Oakmont Regionals - No scoreboard!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m very sympathetic to technical difficulties and glitches that make the scoreboard inoperable. But this appeared to be a decision by meet organizers not to use the scoreboard at all. Can you image the organizers of a high school regionals football or basketball game deciding not to use the scoreboard or clock to save money. I’m not sure why it’s ok for swimming, esp in team competitions, to hide the ball on revealing times, standing, team point totals and more.

Then be a meet organizer and make a different decision. I guarantee you, you’ll either do it the way you want or better understand why it couldn’t be done the way you want. Come back and report what you learned.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:could you imagine going to a HS basketball or football game with no scoreboard?

Swim should get to use the board, and swim in facilities with one for post-season meets.

A parent shouldn't have to wait 30 min to see "maybe" a post on the wall. I've been to 5 years of high school dual meets and never seen one. Many races are within milliseconds.

The ADs should figure out what needs to happen to make it happen.

I’ve been to a HS basketball game before! They’re held as high schools. High schools that buy the scoreboards and operate them for their singular purpose on a nearly daily basis during basketball season.

Kind of the opposite of OakMarr, which hosts 3 or 4 real swim meets a year. Don’t know about HS dual meets, which are pointless. If you want to be mad,
be mad at the OakMarr IT guy, who doesn’t really exist.

And to find it infuriating- you are too dependent on technology. I guess you never went to a meet before scoreboards were common and waited for results to be posted on dot matrix printouts. Chill out, grow up.

NP:

You make it sound like the parent is at a meet where a scoreboard isn’t available and was never available and is complaining.

the county (taxes) paid for this board. If you think it’s okay to spend money on something that is useful but unused, sounds like you’re the one with the faulty thinking. Clearly if it wasn’t used one night and was the next, it isn’t a massively complicated system. It’s a lazy breakdown on the county’s part.

No, it’s obvious I think:

-the complaints are misplaced
-the outrage is overblown

However, there should be a manual for the Oakmont staff to get the board operational.

Outrage? Overblown? Misplaced? People complained on a message board. I think you need a dictionary.

DP but I agree with PP. using words like “infuriating”, throwing around tax payer dollar references, and implying blame on overworked volunteers from those watching from the stands limited the credibility of the concern. Next time just send a polite email to an official point of contact.

This is completely appropriate. You need to increase your tolerance!

As for blaming volunteers, of course it is the facility’s fault BUT the question is: did the meet hosts do anything before or up to Saturday’s board usage to fix the issue? By collecting admission fees and renting the facility, there is at least some obligation there: ask the employees to fix it, find out how to use it, ask them for the contact of someone in the know, etc. Not expecting the host team to spend lots of time on it, but asking an employee to help or to let someone higher up know it needs to be running is more than expected or appropriate. You’d do this with touch pads, lane lines, starting blocks or any other expected piece of equipment that is reasonably necessary and available. To do nothing is wrong.

I’m curious to know what changed bw Fri and Sat - what caused it to be working and how much effort it took on non-employees.

Again, we are discussing a public school meet at a county facility. I’m not sure you appreciate the level of “extremely busy with other things” the “hosts” were on Friday evening. Most of the other items you mentioned are critical to the meet, this was not. The entitlement of parents when the deck is filled with mostly retirement age officials and other parents busting their asses so that other people’s kids can swim is boundless.
Sounds like they did get it to work for Saturday night. Someone probably looked into it on Saturday during the day, when they had time to take a breath after Friday night’s session. I’m sure that wasn’t a top priority Friday evening.
I hope you’re actively donating your time and expertise weekly to HS sports if you’re refusing to extend any grace to those that are. Or you know, increase your tolerance.

Instead of having two people collect money at the entrance (when they worked together for each transaction, not separately), for 5 minutes, have one person walk 2 steps to the front desk, explain the issue and ask who can help or the contact of who to contact. This would have taken less time than to set up the digital displays on the high diving platform on Friday evening. Yeah, someone looked into it on Saturday...obviously. That's the extent of the effort I'm expecting on Friday: Hey, OakMont...please look into this as we've paid for this facility. Yeah, they had time for that...especially on Friday when the meet didn't start for a very, very, very long time.

Oh, and I volunteered both Friday and Sat. nights. Next?

Then why didn’t you walk the flight of stairs to ask the front desk what could be done about it? Pretty sure the people collecting the money were also volunteers, at least one of whom doesn’t have a swimmer and is just helping out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:could you imagine going to a HS basketball or football game with no scoreboard?

Swim should get to use the board, and swim in facilities with one for post-season meets.

A parent shouldn't have to wait 30 min to see "maybe" a post on the wall. I've been to 5 years of high school dual meets and never seen one. Many races are within milliseconds.

The ADs should figure out what needs to happen to make it happen.

I’ve been to a HS basketball game before! They’re held as high schools. High schools that buy the scoreboards and operate them for their singular purpose on a nearly daily basis during basketball season.

