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.
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Former Member
He pointed out that while he is part of this minority, this group is also the most vocal and the most active so it is easy to overlook the Majority of swimmers who do not compete at nationals. Its a far cry from saying this group is less important. This group is essentially the squeaky wheel and generally discounts / overlooks the needs and opinions of the swimmers not at nationals.
So the people who compete at Nationals are discounting the opinion of the people who don't compete at Nationals on the topics of how Nationals should be scored and if regional teams should be allowed to compete at Nationals?
He pointed out that while he is part of this minority, this group is also the most vocal and the most active so it is easy to overlook the Majority of swimmers who do not compete at nationals. Its a far cry from saying this group is less important. This group is essentially the squeaky wheel and generally discounts / overlooks the needs and opinions of the swimmers not at nationals.
So the people who compete at Nationals are discounting the opinion of the people who don't compete at Nationals on the topics of how Nationals should be scored and if regional teams should be allowed to compete at Nationals?
