Let me first say that I had a blast in Atlanta and enjoyed every minute of it (even the last minute of the 1000), so this list is somewhat tongue in cheek:
10. No Starbucks within walking distance of the Hampton Inn.
9. The taste of an Italian soda called "Beverly" at the Coca Cola Museum; it reminded me of viscous lidocaine--what is with that?
8. The stairway access to the pool deck from the stands.
7. Missing out on a medal in the 200 free relay because eight of the teams finishing ahead of us were from "regional" clubs representing entire states.
6. Two swimmers from TXLA trying to recruit my 87 year old father to join their team instead of swimming for Nitro.
5. No Starbucks within walkiing distance of the pool.
4. Turning at the bulkhead, although I nailed all of mine.
3. That one starter who shall remain nameless.
2. Not getting to meet Rich Abrahams, among others.
1. It ended.
Whining about the warm up pool goes no where with me. It was crowded, extremely crowded, but what options did the meet people have? Here's all I can come up with:
1. Limit the number of swimmers in the pool. Negative, then a lot of us wouldn't get to warm up.
2. Put multiple 30 minute breaks in the meet or use only one pool for competition periodically so people could warm up. Negative, would still be insanely crowded and add a ton of time to the meet, which already took a long time.
3. Force slow, medium and fast lanes. Negative, would still be terribly crowded with the same predictable issues.
4. Have the meet elsewhere. This is the only option I can come up with.
Courtesy and common sense goes a long way in that situation.
It was tough and I hate hearing stories of injuries like Karen's and swoomer's. Someone jumped on me (thankfully no harm was done to either of us and she was profusely apologetic); accidents will happen even when everyone is trying hard to be nice. But swimming as if you have the lane to yourself is very bad form. (I didn't see too much of this.)
I don't think having slow/medium/fast will help; it is too subjective. It may well be that, just as a large fraction of people consider themselves "above average" drivers, there may be fewer people who put themselves in the slow lane. I suspect the "medium" lane would be the most popular. Plus it doesn't make the best use of space.
Also, I would have to get out and move over 3-4 lanes if I ever wanted to do breaststroke in warmup... :)
The only options I can see that Geek missed is:
tighten qualifying standards
limit the number of swims you can do without qualifying to 2 (or even 1) instead of 3, and/or
limit the number of events to 4 or 5.
These would not be popular options, and unless the situation gets even worse (there is a safety element in this, after all) I don't think they should be implemented.
Warmup at nationals is often crowded. There are other fast meets out there (Zones, Y-Nats, LMSC Champs) that are less so.
Whining about the warm up pool goes no where with me. It was crowded, extremely crowded, but what options did the meet people have? Here's all I can come up with:
1. Limit the number of swimmers in the pool. Negative, then a lot of us wouldn't get to warm up.
2. Put multiple 30 minute breaks in the meet or use only one pool for competition periodically so people could warm up. Negative, would still be insanely crowded and add a ton of time to the meet, which already took a long time.
3. Force slow, medium and fast lanes. Negative, would still be terribly crowded with the same predictable issues.
4. Have the meet elsewhere. This is the only option I can come up with.
Courtesy and common sense goes a long way in that situation.
It was tough and I hate hearing stories of injuries like Karen's and swoomer's. Someone jumped on me (thankfully no harm was done to either of us and she was profusely apologetic); accidents will happen even when everyone is trying hard to be nice. But swimming as if you have the lane to yourself is very bad form. (I didn't see too much of this.)
I don't think having slow/medium/fast will help; it is too subjective. It may well be that, just as a large fraction of people consider themselves "above average" drivers, there may be fewer people who put themselves in the slow lane. I suspect the "medium" lane would be the most popular. Plus it doesn't make the best use of space.
Also, I would have to get out and move over 3-4 lanes if I ever wanted to do breaststroke in warmup... :)
The only options I can see that Geek missed is:
tighten qualifying standards
limit the number of swims you can do without qualifying to 2 (or even 1) instead of 3, and/or
limit the number of events to 4 or 5.
These would not be popular options, and unless the situation gets even worse (there is a safety element in this, after all) I don't think they should be implemented.
Warmup at nationals is often crowded. There are other fast meets out there (Zones, Y-Nats, LMSC Champs) that are less so.
