Not a Fan of Short Course Meters Season

RE: Not a Fan of Short Course Meters Season

orca1946 — Thu, 09 Oct 2014 10:31:02 GMT

Very dew s c M pools are are Illinois to hold such a meet.

RE: Not a Fan of Short Course Meters Season

Patrick W. Brundage — Thu, 09 Oct 2014 09:24:19 GMT

I have never competed in a SCM pool, so my only issue is lack of realistic time expectations vs. My SCY and LCM times. Don't use converters and don't worry about your times in SCY or LCM. Just race SCM and you'll set a whole new set of baseline best times.

RE: Not a Fan of Short Course Meters Season

SLOmmafan — Wed, 08 Oct 2014 06:23:25 GMT

I have never competed in a SCM pool, so my only issue is lack of realistic time expectations vs. My SCY and LCM times.

RE: Not a Fan of Short Course Meters Season

Former Member — Mon, 06 Oct 2014 15:07:05 GMT

SCM is a world standard, so it would be nice to get on the same page. That said, swimming SCY doesn't seem to hurt American swimmers in international competition. As far as the excuse about not swimming SCM because of lack of SCM training; I don't get it. The only difference I notice is the time. You can train in a SCY pool and have great success at a SCM meet. It may be a slight adjustment for backstrokers, but that can be easily simulated.

RE: Not a Fan of Short Course Meters Season

Former Member — Mon, 06 Oct 2014 13:57:31 GMT

SCY is why I will probably never attend USMS spring nationals. I usually make the FINA top 10 and yards are a waste of my time unless the trip south is 100% free.

RE: Not a Fan of Short Course Meters Season

tjrpatt — Mon, 06 Oct 2014 09:01:08 GMT

What a horrible poll! I love SCM. Besides, it is still relatively new to me since I only did 50 and 100s in SCM as a child in summer league. Plus, it gives some swimmers a chance to do Lifetime best times! Of course, LCM and OW are still much better, :)

RE: Not a Fan of Short Course Meters Season

Patrick W. Brundage — Sun, 05 Oct 2014 11:41:15 GMT

If there were 2 meets on a given weekend, equally distant from where you live, and one was SCY and the other SCM, all other factors being equal which would you choose?If all other factors truly were equal (e.g., pool quality, depth of competition, order of events, etc.), I'd choose SCM because even though I mostly train SCM, it's still a bit of a novelty to me after all those years of SCY and still has that 'new car' smell vs. the musty, old odor of SCY.

RE: Not a Fan of Short Course Meters Season

krebert — Sat, 04 Oct 2014 04:21:54 GMT

I would pick the meet with the distance event. And if they both had distance events, then I'd pick the one with the longer distance. I just like to swim and I like to compete. I don't care whether the pool is SCY, SCM, LCM or a lake - I just want to swim and I want to win!

RE: Not a Fan of Short Course Meters Season

Midas — Mon, 21 Oct 2013 12:19:49 GMT

This thread is a blast from the past! I may have weighed in back in the day but I'll weigh in again as my views have probably changed over the years. As an age grouper, most of my High School meets were in SCM and I was indifferent as between SCY and SCM. As an adult, I definitely prefer SCY and perform better in SCY on a relative basis (relative to how I performed as an age grouper, which is still what I primarily compare my current times to). I think this is because I'm not nearly in the shape I was as a kid. So the extra distance in those 200's (and sadly even 100's) is not welcome (especially if I still have to make the same amount of turns (which I'm not great at)). On the other hand, I like LCM because you cut down on the turns. But SCM seems like the worst of both worlds. Also, I'm not an elite swimmer and have no business comparing myself against the rest of the world. I'm happy to compare myself against just other Americans and there's no better course to do that than SCY since that's the most prevalent. Of course, I voted (way back in 2008) to keep the SCM season and I stick by that for all the reasons people are articulating. No reason to jettison the season. I think the more interesting poll question would have been: If there were 2 meets on a given weekend, equally distant from where you live, and one was SCY and the other SCM, all other factors being equal which would you choose? I have to think most competitive masters swimmers in the US would pick SCY, even if some of our more outspoken elite swimmers on this board might choose otherwise.

RE: Not a Fan of Short Course Meters Season

Allen Stark — Mon, 21 Oct 2013 03:10:00 GMT

RE: Not a Fan of Short Course Meters Season

orca1946 — Thu, 17 Oct 2013 04:00:59 GMT

Maybe 30 years ago, when the USA was "trying" to enter in metrics ,pools would have been built, but now that we have said "kiss off" to the rest of the world, pools will remain without change in the USA!

RE: Not a Fan of Short Course Meters Season

Michael Heather — Wed, 16 Oct 2013 09:55:16 GMT

I like swimming SCM meets, but have a slightly different observation than some. When USMS added the SCM season in the late 1980s, there was a significant downtime in training after LCM nationals (usually early Aug) and SCY Nationals (historically around Memorial day, but much earlier lately). People had some time off and made use of their lives outside of swimming. The trend now is a 24 hour news cycle, so why not have a constant swimming cycle? I am not sure getting rid of the SCM season is at any level possible or even reasonable to imagine. Doesn't matter much anyway, since no one knows who is standing next to them. Everyone has their faces buried in smart phones. Training in SCM has little to do with performance in meets. I train LCM extensively (80+%) and have found that it does not harm my SCY meet times. I miss practicing turns, so I make the most of the LC turns. Many new pools are made oversquare, 25Mx25yds, unless they are waterparks. Then it is usually 50Mx25Y.

RE: Not a Fan of Short Course Meters Season

Former Member — Mon, 14 Oct 2013 07:50:27 GMT

In case you are interested, there is a SCM meet in Georgia called the St. Nick's meet on December 14th this year at GA Tech.

