At Nationals we seem to have gone to having a relay early on the last day.At Mesa it is the MR and it is right before the 200 BR.I think this is a lousy time to have a relay.I know the idea is to not have a relay as the last event so that people who want/need to leave early can swim it,but that could be accomplished by having 2 relays at the end of the previous day.I know many of you will just say "man up",but look at it this way,the difference between 1st and 2nd,or 3rd and 4th(3rd being the last of the "big medals") or 10th and 11th(10th getting a medal,11th not) could be .01 sec.You train for months,taper,fly across country,pay for a hotel,do everything you can to swim your best,and then can either be a lousy teammate and skip the relay or swim your event with less than adequate rest.If you are in an older age group ,but are on a small team that can only field a team in a younger age group you could end up with very little rest indeed.I'd like to see this changed.
I think this is the best option. I like to swim on relays, too, but my individual events are my priority. For example my only event on Friday is the 400 IM. I'm not going to return to the pool at the end of the day to swim the relay. I have a feeling the Oregon team "needs" Allen a lot more than PNA needs me, though, so I can definitely see his dilemma.
Relays are tough. Some people really get into them, some not so much. And it can provide an opportunity for slower swimmers to score and thus feel like they are contributing to team success at nationals.
When we put our relays together, we always begin by asking people which relays they are willing to do and proceed from there. (As an aside: Club Assistant makes this a lot easier for most meets with online entry by allowing swimmers to indicate this choice when they register for the meet. For some reason they do not do that for nationals in the signup process, unless I just didn't see it.)
If Oregon does that, and then tries to get Allen to swim on a relay he didn't put on his list, I think it is entirely reasonable if Allen agrees but stipulates that he won't go all-out. Then he can (for example) try to hit his 200 BR pace while swimming relaxed and efficiently, as preparation for that event.
Even with this approach, there can be problems. In the past when I have handled relays for zones or nationals, there are some people who say they are willing to do any and all relays, going so far as to state that relays are the thing that they enjoy most about the event. Others might be willing to only do one per day, if that. Then if there aren't enough willing participants to field tons of relays, the "gung ho" types will complain about the "selfishness" of the others. Both sides are being selfish in different ways, of course.
IMO: forcing people to swim in relays they don't want to, or at the expense of their other events, is not (or shouldn't be) the masters way.... I'll swim on relays I don't want to in order to get more people involved -- that seems pretty legitimate -- but I don't care much about the team score, except to the extent that it motivates others to participate. Again, that's just me.
I think this is the best option. I like to swim on relays, too, but my individual events are my priority. For example my only event on Friday is the 400 IM. I'm not going to return to the pool at the end of the day to swim the relay. I have a feeling the Oregon team "needs" Allen a lot more than PNA needs me, though, so I can definitely see his dilemma.
Relays are tough. Some people really get into them, some not so much. And it can provide an opportunity for slower swimmers to score and thus feel like they are contributing to team success at nationals.
When we put our relays together, we always begin by asking people which relays they are willing to do and proceed from there. (As an aside: Club Assistant makes this a lot easier for most meets with online entry by allowing swimmers to indicate this choice when they register for the meet. For some reason they do not do that for nationals in the signup process, unless I just didn't see it.)
If Oregon does that, and then tries to get Allen to swim on a relay he didn't put on his list, I think it is entirely reasonable if Allen agrees but stipulates that he won't go all-out. Then he can (for example) try to hit his 200 BR pace while swimming relaxed and efficiently, as preparation for that event.
Even with this approach, there can be problems. In the past when I have handled relays for zones or nationals, there are some people who say they are willing to do any and all relays, going so far as to state that relays are the thing that they enjoy most about the event. Others might be willing to only do one per day, if that. Then if there aren't enough willing participants to field tons of relays, the "gung ho" types will complain about the "selfishness" of the others. Both sides are being selfish in different ways, of course.
IMO: forcing people to swim in relays they don't want to, or at the expense of their other events, is not (or shouldn't be) the masters way.... I'll swim on relays I don't want to in order to get more people involved -- that seems pretty legitimate -- but I don't care much about the team score, except to the extent that it motivates others to participate. Again, that's just me.
