6th event at SC Nats?

RE: 6th event at SC Nats?

Former Member — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 14:42:35 GMT

If only I had a pool large enough to host nationals. There is not a facility anywhere in New England that is large enough to host nationals. -Rick What about Harvard? Right off the T, Olympic-size pool...

RE: 6th event at SC Nats?

osterber — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 11:02:21 GMT

What about Harvard? Right off the T, Olympic-size pool... Not big enough. That's where we host the New England LMSC Champs. We had 1064 entered swimmers this year, and the meet was too large. We have a great facility, and it is certainly large from many perspectives. We have good deck space, and spectator seating for 1200. However, we only have a single 8-lane competition course. In order to host a SCY nationals, you really need to have at least two 8-lane competition courses at a minimum, plus warmup space. (Harvard's pool has a 8-lane competition course, and a 6-lane shallow course. Before pool depth restrictions went into place, we could use the shallow 6-lane course for competition, but now you can't dive in down there. We use it for 1000/1650 free at our New England Meet on a volunteer basis, because you have to do an in-water start.) A Harvard expansion project has us slated for a new pool at some point. 5 years ago, they would have told you it would be built in the next couple of years, but with the economic downturn, that has all been pushed well out. -Rick

RE: 6th event at SC Nats?

osterber — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 09:28:54 GMT

If only I had a pool large enough to host nationals. There is not a facility anywhere in New England that is large enough to host nationals. -Rick

RE: 6th event at SC Nats?

Former Member — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 11:59:45 GMT

If we can run a meet with 1064 swimmers, who can swim 13 events max, in a single 8-lane competition course... certainly you can pull off 1700 swimmers with 6 events max in 2 x 10-lane courses. :thhbbb::bolt: -Rick So it looks like Nats at Boston some time in the not so distant future then?:bump:

RE: 6th event at SC Nats?

osterber — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 11:56:01 GMT

RE: 6th event at SC Nats?

swimshark — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 07:23:09 GMT

According to Tracy Grill there are 1675 entries as of this afternoon. Stragglers still coming in. She reports that they are trying hard to keep the 6th event but won't know until the final entries are in. Wow!!

RE: 6th event at SC Nats?

Former Member — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 14:03:27 GMT

"You're gonna need a bigger boat!"

RE: 6th event at SC Nats?

fastback — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 09:49:02 GMT

RE: 6th event at SC Nats?

Muppet — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 01:33:42 GMT

With two courses of 10 lanes each I'm thinking the 6 event will stay. I agree - looking in the rulebook at the number of attendees of the National meets, Austin (1800+) didn't drop the 6th event.

RE: 6th event at SC Nats?

FlyQueen — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 04:56:52 GMT

What's the harm in signing up for 6 events? If the last one gets dropped, then it gets dropped. I signed up for 6, putting my least favorite of the 6 as my 6th. With two courses of 10 lanes each I'm thinking the 6 event will stay.

RE: 6th event at SC Nats?

Karen Duggan — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 03:46:50 GMT

So, anyone care to ponder the 6th event again? Anyone know how many entries there are so far?

RE: 6th event at SC Nats?

Donna — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 09:40:02 GMT

My dad is volunteering at Nationals. You know what his "payment" is? A t-shirt and hospitality. The shifts for timing are 7:30-11:30, 11:00-3, 2:30-7:30. I guess they are preparing to go late, if needed. Alison, Thank your dad for volunteering, nothing happens without our volunteers. My 12 year old son will be volunteering too.

RE: 6th event at SC Nats?

Former Member — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 11:14:19 GMT

:lmao: but to be fair to hulk, flyqueen fell off the bench too ;) They didn't sit on opposite ends of that bench, did they?

RE: 6th event at SC Nats?

pwolf66 — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 09:39:56 GMT

:lmao: but to be fair to hulk, flyqueen fell off the bench too ;) Well, I might have had a really good grip on her as I fell into the evil clutches of gravity (I was going to say 'as I went down' but with this crew......)

RE: 6th event at SC Nats?

swimshark — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 07:47:38 GMT

Maybe folks don't care about long days when they are "vacationing" I feel for the folks that work the meet but that's why they get paid, and maybe the answer is 2 shifts. . My dad is volunteering at Nationals. You know what his "payment" is? A t-shirt and hospitality. The shifts for timing are 7:30-11:30, 11:00-3, 2:30-7:30. I guess they are preparing to go late, if needed.

RE: 6th event at SC Nats?

swimmieAvsFan — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 11:48:45 GMT

Well maybe it is lost in translation. There is a few beers at day's end and there is going drinking. Hook up with me Friday night and again on Sunday and I'll show you the difference... We can always post the pic of Hulk falling off the bench Sunday in Austin to show the difference ... :angel: :lmao: but to be fair to hulk, flyqueen fell off the bench too ;)

RE: 6th event at SC Nats?

