Clovis in 09??

It's hardly an accurate east vs. west coast type of comparison when central states are lumped in with the east coast. The 40% figure is quite telling and perhaps why we have west vs non-west listings. It will be interesting to see what the attendance figures are for Clovis. Perhaps the attendees will come largely from that 40%? I think I would divide it out like this: East coast Ft Lauderdale 1998 LC Baltimore 2000 LC Rutgers 2003 LC Savannah 2004 LC Ft Lauderdale 2005 SC Coral Springs 2006 SC Central Indianapolis 1998 SC Minneapolis 1999 LC Indianaplois 2000 SC Cleveland 20002 LC Indianapolis 2004 SC The Woodlands 2007 LC Austin TX 2008 SC West Coast Santa Clara 1999 SC Santa Clara 2001 SC Hawaii 2002 SC Federal Way 2001 LC Tempe 2003 SC Mission Viejo 2005 Lc Federal Way 2007 SC Mt Hood 2008 LC The northeast is vastly under-represented, but then again, I can't think of a single pool around here that would even be a viable option. :( Of course I live in a state with no 50 meter pools at all. They just had a local age group championship meet in Canada.

Michael, I find it interesting that your attitude (as a VP of USMS) is "come or don't come, I don't care". This is one of the issues I have with USMS...many of the old guard are just not all that int change or what I would call the "attack" mentality. USMS gets not respect (IMHO). Many young swimmers coming out of high school/college think were a bunch of fitness swimmers wearing caps with flowers on them....we have a huge image problem and no PR/Advertising from the central organization to change this. The fact that we have to sit back and wait for someone like Clovis to step up and host vs. pools lining up begging to be involved is further evidence that we need some serious change....and passing rules to limit the possible host locations is not helping. I'll be the first to offer my help...I will work my ass off to try and get at least 3 facilities in the country to step up and host nationals....and I ask everyone on this forum to try and do the same. In return, I ask you and the USMS higher up's to streamline the bid process and create a marketing package that shows how profitable hosting a USMS nationals can be to local clubs and the community. I want a package that all the soldiers here can walk into a pool complex and say "your stupid" if you don't do this. Deal? Paul, If you are going to insult me, be accurate. I said, "Go, or don't." It is a personal decision and I was pointing out some curious (to me) reasons people were using not to go. You brought up the crime angle, but may risk the trip, anyway. Where did I ever say that I did not care? If I did not care, I would not be volunteering (lots of) my time to help this organization for the last 24 years. The attack mentality will not make friends, and we can use all the friends we can get. This is not war, it is swimming, and we do not own any of the pools. I may be wrong, but I see from some of your posts that you think in primarily the competitive mode. There is nothing wrong with that, I am only establishing a baseline. USMS is made up of over 75% non-competitive swimmers. I do not call them fitness, because I presume that even the highly competitive swimmers derive some fitness benefit from the activity. We cannot ignore them to charge about only looking for competition venues, but have to balance our efforts in order to serve all of the membership. This results some times in no one being happy. The championship committee is in fact trying to implement some of the things you suggest, and the difficult part is that even they are not in complete agreement. Depending on which part of the country you are from, there are a long list of items that have varying priorities, and each member of the committee has his own list. Although it would be nice to make grand strides, it is only with small steps that USMS can comfortably and responsibly keep inching forward. We are a business run by many business people who differ in their outlooks save one, swimming. That commonality keeps USMS afloat despite our many flaws and disagreements. But inch we do. I have not given up on the Rose Bowl pool, but I would hesitate to say, "you're stupid if you don't take this deal." That would ensure that the facility would be lost to us forever. It is tough to take rejection, but with perseverance, we will move ahead. The marketing package is in the works. We simply need to educate the folks with the keys to the pools to think that it is a good business decision to let these annoyingly persistent Masters have their swim meet, and make some money in the bargain. Most, if not all pools that have hosted USMS nationals have found the experience to be highly rewarding on several levels. To the image issue. We are actively working on our brand and how best to update and improve it. Stay tuned. I was one of those HS/College swimmers wondering about the old timers and their swim meets. Way back in 1971, my coach, Burt Kanner, left our AG team at a local meet to participate in Masters nationals when it was held at Santa Monica HS. He did not wear a flowered cap and he did shave down. My first Masters meet was in 1976.

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.

I want to remind people that I'm not going to Clovis because of a bad meet I had there 10 years ago. It has nothing to do with the location. As long as the pool is adequate and the conditions are favorable, I'd swim just about anywhere. What's so bad about having a nationals in Ann Arbor? If Phelps and Co. still lived there, I'm sure everyone would flock there. I almost went to school there and it really isn't that bad of a town. And really, does anyone go sightseeing at nationals? Stay off your feet! Also, why aren't there any meets on the East Coast? I would love to have a meet in the Baltimore area, or even in New England. Maybe our new executive director could get David Marsh to let a bunch of old folks invade the Mecklenburg pool for a four-day weekend. I can count on one hand the number of championship meets I've swum in east of Indiana in my entire life. Why is there a West Coast bias when it comes to hosting major meets? I know very, very little about the process behind submitting a bid for nationals, so the following comment comes from the outside of the bureaucracy: East Coast people, submit a damn bid for nationals!

Jeff, From what I have seen at least with regards to my local area, part of issue of East Coast bids is facilities. In the DC area there are several locations that at first glance seem good candidates for SCY Nats (George Mason, Univ of MD, PG&S, Fairlands, etc.) but each of them has a shortfall in one or more areas when it comes to deck space, warmup/down lanes, parking, spectator areas, etc. As the space gets tight, the necessary acreage for a championship quality aquatic facility, at least on the East Coast, is harder and harder to come by.

Jeff, From what I have seen at least with regards to my local area, part of issue of East Coast bids is facilities. In the DC area there are several locations that at first glance seem good candidates for SCY Nats (George Mason, Univ of MD, PG&S, Fairlands, etc.) but each of them has a shortfall in one or more areas when it comes to deck space, warmup/down lanes, parking, spectator areas, etc. As the space gets tight, the necessary acreage for a championship quality aquatic facility, at least on the East Coast, is harder and harder to come by. Baltimore had the largest LCM Nats yet.U of Tenn has 3 50M pools.Buffalo has had several Nats,and what about Auburn?

Unless it was in NYC, Boston or DC, I can't think of many places in the NE I'd like to go in early May for a big swim meet.

GMUP and the Terrapins (U of Md) have hosted SCY and LCM Colonies Zones many years running now. The warm down pool is a bit of a challenge challenge. I'm not acquainted with the prevalence of other LC pools in the NE. What's a challenge challenge? Is that like a really big challenge? :p I 'll drive 9hrs through NJ for a meet there anyday!

Will there be side trips to look for Clovis man?

Paul, When would you put the open water swim? After? Does that discriminate against open water swimmers if it is after the meet is over with. I like the idea and think it worked well in Hawaii, but there we swam Monday - Thursday and had Friday free. Typically, we swim Thursday - Sunday so a Monday event might not have a big draw. By the way, Clovis is offering an open water swim Monday after nationals so we may find out this year. In the spirit of cooperation, the Open Water Committee worked with the Championship Comittee to make this happen and for it to be the 1-mile national championship for 2009.