Why do we continue to lead off the 2nd,3rd and 4th days of the meet each year with a distance event? I can think of NOTHING more deadening to the atmosphere of a swim meet than dozens of heats of 400IM and 500 free. We need to start the meet with the 50 freestyle and get the place rockin' !! Stick the long events at the end of the meet each day after the relay and give the majority of participants the opportunity to spend less time at the pool.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
1. Women 1000 Freestyle 2. Men 1000 Freestyle
3. Women 1650 Freestyle 4. Men 1650 Freestyle
Friday, May 2, 2008
5. Women 400 Individual Medley 6. Men 400 Individual Medley
7. Women 50 Butterfly 8. Men 50 Butterfly
9. Women 200 Backstroke 10. Men 200 Backstroke
11. Women 100 Breaststroke 12. Men 100 Breaststroke
13. Women 50 Freestyle 14. Men 50 Freestyle
15. Mixed 200 Freestyle Relay
Saturday, May 3, 2008
17. Women 500 Freestyle
19. Women 100 Individual Medley 20. Men 100 Individual Medley
21. Women 200 Butterfly 22. Men 200 Butterfly
23. Women 100 Backstroke 24. Men 100 Backstroke
25. Women 50 Breaststroke 26. Men 50 Breaststroke
27. Women 200 Freestyle 28. Men 200 Freestyle
29. Mixed 200 Medley Relay
31. Women 200 Freestyle Relay 32. Men 200 Freestyle Relay
Sunday, May 4, 2008
34. Men 500 Freestyle
35. Women 200 Breaststroke 36. Men 200 Breaststroke
37. Women 100 Butterfly 38. Men 100 Butterfly
39. Women 50 Backstroke 40. Men 50 Backstroke
41. Women 200 Individual Medley 42. Men 200 Individual Medley
43. Women 100 Freestyle 44. Men 100 Freestyle
45. Women 200 Medley Relay 46. Men 200 Medley Relay
The second reason it perhaps less obvious. While our meet hosts typically do a great job, it is very hard to start the meet with the 50 free as you suggest. In a short amount of time, there are more swimmers racing than at any other point in the meet (due to the short time it takes to complete a race). In a short course meet, there would typically be a heat starting every 15 - 20 seconds. This requires you volunteers to be on their toes. When we start with a distance event, it allows time for a few mistakes to occur, get corrected and not affect the timeline or quality of the meet. The same would not be true with the 50 free.
From an administrative standpoint, this can be a big deal. The sheer amount of paperwork involved in running a big meet such as nationals is phenomenal, and having an admin referee only defrays it somewhat.
Less alert timers is also a problem because these timers are slower to activate the button at the end of the race. The button is the main mechanism that is used to determine whether or not a timing malfunction has occurred with the touchpad. Generally speaking, if there is more than 0.30 second difference between the time registered by the touchpad and the time from the button. When that happens, a lot of human intervention has to occur to determine whether the touchpad time is accurate enough for the official time, or whether an adjustment needs to occur. When a LOT of these determinations have to be made, the results get delayed, and the situation makes a long day very long. That's assuming heroic measures don't have to be taken to determine official times (and lest you think this is confined to low level meets, I got a story from a referee this year of reconstructing a time from almost nothing at a major Grand Prix meet!). And that's ignoring the other kinds of disasters that can occur....
As a swimmer, I personally don't fret about the order of events. Sure, I'd like my events spaced out so I can give my best efforts, but I know that that's not going to happen all the time. I'll take my races wherever, whenever, whatever, in any order, but no breaststroke.
Patrick King
Postscript edit:
I guess it's just my weird personality but I LOVE to watch swimming. I love to watch 20 year olds, 85 year olds, men and women.
Mel's obviously never watched me swim. My races are so horrific that the 60 and 70 year olds kicking my tail want to get out of the pool so fast so they don't get contaminated me (or as was the case of the solo, 6 minute, 400IM I swam when I was 14--pray that it actually ends!).
The second reason it perhaps less obvious. While our meet hosts typically do a great job, it is very hard to start the meet with the 50 free as you suggest. In a short amount of time, there are more swimmers racing than at any other point in the meet (due to the short time it takes to complete a race). In a short course meet, there would typically be a heat starting every 15 - 20 seconds. This requires you volunteers to be on their toes. When we start with a distance event, it allows time for a few mistakes to occur, get corrected and not affect the timeline or quality of the meet. The same would not be true with the 50 free.
From an administrative standpoint, this can be a big deal. The sheer amount of paperwork involved in running a big meet such as nationals is phenomenal, and having an admin referee only defrays it somewhat.
Less alert timers is also a problem because these timers are slower to activate the button at the end of the race. The button is the main mechanism that is used to determine whether or not a timing malfunction has occurred with the touchpad. Generally speaking, if there is more than 0.30 second difference between the time registered by the touchpad and the time from the button. When that happens, a lot of human intervention has to occur to determine whether the touchpad time is accurate enough for the official time, or whether an adjustment needs to occur. When a LOT of these determinations have to be made, the results get delayed, and the situation makes a long day very long. That's assuming heroic measures don't have to be taken to determine official times (and lest you think this is confined to low level meets, I got a story from a referee this year of reconstructing a time from almost nothing at a major Grand Prix meet!). And that's ignoring the other kinds of disasters that can occur....
As a swimmer, I personally don't fret about the order of events. Sure, I'd like my events spaced out so I can give my best efforts, but I know that that's not going to happen all the time. I'll take my races wherever, whenever, whatever, in any order, but no breaststroke.
Patrick King
Postscript edit:
I guess it's just my weird personality but I LOVE to watch swimming. I love to watch 20 year olds, 85 year olds, men and women.
Mel's obviously never watched me swim. My races are so horrific that the 60 and 70 year olds kicking my tail want to get out of the pool so fast so they don't get contaminated me (or as was the case of the solo, 6 minute, 400IM I swam when I was 14--pray that it actually ends!).
