With the continued growth in USMS membership, I would submit that it's time to eliminate the regional teams at Nationals. Case in point: NCMS sent a "team" of 123 swimmers to Atlanta, enough to enter A, B, C, and D relays in many events (e.g. the mens 35+ 200 free relay in which our club team placed 13th behind eight regional teams). It's been argued that the formation of regional teams allows more swimmers to participate in relays, yet local clubs from North Carolina sent as many as thirty or more athletes and could have entered relays on their own as our club (with eight swimmers) did. Swim with the guys you actually train with.
Parents
Former Member
You know what, this post annoys me. For the 1,977 of us there it was a big deal, for some a really big deal. While certainly a small percentage, those of us that compete are probably the biggest supporters of USMS with our money and time. My goal in Atlanta was not to further the mission of USMS explicitly but to swim fast. So, please don't discount the opinions of those who actually took the time, paid the money to promote the sport through competition at our biggest and most visible annual event.
I for one kind of agree with Doug...maybe if we treated people with a little bit more respect on these forums (makes me wonder how some of you treat people around your pools) we might actually get more people out to some of the meets. Isn't the idea to promote swimming? Not run people off? Just wondering...
Go ahead and blast away...
You know what, this post annoys me. For the 1,977 of us there it was a big deal, for some a really big deal. While certainly a small percentage, those of us that compete are probably the biggest supporters of USMS with our money and time. My goal in Atlanta was not to further the mission of USMS explicitly but to swim fast. So, please don't discount the opinions of those who actually took the time, paid the money to promote the sport through competition at our biggest and most visible annual event.
I for one kind of agree with Doug...maybe if we treated people with a little bit more respect on these forums (makes me wonder how some of you treat people around your pools) we might actually get more people out to some of the meets. Isn't the idea to promote swimming? Not run people off? Just wondering...
Go ahead and blast away...
