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.
Oh, and whoever thought of putting those large jugs of swimmer body wash and shampoo in the showers should be given some sort of prize. That company now has my business for life, great products.
I agree. TriSwim rocked for sponsoring the showers. Sadly, the women's one near the pool ran out but the one farther had it all weekend long :)
Jeff,
On the topic of host teams not making any money, why is Nationals so cheap? If Nationals costs $50 or $200, it has very little impact on my decision to swim.
Almost every aspect of my trip to Nationals cost more than the entry fee when taken individually (getting to ATL, get home from ATL, parking at hotel, parking at pool, food, each night at the hotel) all cost more than the entry fee.
As for not having advanced notice of participation, open registration earlier and provide an incentive to make the decision sooner. $10 isn't much of an incentive.
I fully agree with you. But whenever a cost increase gets proposed, the USMS House of Delegates screams bloody murder that we are gouging. The surcharge has been going up slowly over the years and I'm sure that trend will continue, but any big jumps get rejected. I also agree $10 isn't much incentive to enter early. But it's a catch-22 because while we want people to enter earlier, we also need the revenue! Plus we get the common complaint about not having accurate seed times so far out from the meet. It's a never ending process - hopefully next year we'll have better options than this year.
But whenever a cost increase gets proposed, the USMS House of Delegates screams bloody murder that we are gouging.
We talked about something similar on Jazzy's blog.
Masters swimming is CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP - really cheap!
Someone noted that it is the best value in fitness next to running.
We have run masters swimming for years with volunteers offering service for the good of the sport.
And yet, we still continue to push for a higher standard in every aspect.
I love this, but at some point mates, it has to cost more.
The entry fee for a one day National or World Championship competition in my former sport is $300. - $500.
And note, the membership numbers are double ours in that sport.
We talked about something similar on Jazzy's blog.
Masters swimming is CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP - really cheap!
Someone noted that it is the best value in fitness next to running.
We have run masters swimming for years with volunteers offering service for the good of the sport.
And yet, we still continue to push for a higher standard in every aspect.
I love this, but at some point mates, it has to cost more.
The entry fee for a one day National or World Championship competition in my former sport is $300. - $500.
And note, the membership numbers are double ours in that sport.
This other sport that you're avoiding naming... does it rhyme with 'triathlon'? :D
We talked about something similar on Jazzy's blog.
Masters swimming is CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP - really cheap!
Someone noted that it is the best value in fitness next to running.
We have run masters swimming for years with volunteers offering service for the good of the sport.
And yet, we still continue to push for a higher standard in every aspect.
I love this, but at some point mates, it has to cost more.
The entry fee for a one day National or World Championship competition in my former sport is $300. - $500.
And note, the membership numbers are double ours in that sport.
On the local level, we definitely have some folks who have complained that an additional $3 in entry fee (to cover the cost of online registration) is too much in these economic times.
I agree that this is a very inexpensive sport, even given my love of new swimsuits. And if we want more services, we will at some point have to pay more for them.
Meet entry fees are a very small amount of the cost of attending a national meet. Travel, hotel, meals and local transportation are my biggest expenses.
On the topic of host teams not making any money, why is Nationals so cheap? If Nationals costs $50 or $200, it has very little impact on my decision to swim.
Speaking of this, don't forget to sign up as a Gold Medal Sponsor if you can afford to at any Nationals you attend!
In 2000 everybody was shocked when 1380 swimmers entered Nationals at UMBC. The previous largest LCM Nationals was Ann Arbor in 1996 with 1176 swimmers (FYI those are still the largest two LCM meets to this date). So when Rutgers won the bid for 2003 LC Nats, everybody assumed it would be an even larger meet because of the proximity to New York and New England while also including the masses that attended UMBC Nationals. Therefore USMS put heavy pressure on Rutgers to build a temporary pool due to the shortage of indoor warm up space. And since so many swimmers would be attending, the cost would be easy to absorb. However, the meet only attracted 876 swimmers :confused: And since the overwhelming majority of swimmers enter one week prior to the deadline, the host had no idea the number of swimmers would be this small until ~5 weeks before the meet and it was too late to call off the temporary pool.
What is the lesson learned? We are not very good with predicting the size of meets. And having an entry deadline even closer to the meet can really make it a challenge to a host trying to plan a meet when they have no idea how many swimmers are coming. FYI there were 1014 swimmers entered for Atlanta 10 days before the entry deadline (1975 after the deadline).
Jeff
