As a swimmer from a backwater LMSC that virtually never has enough people at USMS meets to field even the slowest of relay teams, I would like to see team orphans like myself be allowed to aggregate with others of my ilk to form a rag-tag band of misfit style "Pick Up" relay teams at masters meets.
I personally believe this would foster camaraderie and new friendships as people like me, who practice in Amish mudholes, would be able to swim on a relay team with, say, Cayjuns from Baton Rouge, who swim in oil-slickened bayous littered with oxygen-starved crawdads.
I would furthermore and personally like such relays to "count" for Top 10 consideration, provided they were made up exclusively of unattached swimmers--or people who are the sole representatives of their "teams"--i.e., bona fide hardship cases, like me, who truly have no other options for swimming relays at most meets.
What say ye? Please take my simple poll; USMS bigwigs, please take note of my simple poll, especially if it comes back (as I hope) with a resounding and enthusiastic endorsement of the hopes and aspirations of mud-and-oil-coated misfits throughout the nation!
Polls, declaration of strong opinions: those things are nice. But if you want to actually DO something, you've got the following problem in the Rule Book:
Proposed rule additions/amendments are also due July 10, barely a month from now:
www.usms.org/.../gto_conv_rulesamend.pdf
According to 601.2.1, proposal for rule changes come from the LMSC, a standing committee, the Board of Directors or the Executive Committee.
So it seems to me that there are two logical options here (others with more knowledge can correct or add to this):
-- get your LMSC board/chair to propose some change to 102.9.1
-- ask the chair of the championship committee to add a rules in 104.5 (Conduct of National Championship Meets) allowing "pickup" relays such as you describe, perhaps as exhibition. I seriously doubt you would ever get these approved for records or top ten consideration, but maybe there is a chance they could be approved for placing in the championship meet.
If the Championship Committee won't recommend your desired proposal (or feels the committee is too busy to consider it...the chair is, after all, a notorious slacker :)) then get your LMSC board to consider proposing an addition to 104.5 directly to the Rules Committee.
Contact Kathy Casey if you have questions about rules. She isn't all that busy. :)
Chris, Chris! You know that I am Visionary, a Big Idea Ideator, a Dreamer of Things That Aren't For Which I Ask Why Not?
Surely, there are minutiae fiddlers blessed with parliamentary-style natures, who enjoy nothing more than to spend hours, days, weeks, perhaps lifetimes pouring over the nuts and bolts that must be tweaked to make Jim Thornton's Every Little Whim Come True?
Where are you Minutiae Fiddlers whose very existence I now, in my Visionary's way, imagine must exist somewhere?
To you I bequeathe my latest Idea and people's choice Mandate!
To you I ask simply, "Can you make it happen?"
To you I promise, sort of, to share credit for the Thornton Rule for Relay Composition, aka, Thornton's Pick-Up Codicil.
Once again, to minutiae fiddlers everywhere, Can you make this happen???
Get back to me, won't you, when it's done.
I am thinking up new ideas for you to pursue next.
To you I ask simply, "Can you make it happen?"
Well, I've got enough on my plate. And to be completely candid, it is not really all that important to me. :)
But at least we'll still have this nice little poll to talk about...
Well, I've got enough on my plate. And to be completely candid, it is not really all that important to me. :)
But at least we'll still have this nice little poll to talk about...
Did you just agree you were a Minutiae Fiddler?
Jim, it's a lovely idea and perhaps someone will care enough to make your vision happen or to be entertained. Otherwise, I think pimping and whoring is the standard option de jour.
Funny!
True story: A few years ago I had to leave practice early with one of my teammates after he began having chest pain in the next lane. I wasn't swimming well anyway, so it was all good.
I will vouch for that story and note that the swimmer still mentions that once in awhile. Meanwhile, he is always there at practice and is an inspiration to us all.
I will vouch for that story and note that the swimmer still mentions that once in awhile. Meanwhile, he is always there at practice and is an inspiration to us all.
He was smart and purchased the extended warranty.
