Clovis in 09??

The issue has been raised as to why we don't have more bids from various areas of the country that host large kids meets. I am not now, but was on the championship committee for several years. I was also the meet director of the 2003 nationals in Tempe so you under the bias in my opinion. In order to host SC Nationals, you need to have 2 25-yard pools, plus warm down space. If we expect 1500 - 2000 swimmers, we would like to see 8-16 lanes just for warm-down. Additionally, we need seating space for 1500 - 2000. We require more space and time (as the length of our days are longer than kids meets) than any other championship caliber meet that I am aware of. For a LC Nationals, you need to have a 50 meter pool, plus 6-10 lanes of warm down space (typically only 25 yard). Additionally, we need about seating for about 1000. Some kids meets run for more than four days. We have tried 5 day meets and with the exception of Worlds (which was a special type of event) we have seen attendance drop. So, we are cramming more people into fewer days than a typical kids championship would. Further limiting the locations willing to bid on our championships is the number of volunteers that it takes to run a meet. In Tempe in 2003 we had about 500 6-hour volunteer shifts to cover. Unless you have a strong team or teams in the area committed to making this meet happen, this is a challenge. Add to that, we only want to swim in pools where it is not to hot/cold, that have all deep water, etc., and we are not left with a ton of pools. Plus, the economic impact of our nationals on a community is minimal when compared to other events of similar size. Further, USMS sits back and waits for bids to roll in rather than being proactive and going after bids and offering to co-host a meet with a facility (this is basically what I am doing with the San Juan bid). In my opinion, if USMS was more proactive and took greater ownership over our championships, we would have a greater selection of pools to choose from.

The issue has been raised as to why we don't have more bids from various areas of the country that host large kids meets. I am not now, but was on the championship committee for several years. I was also the meet director of the 2003 nationals in Tempe so you under the bias in my opinion. In order to host SC Nationals, you need to have 2 25-yard pools, plus warm down space. If we expect 1500 - 2000 swimmers, we would like to see 8-16 lanes just for warm-down. Additionally, we need seating space for 1500 - 2000. We require more space and time (as the length of our days are longer than kids meets) than any other championship caliber meet that I am aware of. For a LC Nationals, you need to have a 50 meter pool, plus 6-10 lanes of warm down space (typically only 25 yard). Additionally, we need about seating for about 1000. Some kids meets run for more than four days. We have tried 5 day meets and with the exception of Worlds (which was a special type of event) we have seen attendance drop. So, we are cramming more people into fewer days than a typical kids championship would. Further limiting the locations willing to bid on our championships is the number of volunteers that it takes to run a meet. In Tempe in 2003 we had about 500 6-hour volunteer shifts to cover. Unless you have a strong team or teams in the area committed to making this meet happen, this is a challenge. Add to that, we only want to swim in pools where it is not to hot/cold, that have all deep water, etc., and we are not left with a ton of pools. Plus, the economic impact of our nationals on a community is minimal when compared to other events of similar size. Further, USMS sits back and waits for bids to roll in rather than being proactive and going after bids and offering to co-host a meet with a facility (this is basically what I am doing with the San Juan bid). In my opinion, if USMS was more proactive and took greater ownership over our championships, we would have a greater selection of pools to choose from.