Kind of the opposite of OakMarr, which hosts 3 or 4 real swim meets a year. Don’t know about HS dual meets, which are pointless. If you want to be mad,
be mad at the OakMarr IT guy, who doesn’t really exist.

And to find it infuriating- you are too dependent on technology. I guess you never went to a meet before scoreboards were common and waited for results to be posted on dot matrix printouts. Chill out, grow up.

NP:

You make it sound like the parent is at a meet where a scoreboard isn’t available and was never available and is complaining.

the county (taxes) paid for this board. If you think it’s okay to spend money on something that is useful but unused, sounds like you’re the one with the faulty thinking. Clearly if it wasn’t used one night and was the next, it isn’t a massively complicated system. It’s a lazy breakdown on the county’s part.

No, it’s obvious I think:

-the complaints are misplaced
-the outrage is overblown

However, there should be a manual for the Oakmont staff to get the board operational.

Outrage? Overblown? Misplaced? People complained on a message board. I think you need a dictionary.

DP but I agree with PP. using words like “infuriating”, throwing around tax payer dollar references, and implying blame on overworked volunteers from those watching from the stands limited the credibility of the concern. Next time just send a polite email to an official point of contact.

This is completely appropriate. You need to increase your tolerance!

As for blaming volunteers, of course it is the facility’s fault BUT the question is: did the meet hosts do anything before or up to Saturday’s board usage to fix the issue? By collecting admission fees and renting the facility, there is at least some obligation there: ask the employees to fix it, find out how to use it, ask them for the contact of someone in the know, etc. Not expecting the host team to spend lots of time on it, but asking an employee to help or to let someone higher up know it needs to be running is more than expected or appropriate. You’d do this with touch pads, lane lines, starting blocks or any other expected piece of equipment that is reasonably necessary and available. To do nothing is wrong.

I’m curious to know what changed bw Fri and Sat - what caused it to be working and how much effort it took on non-employees.

Again, we are discussing a public school meet at a county facility. I’m not sure you appreciate the level of “extremely busy with other things” the “hosts” were on Friday evening. Most of the other items you mentioned are critical to the meet, this was not. The entitlement of parents when the deck is filled with mostly retirement age officials and other parents busting their asses so that other people’s kids can swim is boundless.
Sounds like they did get it to work for Saturday night. Someone probably looked into it on Saturday during the day, when they had time to take a breath after Friday night’s session. I’m sure that wasn’t a top priority Friday evening.
I hope you’re actively donating your time and expertise weekly to HS sports if you’re refusing to extend any grace to those that are. Or you know, increase your tolerance.

Instead of having two people collect money at the entrance (when they worked together for each transaction, not separately), for 5 minutes, have one person walk 2 steps to the front desk, explain the issue and ask who can help or the contact of who to contact. This would have taken less time than to set up the digital displays on the high diving platform on Friday evening. Yeah, someone looked into it on Saturday...obviously. That's the extent of the effort I'm expecting on Friday: Hey, OakMont...please look into this as we've paid for this facility. Yeah, they had time for that...especially on Friday when the meet didn't start for a very, very, very long time.

Oh, and I volunteered both Friday and Sat. nights. Next?

Then why didn’t you walk the flight of stairs to ask the front desk what could be done about it? Pretty sure the people collecting the money were also volunteers, at least one of whom doesn’t have a swimmer and is just helping out.

Because our team did not host the meet. I had no idea if someone else was handling it. I had no idea if they were already working with the county. It wasn't like I signed the contract to reserve the pool. That's why. Money collectors were volunteers but clearly were in contact with the host team about how to handle the financial transactions...so the host team could have contacted them and asked for help.

Sorry you seem so set on thinking there was no way to get a simple communication to the pool to get this fixed. I think everyone but you disagrees. I didn't expect the host team to fix it, but did expect them to let OakMont know they need help getting it set up. Once again for you: it was clearly a simple fix because by Saturday it was fixed. I certainly didn't see the host team running around for hours all day Sat getting it fixed. So my assumption is it was a very simple communication that needed to be done. Who knows if it was even done by the host team!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m very sympathetic to technical difficulties and glitches that make the scoreboard inoperable. But this appeared to be a decision by meet organizers not to use the scoreboard at all. Can you image the organizers of a high school regionals football or basketball game deciding not to use the scoreboard or clock to save money. I’m not sure why it’s ok for swimming, esp in team competitions, to hide the ball on revealing times, standing, team point totals and more.

Then be a meet organizer and make a different decision. I guarantee you, you’ll either do it the way you want or better understand why it couldn’t be done the way you want. Come back and report what you learned.

Just stop. It isn't like a parent can just say, "Hey! I will be the meet organizer this year!!" It's a team and has nothing to do with parental wants or offers.

[Anonymous]

Why is this still a debate? Saturday night the board was fixed. Yes, it was ridiculous Friday night but they were posting results the old-fashioned way so let's move on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why is this still a debate? Saturday night the board was fixed. Yes, it was ridiculous Friday night but they were posting results the old-fashioned way so let's move on.

