No shows for A meets?

[Anonymous]

All A meets should have exhibition relays- literally requires nothing extra, and scoring doesn’t change.
Since they would be exhibitions, it wouldn’t matter if a team couldn’t field another one not.

Apparently this is actually allowed, but the team reps have to agree to it ahead of time. I’ve mentioned it to ours, but have made no headway!

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Yep - July 4th meet not going to happy at our NVSL pool. There is annual cookout at noon that the membership would go nuts over being cancelled

What time does your pool usually open on a meet day? Ours is typically open by noon. Our picnic started at 1:00 this year.

Our pool opens at 10am on July 4th and there is a line to get in. I guess hopefully our meet is away.

Ok. Ours opens at 11, but on home meet Saturdays we open at noon.

Maybe they could start the meet at 8:30 and adjust the pool’s opening time. Compromise somewhere in the middle.

Or do the thing that benefits the majority of the members. Move the meet to Sunday.

PP here. I don’t currently have a swimmer. Our swim team doesn’t inconvenience our membership much IMO. They prefer two home A meets. So this summer the pool opened one hour later on two Sundays and closed early on two Mondays. A hike meet wouldn’t have affected July 4th activities.

[Anonymous]

* home, not hike

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I think it’s stupid to have regular A meets when July 4 falls on or right before or after a weekend. So many people go out of town. We were out of town and it looked like everyone who was in town added a bunch of time because they were probably all exhausted from staying up late the night before. I’m sure some will say oh it’s great because it gives some kids a chance to swim who don’t normally get to. If the leagues around here weren’t set up to exclude so many kids from Sat meets in the first place that wouldn’t be an issue. It makes a lot more sense to have an IM meet or some other special fun opt-in meet on the July 4 weekend so people who enjoy going to a meet can do that, while others can enjoy their holiday weekend. That’s what my league did growing up and it worked for everyone.

Downvote.

1. People don’t leave Washington DC for July 4th, they come to Washington DC for July 4.

2. It’s the summer, people take vacations. That’s OK. If you are extremely vested in summer swim, you will plan to vacation in August, otherwise, you’ll miss a meet, whether it’s the week of July 4, or another week. It’s not a big deal either way.

Agreed! The alternative would be to either start earlier or go a week later, both of which no one wants. The summer swim season is already about as compact as it can get.

There are alternatives. People here are just stuck in their ways and think the way the local swim leagues do things is the best way, which it actually isn’t.

And no, not everyone likes being in DC on the 4th. It’s hot and crowded. The beach is a million times better.

Okay then what do you suggest?

Oh lots of things. Starting with having an A/B/C medley relay for each age group, instead of the stupid mixed relays that only serve to allow kids already swimming multiple individual events to swim yet again. When you include more people in the A meets it’s way better for team camaraderie. Even better would be A/B/C free relays. To make time for this, make IM a scored event instead of the dumb free for all at the end. Have one time trial the first Saturday of the season, or if you really want two, do a second one on your B meet weeknight during the first week of June. Then first A meet can be the first Sat in June instead of waiting until the second. Leave July 4th weekend open/have a special fun meet instead, and pick back up with A meets the following week. Season ends at the same time as usual.

NVSL is not the be all end all of swimming. People have figured out other ways to do things in other parts of the country to make summer swim a truly fun and inclusive experience, without eating up a big holiday weekend.

I'm not a fan of this idea because I think the drop-off in time will be very steep between A, B, and C and I'd be surprised if most teams can even put together an A and B much less C relays. That notwithstanding, I think it'd be cool of NVSL to allow some divisions to experiment and figure out what works.

This isn't hard. You just put together however many relays an age group can field, whether that be 1, 2, or 3. You could make any relay other than A exhibition, or agree ahead of time that each team will only field an A and a B relay so each team has equal opportunity to score points... whatever makes the most sense. Large teams can at least field an A and a B at all age groups, especially for free. Having free relays at the end of a meet makes them much more exciting. Building up to the 15-18s where you have a lot of kids who are athletic but just swim in summer, so they can still do a fast 50 free... it brings high school meet type of energy which is perfect for summer swim.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Yep - July 4th meet not going to happy at our NVSL pool. There is annual cookout at noon that the membership would go nuts over being cancelled

What time does your pool usually open on a meet day? Ours is typically open by noon. Our picnic started at 1:00 this year.

Our pool opens at 10am on July 4th and there is a line to get in. I guess hopefully our meet is away.

Ok. Ours opens at 11, but on home meet Saturdays we open at noon.

Maybe they could start the meet at 8:30 and adjust the pool’s opening time. Compromise somewhere in the middle.

Or do the thing that benefits the majority of the members. Move the meet to Sunday.

PP here. I don’t currently have a swimmer. Our swim team doesn’t inconvenience our membership much IMO. They prefer two home A meets. So this summer the pool opened one hour later on two Sundays and closed early on two Mondays. A hike meet wouldn’t have affected July 4th activities.

This depends what time your pool would normally open I think. Ours normally opens at 10am, so morning swim team practice and Saturday meets (2-3) plus Saturday time trials...it's a lot. This is prime time people with little kids want to use the pool. Our team hosts at least 3 Monday evening meets each summer too. When I had little kids, I remember feeling like it was a lot.

At pools lucky enough to have 2 pools, swim team often impacts lap swimmers the most. They close off the lap pool for swim team practice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yep - July 4th meet not going to happy at our NVSL pool. There is annual cookout at noon that the membership would go nuts over being cancelled

What time does your pool usually open on a meet day? Ours is typically open by noon. Our picnic started at 1:00 this year.

Our pool opens at 10am on July 4th and there is a line to get in. I guess hopefully our meet is away.

Ok. Ours opens at 11, but on home meet Saturdays we open at noon.

Maybe they could start the meet at 8:30 and adjust the pool’s opening time. Compromise somewhere in the middle.

Or do the thing that benefits the majority of the members. Move the meet to Sunday.

PP here. I don’t currently have a swimmer. Our swim team doesn’t inconvenience our membership much IMO. They prefer two home A meets. So this summer the pool opened one hour later on two Sundays and closed early on two Mondays. A hike meet wouldn’t have affected July 4th activities.

This depends what time your pool would normally open I think. Ours normally opens at 10am, so morning swim team practice and Saturday meets (2-3) plus Saturday time trials...it's a lot. This is prime time people with little kids want to use the pool. Our team hosts at least 3 Monday evening meets each summer too. When I had little kids, I remember feeling like it was a lot.

At pools lucky enough to have 2 pools, swim team often impacts lap swimmers the most. They close off the lap pool for swim team practice.

Ours opens at 11:00. Practice is done at 10:00.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - it was kids who have been in a few A meets. The parents knew they were in it and I think just couldn't make the early wake up the day after the fourth.

Wow. Our family takes respect for the team, reps, and coaches really seriously, and I'm sorry to hear of others who didn't - when it could have a big impact on others. For no-showing an A meet without contact, I'd hope that at a minimum the families would have to sustain a serious conversation with the A rep. Multiple absences might suggest a problem with the team culture, too.