USMS National Sign up date

Regarding the comment about "automatically updating" meet entries based on later performances (following entry), wouldn't this create a host of new problems for the meet committee and the swimmers planning their meet? When would one consider the "pshych sheets" ready? When would final seeding be accomplished and published? When would swimmers know how much time existed between events/heats? As far the "auto-updating" or giving us the option to update, I think would make more headaches for everyone in general. I entered into the National Meet with the approx. times I believe I will be swimming at my tapered point. Hopefully there's not a lot of sandbagged times, which I wouldn't really think so, to make this as competitive as possible. It's always strange to see that one guy out there from an early heat that blows everyone away, and says "I didn't realize I was really that fast!"

As far the "auto-updating" or giving us the option to update, I think would make more headaches for everyone in general. Yes. Yes it would. Hopefully there's not a lot of sandbagged times, which I wouldn't really think so, to make this as competitive as possible. Hi, you must be new here! :lmao: It's always strange to see that one guy out there from an early heat that blows everyone away, and says "I didn't realize I was really that fast!" OK, I'm going to let you go on a technicality... this time

OK, I'm going to let you go on a technicality... this time You did notice I entered that "one" magic word, so as not to refer to anyone in particular! :)

I agree an auto-update on times wouldn't be a great idea. It would be nice if there was a manual option to update your times, though. Obviously there would still need to be some cut-off date, but it could be after most local championship meets.

This year is a little more challenging because of the suit change. Many of us won't know how this will affect our times until we swim in a meet, which may be after the deadline. Some may have to guess and hope they're close.

This year is a little more challenging because of the suit change. Many of us won't know how this will affect our times until we swim in a meet, which may be after the deadline. Some may have to guess and hope they're close. The suits are all psychological...just as shaving is... I've swum just as fast in my career in a regular old meet as compared to end of the season meets. It's all in how you approach the swims. Yes, there is a little advantage given to both, but it's nothing that's going to throw off your time by minutes for example. If you train hard enough, taper well, shave and race hard when the time comes, your times ideally should be pretty close to last year...when you didn't train very hard, didn't need to taper, didn't need to shave down to race because all you had to do was have $$$$$ to buy a rubber boat with built in engine (B70), zip it on, dive in, and touch the wall in record time!!! As you can tell, I'm glad the tech suit era is dead and gone. :bliss:

As you can tell, I'm glad the tech suit era is dead and gone. :bliss: Uh-oh, James, ya better watch out; you're about to get blasted! :worms: As a newbie to USMS and the forums, right before Nationals, I got a lot of :bitching: and :argue: when I expressed the same views about tech suits. Ohhhhh boy! :afraid:

By saying "In today's world" I assume you are referring to technology advances for seeding, entry processing, etc. However, those advances have very little to do with why we require 35 days notice. Our Nationals hosts' prepare for their meet for up to 2 years in advance and they have no idea how many swimmers are coming until the entry deadline. Annual meets in the same geographic area (such as a Pac Champ meet) have somewhat predictable attendance each year, but Nationals is anybody's guess (and it is usually wrong). At one point Clovis was preparing for 3000 swimmers (they ended up with 1582). The number of volunteers needed to run the meet relies heavily on the meet timeline - which is wholly contingent upon the number of swimmers (are the days long enough for two shifts or are three needed?). Much has to happen between the entry deadline and the meet at Nationals that doesn't typically occur for local meets (6th event decisions, seeding variation decisions, publishing a 100+ page program with content to comply with USMS corporate partner agreements, setting up shuttle schedules, etc.). And much of this work is done by volunteers. USA Swimming can pull meets together more quickly because they have a paid staff working full time on the meet. But as of this moment, there are no paid staff on the USMS Championship Committee :D In summary, the Host needs as much time as possible to know how many swimmers are expected to compete. The Championship Committee is aware of the inconvenience of having to enter Nationals prior to many LMSC and Zone Championship meets and is investigating alternatives such as the ability to update your entry times after you've entered, or perhaps the USMS Top Times database will automatically update your seed time if new results get uploaded. This won't happen in time for Mesa or Auburn but I can say it is being looked into - we just talked about it last week on a conference call: www.usms.org/.../champ-2011-2-16-1.pdf Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks, Jeff Roddin USMS Championship Committee Chair championship@usms.org EXCELLENT POST! You get the Post of the Month award! It is often overlooked and total unappreciated all the work that goes into putting on events/meets! And i'd like to give a shout out to my faaaavorite official, chowsh, who will most likely be officiating at nationals!!!!

The suits are all psychological... ... when you didn't train very hard, didn't need to taper, didn't need to shave down to race because all you had to do was have $$$$$ to buy a rubber boat with built in engine (B70), zip it on, dive in, and touch the wall in record time!!! Aren't these contradictory positions? And they are both incorrect. C'mon, man, most people going to Nats that are serious swimmers are training hard.

Uh-oh, James, ya better watch out; you're about to get blasted! :worms: As a newbie to USMS and the forums, right before Nationals, I got a lot of :bitching: and :argue: when I expressed the same views about tech suits. Ohhhhh boy! :afraid: This is what I meant about your thread hijacking. You erupt onto a thread with the Bieber font and smilie overload and start in on a separate topic where you allege you previously have been "attacked" before anyone has said a word. But, since you mentioned it in this annoying way, I decided to tell James he was incorrect in his factual statements (though he is entitled to his opinion that he dislikes tech suits).