Former Member — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 11:36:52 GMT

WHAT?!?! Not drinking until Sunday ... what's that about? Well maybe it is lost in translation. There is a few beers at day's end and there is going drinking. Hook up with me Friday night and again on Sunday and I'll show you the difference...

RE: 6th event at SC Nats?

The Fortress — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 10:48:45 GMT

I now have you signed up with Fortress to time for a session in Atlanta - we'll try to at least get you in the same lane...:applaud: It would be difficult to count the vast number of hours I have spent timing over the years in USA-S swimming and the NVSL. And officiating. It would be staggering. No McDs either. And that's just swimming volunteer hours ... Like 99% of the other masters swimmers, I will not be timing in Atlanta though.

RE: 6th event at SC Nats?

osterber — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 09:58:34 GMT

It's also worth reminding people just how critical timers are for a meet. They are easy to forget, but they are some of the most important staffers at a meet. Most people also have no idea how hard it is to find competent timers. For example, at our NE meet, we had somewhere around 5500 or so individual swims, not including relays. We ran two timers per lane. So that's 11,000 stopwatch times recorded. 11,000 button-pushes at the end of the race. 11,000 opportunities for a timer to miss a finish, or write down the time in the wrong lane, etc. Timers are especially important at a Masters meet, and especially in, shall I say, the "early heats", where we have a higher percentage of swimmers who are not experienced with touchpads, and frankly don't have great finishes. It's the human timers in each lane that make it all work. Out of 5500+ swims, the only way I know that the touchpad time was valid in any particular lane of any particular heat, is because I had two timers there who pushed their backup buttons, which confirmed that the touchpad time was accurate. Or confirmed that it wasn't. I'm guessing that Nationals runs heats a touch slower than at our NE meet... we ran heats with about 5-6 seconds between. So as a timer, you have to finish your stopwatch, push the backup button, record the stopwatch time on the clipboard, and reset your stopwatch and be ready for the next heat... all within 5 seconds. I encourage any of you to try doing that... for 8 continuous hours. -Rick

RE: 6th event at SC Nats?

The Fortress — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 09:41:02 GMT

RE: 6th event at SC Nats?

jroddin — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 08:51:18 GMT

SwimStud wroteMaybe folks don't care about long days when they are "vacationing" I feel for the folks that work the meet but that's why they get paid, and maybe the answer is 2 shifts. I hope you are joking. If not, talk about being elitist! Do you realize how much these people are getting paid? Don't forget to take into account the number of hours they are working, too. I now have you signed up with Fortress to time for a session in Atlanta - we'll try to at least get you in the same lane...:applaud: After they pay you for the session, you can go out to dinner and buy anything you want off the McD menu:banana: You might even have enough leftover to get an ice cream cone for dessert.

RE: 6th event at SC Nats?

ande — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 08:50:08 GMT

it's just swimming do the best you can at the meet and party it up with your buddies ande Apparently the new way of taking your swimming seriously is to be a teetotaler until the meet is over. The rest of us will be gathering at the local watering hole... (True story: my first swimming day at Clovis was fine, but I was slightly disappointed in my times. Had a couple beers with a friend over dinner...PRESTO: next day I had one of my best ever at a nationals. It does a body good.)

RE: 6th event at SC Nats?

aquageek — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 07:46:13 GMT

Disclaimer again: I am not a tax professional. Regarding deductions, etc.... Note that I also don't believe that your expenses would get deducted as a charitable contribution. You're not donating your expenses. For example, if you buy a uniform (polo shirt, white pants, etc.) for officiating, you don't donate those goods to the LSC/LMSC. You're keeping them yourself. As such, that's not a contribution. What is can be is a non-reimbursed expense for your job. You don't necessarily have to be paid as an official for it to be a job. Note that this requires you to itemize on Schedule A, and it's subject to the 2% limit. (I.e., your expenses must be more than 2% of your AGI - Adjusted Gross Income, before they can be deducted.) There may be a way to get around this by going the Schedule C route, i.e., create your own independent business of officiating. The problem is that you have no revenue stream, which makes that highly highly suspect to the IRS. (The IRS does not like business entities that are designed to lose money.) Again - I am not a tax professional. -Rick I'll let you know if I get away with it. My name is Paul Smith.

RE: 6th event at SC Nats?

Former Member — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 06:26:29 GMT

Seriously though it's Nats...you're there anyway, and it' not like you're going drinking until Sunday. . To watch you swim, people need to be drinking a lot before sunday.

RE: 6th event at SC Nats?

osterber — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 05:24:25 GMT