USMS National Sign up date

Some may have to guess and hope they're close.Aren't we all guessing anyhow when we put in our entry times? Except for drive-able locals, I suspect most of us have to make a commitment to travel at least 5 weeks out to get to Nationals economically, work-wise, family-wise, etc. I think Jeff Roddin laid out a lot of reasons why the deadline must be as far out as it is. Judging by watching a lot of heats at various Masters meets over the years, entry times are merely a formality you have to do to enter the meet, but often bear little resemblance to what you're actually able to do at the meet. Embrace the chaos and uncertainty of the psych sheet, but just make sure you're in it.

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

But as of this moment, there are no paid staff on the USMS Championship Committee :D I think the Championship Committee chair should push hard to pay ex-officio members.

I decided to tell James he was incorrect in his factual statements (though he is entitled to his opinion that he dislikes tech suits). :banana: Behold and be amazed as I respond to the tech suit offshoot, use smilies and fonts, AND get us back on topic! :banana: Swimming is better off without the tech suits. :banana: Since the tech suit ban, I've been participating in meets, watching video of meets, and reading results of meets of all levels. :banana: The meet results make more sense than they did in 2009. :banana: I do think that the suits are going to make a partial comeback when someone figures out how to make rubber or polyurethane thread which can then be woven into a "textile" suit. :banana: But the current coverage limitations will still be in effect. :banana: In the meantime, this SCY Nationals will be fascinating for all the usual reasons, PLUS we get to find out whether participation levels are affected by the tech suit ban and whether SCY Top Tens are easier to come by this year. :banana: I'm glad that there isn't a way for anyone to change their events or entry times once they've entered, because it would invite all sorts of shenanigans once the psych sheet is out, and also because it would mess up the apples-to-apples comparisons with prior years. :banana: Thanks, I'm here all week, try the veal

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?

:banana: Behold and be amazed as I respond to the tech suit offshoot, use smilies and fonts, AND get us back on topic! :banana: :ohyeah: As for the topic of seed times (it was :hijack: before I posted to this thread), I'm fine leaving things just they way they are, rather than changing the system. I guess it's not a big deal to me, since I'm near the bottom of my age group at Nationals, anyway. :blush:

Despite the loss of the suits and aging up this year, I'll be entering with my masters pr's (all are within a year or two old). My strategy: Just say no to suit double-think/psych or new age group double-think/psych, enter pr's, and swim faster.

:banana: Behold and be amazed as I respond to the tech suit offshoot, use smilies and fonts, AND get us back on topic! :banana: Swimming is better off without the tech suits. :banana: Since the tech suit ban, I've been participating in meets, watching video of meets, and reading results of meets of all levels. :banana: The meet results make more sense than they did in 2009. I do think that the suits are going to make a partial comeback when someone figures out how to make rubber or polyurethane thread which can then be woven into a "textile" suit. :banana: But the current coverage limitations will still be in effect. :banana: In the meantime, this SCY Nationals will be fascinating for all the usual reasons, PLUS we get to find out whether participation levels are affected by the tech suit ban and whether SCY Top Tens are easier to come by this year. :banana: I'm glad that there isn't a way for anyone to change their events or entry times once they've entered, because it would invite all sorts of shenanigans once the psych sheet is out, and also because it would mess up the apples-to-apples comparisons with prior years. :banana: Thanks, I'm here all week, try the veal Ack, I cannot read this. Green is worse than blue. Just to clarify, I did not mean the :banana: as an insult. I do on occasion use smilies. :angel:

Ack, I cannot read this. Green is worse than blue. Just to clarify, I did not mean the :banana: as an insult. I do on occasion use smilies. :angel: No worries Fort. :) Is there anyway that a user can fix their account so when he/she reads other posts, they don't these smiley pieces of crap or impossible to read colors? :lmao: Why don't usms use online entries only? :cane:

Why don't usms use online entries only? Because not everybody from the backwoods of Tennessee has a computer...