will be happy to email you directly the background.
Jim
Chris, I just emailed you some fodder for software thought. I also sent this to Mary Sweat, who does the Go the Distance program and seems intrigued with the concept of the Freestyle Decathalon.
For what it's worth, I used your VA Masters age calculator, and my friend Bill's 100 pace caclulator, and established an 88.1 ranking.
Since I am the first and only person, to my knowledge, to ever do this, I am now the undisputed #1 Freestyle Hexathlon Champion of the universe and will remain so until someone, Ion Beeza?, does the calculations and beats me!
Yep, I got it and replied by email. Our LMSC webmaster could easily set something up, I bet, depending on how busy "real life" is at the moment for him.
Now, for a modest fee, I can probably jigger the calculations to keep you on the top of the heap. ;) I'll give you my agent's contact info to set up the necessary negotiations...
It's called: HUMILITY!
Again, Ande: the operative word here is HUMILITY!
No need for more of that! I agree with Ande and Quicksilver that the distance swimmers would dominate easily over the true (not faux) sprinters.
And isn't a real decathlon something that involves more than just one thing? Decathletes don't just run a 50, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1 mile, 2 mile, marathon! Jim, I think you need to solve your shoulder woes and get back to doing some real strokes. Signing up for the five pack freestyle every meet is no way to live.
And isn't a real decathlon something that involves more than just one thing?
There is already such a thing in British Masters swimming:
www.britishswimming.org/.../0,10853,5157-183850-201068-nav-list,00.html
USMS can have both kinds of events. I think that there are people out there with impressive "range," who are good at both distance and sprints...(S)he-Man comes to mind...
Leslie, your point is well taken. Check out the British site that Chris mentions--it's really quite impressive.
I think the point of this is to motivate people to swim more meets/events of a variety of stripes, and let the He/She mulitply talented swimmers have a place to excel.
And be honest, Leslie. Wouldn't you just love to wear a T-shirt that proclaimed, "# 14th Nationally in the USMS 30-34 year old Freestyle Sexathlon"
Really, you're better off not being #1 in this event, the way I currently am with my 88.1 score. I have had to fend off all kinds of inquiries from the industry.
You know the industry I'm talking about. They don't like to take no for an answer.
That said, Chris, I will pay you all I can to maintain my #1 ranking via software manipulation.
And be honest, Leslie. Wouldn't you just love to wear a T-shirt that proclaimed, "# 14th Nationally in the USMS 30-34 year old Freestyle Sexathlon".
Yes, that appellation holds great appeal. Always ready to lie about my age.
But I would rather compete in the British Sexathlon. Why don't we have that?! It's awesome. The check off challenge t-shirt, while a good idea, doesn't rock my world. I need a little more of that vicious competition gridging thing to actually contemplate a distance event like the 200 IM.
Former Member
Jim. Great Idea, I like it. Also a lot of good idea replies. Now all you have to do is to condensed all the ideas . Dom in AZ.