RE: Not a Fan of Short Course Meters Season

gdanner — Sat, 12 Oct 2013 09:21:06 GMT

We've had a SCM meet in our LMSC for three years in a row now. It's a walled pool, so they wouldn't be able to host the meet otherwise (or well, it wouldn't really count for anything). Added competitive opportunities are always a good thing. We've had our difficulties getting people to show up though; I don't know if that's because it's SCM or due to being "early" in the season (October) and the fact that it's an older 6 lane pool.

RE: Not a Fan of Short Course Meters Season

Former Member — Wed, 09 Oct 2013 12:51:28 GMT

we don't have SCY over here, so getting rid of SCM would mean only LCM.....no thanks ;) :applaud:

RE: Not a Fan of Short Course Meters Season

chowmi — Wed, 09 Oct 2013 12:20:20 GMT

How exactly would I be ruining it for the rest of you? I am only soliciting opinions for discussion purposes and to get an idea of what the Masters community feels about the SCM Season. It has nothing to do with actually swimming the distance. It's the lack of meets and general apathy in the US towards the standard that turns me off about the season. HAHAHA!!! SCM is the adjective and SEASON is the noun! Reminds me of hot buttered flavored topping on my popcorn. Topping is the noun, and butter is an adjective. YUCK! Or rather, YUM! I train year round SCM so horray for me, but really, who cares about you chowmi, which is what everyone is thinking whilst reading this post. I am not so concerned about any SEASON, but rather if I am free that weekend, the order of events, and ample free and up close parking. Hopefully i'm not bloating which seems to be a nearly constant steady-state, but as meatloaf says, 2 out of 3 ain't bad! I like SCM SEASON because there will be some opportunity to swim in the "1st half" of the long stretch during traditional SCY season, with an extra opportunity for top tens given it's another course. Plus if you plan to swim some meets, it keeps you from going to the dark side of getting completely out of shape or not squelching into your fast suit over the Halloween/Thanksgiving/Winter Holiday continuous 3 month feeding frenzy.

RE: Not a Fan of Short Course Meters Season

Patrick W. Brundage — Wed, 09 Oct 2013 05:34:56 GMT

Training in Arizona, I LOVE the SCM season because it is the best time of year to train here between ~September and late November -- the heat has finally dissipated so swimming mid-day is feasible, but the 30-something mornings and chilly evenings are yet to appear, so swimming at those times are also great. Plus, as our only indoor competition pool is at like a million mile altitude (Flagstaff), we can also have outdoor meets in the fall where you don't fry (May to August) or freeze (December to March). Oh yeah, April's also nice for meets here, but then it's SCY and you can't measure yourself up against the Germans, French, Aussies and ROW.

RE: Not a Fan of Short Course Meters Season

__steve__ — Wed, 09 Oct 2013 03:55:25 GMT

I like SCM SEASON I like SC (.) Though I might be better conditioned during LC, it is then that my reflexes get fried and I have to readjust to having the necessary wall of leverage with SC. The only difference between SC Y and M for me is one breath.

RE: Not a Fan of Short Course Meters Season

mrubacky — Mon, 07 Oct 2013 05:10:06 GMT

I used to swim with NEM and there's two great SCM meets in New England. The Leaf Peepers meet in VT (pool is 25y x 25m) and BU. I did these every year I was in New England. I also found that I usually didn't notice the difference in distance.

RE: Not a Fan of Short Course Meters Season

Former Member — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 05:37:38 GMT

Are they still building 25 yard pools these days?

RE: Not a Fan of Short Course Meters Season

Former Member — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 15:56:14 GMT

I would say this discussion is moot considering Mark Schubert's position and actions regarding short course swimming in general. John Smith

RE: Not a Fan of Short Course Meters Season

Former Member — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 14:51:22 GMT

As early as 1972 (when I was in 2nd grade), we were told that we needed to learn the metric system as the US would soon be switching to it. Still waiting here. I make sure, however, that my daughter can judge temperatures and distances (I still have difficulty with volume) in both systems. I think we're stuck with SCY because of the pools built to that spec, but I can't imagine why new pools wouldn't be built SCM. I'm fortunate that I have both available to swim in.

RE: Not a Fan of Short Course Meters Season

bbpolhill — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 12:01:08 GMT

I would say this discussion is moot considering Mark Schubert's position and actions regarding short course swimming in general. John Smith Could you expand on that? I am not familiar with Mark Schubert's position.

RE: Not a Fan of Short Course Meters Season

bbpolhill — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 11:15:13 GMT

...I can't imagine why new pools wouldn't be built SCM.... Building a new pool in the US, if you want to host age group meets, high school meets, and college meets you have to have a SCY option. Perhaps you can build a SCM pool and have a removable bulkhead to close the gap. I'm not sure any pool operators are looking for that headache either. I agree with the idea that we should be moving to a SCM standard, but I will be dead and buried long before that occurs. Maybe another idea would be to have a short course meters season that is a subset of the short course season. In other words, have SCM run from Sept to Dec and SCY run from Sept to May. LCM exclusively from May to August. Maybe it's already like that (I don't really know). Over time and when pool and meet availability the schedules could migrate to a SCM/LCM like the rest of the world. What's the swim season schedule in non-US locations?

RE: Not a Fan of Short Course Meters Season

Doug Adamavich — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 10:35:14 GMT

I am all about SCM and LCM since they are international standards. It would not bother me at all if SCY pools were re-done to become SCM pools. After all, many of the new pools being built these days are SCM... A longer LCM season would be welcomed too but since most LCM pools in the US are outdoors, this is a problem in colder climes. Oh well, don't expect that to happen anytime soon. On a side note, not even the British use Imperial measurements anymore and use SI instead... SI=Systeme Internacionale or the Metric System