Don't want to start a screamfest, but the controversial issue of "getting enough rest" between events led me to wonder --- how do you get an order of events that is somewhat uniformly fair?
Since I'm apparently challenging John Smith for most annoying masters swimmer, I'll just say that I have been aggravated by the order of events in most of my recent meets. As a fly-backer-er, somewhat odd, it seems that those events are always close together. I guess the fly-*** or fly-free or all free combos are much more common. I have basically given up swimming the 100 IM and haven't swum the 100 back in SCY in 2 years. My last meet, the 100 fly and 100 back were within minutes of each other, and unlike Chris Stevenson and Jeff Roddin, I admittedly didn't have the chops to do both. At my Dec. taper meet, all my best events were on Saturday. At anther meet, all the 200s were in the first half of the meet and all the sprints in the second half, annoying almost everyone and causing a lot of scratches. I have also noticed the inequity between rest for freestylers and strokers. Folks entering the 5 pack freestyle (50, 100, 200, 500, 1000 or 1650), very common set of entries, always have adequate rest because these events are always spaced out pretty well. So it's pretty easy for freestylers to think others are whiney, since they never experience the rest problem.
So how do you fix these inequities and get a fair lineup of events? At a minimum, can't meet directors change the order of events each year to attempt to provide some equity? Or have a 15 minute break scheduled somewhere? This would probably reduce whining and the apparently repugnant practice of sandbagging to get more rest. Since I only swim 5 meets a year or so, it'd be nice to attempt to swim reasonably well. Swimming more meets is just not an option. There's obviously no way to make everyone happy all the time, but it seems like the system could be improved.
One simple result for the Colonies Zone as well as LMSC's of VA and PV, get 1 person to do the entry forms!!!! That way the order of events from meet to meet under their control can be altered. One person in charge of the order of events for each LMSC would make a huge difference. The order would change from meet to meet and from that particula meet to the next time it's held (that would benefit the Zone meet). THe OMS order of events is attached. It has worked well for many years with me only getting 1 complaint. I still do their entry forms and with the chart, it's easy (credit to Bob Bruce for coming up with this chart). If one meet is column B, the next is column A. One year it just so happened that one meet was B and the next year it hit on B again. I changed it to A so there wouldn't be the same order of events back to back. The relays are in the middle and I change them up depending on what events are before them. I try not to put the Free relays after a free event, for example.
But with every meet director in some LMSC's doing their own, "pull it out of the air" order of events, there will be problems and people upset. I boycoted the Albatross this year because of the order. The sprints all together and the 200's together. Doesn't make sense to me!
One simple result for the Colonies Zone as well as LMSC's of VA and PV, get 1 person to do the entry forms!!!! That way the order of events from meet to meet under their control can be altered. One person in charge of the order of events for each LMSC would make a huge difference. The order would change from meet to meet and from that particula meet to the next time it's held (that would benefit the Zone meet). THe OMS order of events is attached. It has worked well for many years with me only getting 1 complaint. I still do their entry forms and with the chart, it's easy (credit to Bob Bruce for coming up with this chart). If one meet is column B, the next is column A. One year it just so happened that one meet was B and the next year it hit on B again. I changed it to A so there wouldn't be the same order of events back to back. The relays are in the middle and I change them up depending on what events are before them. I try not to put the Free relays after a free event, for example.
But with every meet director in some LMSC's doing their own, "pull it out of the air" order of events, there will be problems and people upset. I boycoted the Albatross this year because of the order. The sprints all together and the 200's together. Doesn't make sense to me!