It is just so unfair to my DD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why is this still a debate? Saturday night the board was fixed. Yes, it was ridiculous Friday night but they were posting results the old-fashioned way so let's move on.

Bc someone is turning into a debatable issue whether it was warranted to be annoyed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why would there be a charge to use it?

This is a problem in Loudoun too. The county doesn’t give the school system enough money for the school system to pay the county parks and rec to use the scoreboard.

Prince William HS meets always use the scoreboard and timer pads because the school system actually owns the pools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would there be a charge to use it?

This is a problem in Loudoun too. The county doesn’t give the school system enough money for the school system to pay the county parks and rec to use the scoreboard.

Prince William HS meets always use the scoreboard and timer pads because the school system actually owns the pools.

That’s not a problem in Fairfax. They aren’t charged to use the scoreboard.

[Anonymous]

Unfair for your DD? There were tons of kids affected by this and life isn't fair sometimes. Clearly, the meet director didn't "make an intentional choice not to use the scoreboard" as you continue to allege. It is a shame and frustrating that it wasn't working, but do get a grip: this was a scoreboard at a swim meet. And I really deeply hope that you were a timer, a marshall, a runner, some kind of volunteer if you are going to complain this hard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unfair for your DD? There were tons of kids affected by this and life isn't fair sometimes. Clearly, the meet director didn't "make an intentional choice not to use the scoreboard" as you continue to allege. It is a shame and frustrating that it wasn't working, but do get a grip: this was a scoreboard at a swim meet. And I really deeply hope that you were a timer, a marshall, a runner, some kind of volunteer if you are going to complain this hard.

Different poster here. But I ask as has been mentioned. How many basketball or football games does your HS have without a working scoreboard? I'd say none.

It isn't just this one meet, it is a lot of meets at Oak Marr. If the board doesn't work, maybe they should have it somewhere else. Expect more, and the DSA should fight for it.

We should be able to see the times at a post season meet, and it happens every year.

[Anonymous]

It was working at finals.

[Anonymous]

I think both positions can be true — this isn’t an either/or situation.

Meet organizers and volunteers work extremely hard and deserve respect. They give a lot of their time, are juggling so many responsibilities, and should be afforded a great deal of understanding and sympathy for doing their best under difficult conditions.

And

Regionals is an incredibly important meet for hundreds of swimmers who train all season for that moment. A big part of the Regionals experience for swimmers and teams is learning their EXACT time or place, which determines whether they advance to states. Yes, that information may be available 30 minutes later on printouts, but it’s not the same. So, some of the complaints and advocacy for connecting the scoring system to the brand-new scoreboard — which was showing Rec Center ads instead of live swim times on the first day — shouldn’t be dismissed or brushed off as yet another example of entitled parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think both positions can be true — this isn’t an either/or situation.

Meet organizers and volunteers work extremely hard and deserve respect. They give a lot of their time, are juggling so many responsibilities, and should be afforded a great deal of understanding and sympathy for doing their best under difficult conditions.

And

Regionals is an incredibly important meet for hundreds of swimmers who train all season for that moment. A big part of the Regionals experience for swimmers and teams is learning their EXACT time or place, which determines whether they advance to states. Yes, that information may be available 30 minutes later on printouts, but it’s not the same. So, some of the complaints and advocacy for connecting the scoring system to the brand-new scoreboard — which was showing Rec Center ads instead of live swim times on the first day — shouldn’t be dismissed or brushed off as yet another example of entitled parents.

The issues I have with saying how these people working the meet are volunteers are:
- No one is expecting the volunteers to fix the problem themselves.
- It takes a moment to advise the facility that the board is not working as intended.
- Countless volunteers stood around waiting on Friday night before the meet began and it could have been handled then.

On Friday, had someone from the host team told OakMont this isn't working and we need it working, I'm confident it would have been an easy fix. I'm also confident that the work involved on the host team's behalf would have been almost zero. (Just like I'm guessing the host team did very little, if anything, to get it up and running for Saturday night).

So, while I can appreciate the host team stepping up and hosting the event, I think part of that job is to make sure the equipment is working as intended - esp when there was plenty of time to do this and the time involved for the host team to relay this request is about 60 seconds ("We've reserved the facility for the meet tonight. The scoreboard isn't working for us. Please fix it or contact whomever can fix it. Thanks")

If a facility had working touch pads, we'd expect them to be used even though good old fashioned 3 timers per lane has worked in the good old days. It's absurd to argue it would be entitled to expect that they be used and if you want them used, YOU volunteer to host the meet. This is the same thing with the board - except far less work for the host team to get it up and running.

[Anonymous]

But why are you so certain none of those steps happened? Zero benefit of the doubt that the host team even tried to ask someone to get it working. I think that’s part of why this outage is so frustrating for some of us.
The facility doesn’t provide the timing equipment, the host team did.