Clovis in 09??

Mark, Thanks for your insight. For those of you who are wondering why we can't get a national meet in DC, there are an incredible amount of variables we have to consider. Let me start out by saying that Potomac Valley is now the 4th largest LMSC in USMS by numbers, but the smallest geographic area. Translation: lots of swimmer demand on facilities! That is our first hurdle. 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. Nearly all facilities in our area capable of 2x25 courses have only one small instructional pool for warm-up/warm-down: UMD, GMU, UMBC (with the indoor POS 25y). There are some other 50m-only facilities too, but they do us no good. Spectating is tight at all three, but UMD has the best locker room I've been in across the country. The only place I can think of that would be different would be the City of Rockville's (Public) outdoor 50m pool that has two indoor SC pools for warm-up/warm-down, but that would be an SCM nationals - no bulkheads. Running a LCM Nationals outdoors @ Rockville in the summer in DC would be a challenge. Aside from the fact that the public facility has county programs all summer, we don't have chillers around here, and with two big USS meets and the county's flagship pool for summer league, they're already closed a lot. Renting the place for 5 days could be a challenging sell to them (and expensive for us). Plus, if sessions last anywhere past 3pm, there is a huge threat of thunderstorms. 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. Amen! Any meet director will tell you that volunteers are a huge ? for any meet. May and August are tough times for volunteers. In May, school is winding down - private schools (and there are a LOT in the DC area) tend have exams and let out ~a week before Memorial Day. August is prime vacation month, plus parents are shipping their older kids off to college. DC is a ghost town in August - everyone hits the beaches from Carolinas to Jersey. BTW, Baltimore's meet in 2000 was indeed huge - but there were a lot of people who showed up in Catonsville and wondered where the brand new natatorium was (they were looking for our pool, down the road at UMD).

Mark, Thanks for your insight. For those of you who are wondering why we can't get a national meet in DC, there are an incredible amount of variables we have to consider. Let me start out by saying that Potomac Valley is now the 4th largest LMSC in USMS by numbers, but the smallest geographic area. Translation: lots of swimmer demand on facilities! That is our first hurdle. 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. Nearly all facilities in our area capable of 2x25 courses have only one small instructional pool for warm-up/warm-down: UMD, GMU, UMBC (with the indoor POS 25y). There are some other 50m-only facilities too, but they do us no good. Spectating is tight at all three, but UMD has the best locker room I've been in across the country. The only place I can think of that would be different would be the City of Rockville's (Public) outdoor 50m pool that has two indoor SC pools for warm-up/warm-down, but that would be an SCM nationals - no bulkheads. Running a LCM Nationals outdoors @ Rockville in the summer in DC would be a challenge. Aside from the fact that the public facility has county programs all summer, we don't have chillers around here, and with two big USS meets and the county's flagship pool for summer league, they're already closed a lot. Renting the place for 5 days could be a challenging sell to them (and expensive for us). Plus, if sessions last anywhere past 3pm, there is a huge threat of thunderstorms. 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. Amen! Any meet director will tell you that volunteers are a huge ? for any meet. May and August are tough times for volunteers. In May, school is winding down - private schools (and there are a LOT in the DC area) tend have exams and let out ~a week before Memorial Day. August is prime vacation month, plus parents are shipping their older kids off to college. DC is a ghost town in August - everyone hits the beaches from Carolinas to Jersey. BTW, Baltimore's meet in 2000 was indeed huge - but there were a lot of people who showed up in Catonsville and wondered where the brand new natatorium was (they were looking for our pool, down the road at UMD).