There were only 4 of us there. Aside from swimming on relays that didn't place, we tried to watch each other's races as much as possible. And the ragtag Team Hottub group was superb in this respect -- tons of cheering and support.
ragtag? Are you effen kidding me...the original nucleus was all there with perhaps the omission of Borky, Kyra and Barb!
:bump:
Yes, but this is only Masters, or so I've been told.
That's a great argument, but it is also a two-edged sword. Since it is only masters, why do you care if other teams/relays want to break records? Just sayin'....
102.9.1 Relay teams shall not compete unattached. In all cases, relay teams must be composed of USMS members of the same club, which is a member of USMS.
Interesting interpretation here... you see the word I underlined above. if swimmers of unattached or non-matching teams entered a relay as exhibition, were not scored and were not included in the results, they are technically not "competing" at the meet. That solves your desire to get up and swim a relay within the confines of the rules (albiet loosely) - but I think if you want times to count, you need to find yourself an honest-to-God team. A general definition of a "Relay Race" is: members of a team take turns performing a certain action. The rule, in that aspect, seems reasonable to me.
If you really want to do relays that count, some suggestions:
join a team with enough people to field relays regularly
bring more teammates to meets - host a BBQ for your teammates if they come to a particular meet
have your LMSC's default UNAT and/or out-of-LMSC team be a "regional team" to capture more swimmers (kind of like New England or PNA)
Lastly, remember that not everyone is enthusiastic about doing relays. Our sport in general (and the athletes in particular) often place a higher value on individual achievements than on team and athletes commonly prefer to swim solely individual events. Moreover, at our level, we have total freedom to say no for any reason, as opposed to a USAS team, for example, where we need to follow coach's orders. On top of that, remember that some of us don't have unlimited supplies of gas in our tanks.
And however inconvenient this may be for those who want to do relays (or those of us who create relays), I don't see much wrong with the above three reasons for declining to swim relays.
Interesting interpretation here... you see the word I underlined above. if swimmers of unattached or non-matching teams entered a relay as exhibition, were not scored and were not included in the results, they are technically not "competing" at the meet. That solves your desire to get up and swim a relay within the confines of the rules (albiet loosely) - but I think if you want times to count, you need to find yourself an honest-to-God team. A general definition of a "Relay Race" is: members of a team take turns performing a certain action. The rule, in that aspect, seems reasonable to me.
If you really want to do relays that count, some suggestions:
join a team with enough people to field relays regularly
bring more teammates to meets - host a BBQ for your teammates if they come to a particular meet
have your LMSC's default UNAT and/or out-of-LMSC team be a "regional team" to capture more swimmers (kind of like New England or PNA)
Lastly, remember that not everyone is enthusiastic about doing relays. Our sport in general (and the athletes in particular) often place a higher value on individual achievements than on team and athletes commonly prefer to swim solely individual events. Moreover, at our level, we have total freedom to say no for any reason, as opposed to a USAS team, for example, where we need to follow coach's orders. On top of that, remember that some of us don't have unlimited supplies of gas in our tanks.
And however inconvenient this may be for those who want to do relays (or those of us who create relays), I don't see much wrong with the above three reasons for declining to swim relays.
Good points. For what it's worth, I don't like swimming relays at many meets, especially when these conflict with individual events and leave too little rest to swim my best in the latter.
I did, however, enjoy last summer's LCM Nats whole day devoted to relays. If I had not gone to the trouble to officially join another team, I couldn't have swum anything on that Saturday. This actually happened, I am pretty sure, to Tom Patterson, who didn't have any relay teammates to swim with.
The other thing is that the only times I have a chance to make the TT in individual events are early in the age group process. I will be swimming as a FINA 58 year old this summer, and if the recent SCY meet is any indication, my odds of making the Top 10 at this point are nil.
However, it would be cool to make it on a relay!
Oh, well. I will keep trying to talk my local friends into swimming the Zones LCM championships. If this doesn't work, I might look into becoming a Terrapin, 1776er, or GMUPer.
