I think there should be a Masters Team Competition out there - besides the team scoring at Nationals --
Here is an idea I grew up with in Germany -- they hold team championships every winter and it's a great event.
It's based on a point system (FINA or USA swimming one could do) --
- the world record usually equals 1000 points and slower times are based on a calculation - for example a 50 Free in 30 sec is 348 points.
- every team swims every event twice. 2 people enter the 50 Free, 2 for the 100 Free and so on -- there are 16 events (or 18 if you add the 100 IM and 800 Free) -- so that means 36 total swims. You could add a couple of relays and make it 44 swims
- no team member can swim more than 4 or 5 times - so even small teams can compete -- larger teams could field multiple teams.
- now for Masters, we would use a conversion factor for the times and age groups - I think Chris Stevenson could come up with something fair really quick.
- the team with the biggest point total wins - no individual prizes.
In Germany they have Men and Women (for Masters) on the same team - or you could keep it seperate.
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I'm up for any method that avoids "the team with the most bodies wins" principal currently in place, and awards team trophies solely on skill and speed... not who has the most swimmers. At least that has been my experience for every USMS meet I've been to (which does not include Nationals).
Another way to get a team trophy is to get lots of swimmers in less populated age groups, typically early 20's and the "aging" set. I've seen quite a few individual high point awards go to folks in their 60's, 70's, and 80's simply because they showed up and did not DQ, frequently swimming a full slate of events, just to get points. (I tip my hat to them. I got my highest scoring meet that way.)
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I'm up for any method that avoids "the team with the most bodies wins" principal currently in place, and awards team trophies solely on skill and speed... not who has the most swimmers. At least that has been my experience for every USMS meet I've been to (which does not include Nationals).
Another way to get a team trophy is to get lots of swimmers in less populated age groups, typically early 20's and the "aging" set. I've seen quite a few individual high point awards go to folks in their 60's, 70's, and 80's simply because they showed up and did not DQ, frequently swimming a full slate of events, just to get points. (I tip my hat to them. I got my highest scoring meet that way.)
....
