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! |
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. |
* home, not hike |
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. |
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. |
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. |