Regional Age Group Qualifying Times?

[MetroDad]

Does anyone know when the 2010 regional age group qualifying times will be available for the north west?

Thanks

[Emosmum]

At least its not just Midlands Regional qts then that arent yet available then - Midlands Qts 2010 wont be out until December , apparently ...........


Is it just me or are Regional committees on a different calendar to the rest of us.... I have asked why they are so late in coming out with the qts , when qts are actually from 1st October.
I was told" Dont know what the problem is , it wont make swimmers swim faster , having qts to aim for " er I beg to differ , if they know what times they need to achieve its a good incentive to try and achieve them ...
It makes you think , should Regional level swimmers not actually bother entering any meets then between 1st October and end of December ...
We could save a mint on on Open meet entries , just train hard and wait and see what qts are once the Regional committee get round to confirming them and target meets between Jan 1st and regional cut off dates ... ....The clubs running open mets between Oct and Dec might not be happy ...

The Open meets entries might suffer , but if Regional Committees arent bothered about Regional qts being out in good time , then then maybe we should chill out and all save some dosh ... Our clubs swimmers will be at 2 x level 2 meets and the Regional Shortcourse without having Regional qts for 2010 available .... " did I get a Regional qt " Er not sure , as qts not out until December " if we go on last years maybe , but cant confirm until theyre out " ... its very frustrating for swimmers, coaches and parents ...
Nqts are available , but no Regional qts .... :read:

Is it just me or dont we plan training / calendars and meets a year in advance.... it must be a technical difficulty , :banghead:
it always is....


Cheers Emosmum ...

[MetroDad]

Pretty much the same situation at our club. And it's made worse by the fact that our swimmers need a certain number of regional times to stay in the squad. So we now have swimmers going to meets knowing they need to achieve a standard to stay in the squad, yet not knowing what that standard is! It's all very unsettling.

[Emosmum]

Its strange , the amount of money spent by Regional qualifying swimmers to get qualified is significant , asnd they arent even given the qts until 2 months after the qualifying dates...

the amount of money that Regions receive from Regional Championships profits is im sure significant ,( it costs enough to enter ! ) perhaps they could give the swimmers coaches and parents a bit more thought .... and get the qualifying times out in good time ... and if we new venues well in advance , could get accom at offer prices....

Regionals are the Nationals for many swimmers and if the nqts are out in October , then why arent the Regional Qts ..

:banghead:

[swimbar]

Regionals are the Nationals for many swimmers and if the nqts are out in October , then why arent the Regional Qts ..

:banghead:

You could always volunteer to do them yourself!

[chris_lamb]

Regionals are the Nationals for many swimmers and if the nqts are out in October , then why arent the Regional Qts ..

Because the nationals are at least partially organised by professionals! Before times can be published you need to have pools booked so you know how much time is available. For nationals this will already be sorted but it's not always so easy to get pool time.

And the people organising the region times are also likely to be the same people organising club and county events which are before the region competitions.

Sorting qualifying times isn't as easy as running a programme and getting times. Someone then needs to analyse these times and work out whether that results in a balanced programme which neither results in too few or too many swimmers in any event. Importantly everything has to fit in the time available with appropriate breaks between sessions and time for warm up, etc.

Would you rather get qualifying times which are correct or have times published early and then have to have swimmers rejected who met those times because there were too many swimmers?

As swimbar said, if you don't think things are happening early enough, offer to get involved.

[chris_lamb]

Is it just me or dont we plan training / calendars and meets a year in advance.... it must be a technical difficulty , :banghead:

If only pools would cooperate and allow bookings a year in advance...

[usernamejoo]

Chris you're very correct in what you say. I must thank the south west this year for being so prompt with their times. I am one who does very much appreciate greatly the amount of work put in by all the local and regional volunteers. It is immense and must not be under estimated. Yes sometimes things do go wrong or at times things seem a bit slow but that is far from deliberate.

[MetroDad]

It wasn't my intention for this thread to turn into a criticism of the people involved. Just wondered if anyone knew what the timescales were?

Regardless of the reasons why the times can't be ready soon after Oct 1st, it is still unsettling for swimmers when they have to swim galas without knowing the standards they are aiming for.

I'm sure everyone is working their hardest to get the times out - but does anyone know when they are likely to be ready?

[Emosmum]

and why cant all regions have the same times and qualifying dates .....................? it would save a lot of agravation..

Regards
Emosmum

[chris_lamb]

and why cant all regions have the same times and qualifying dates .....................? it would save a lot of agravation..

Times: The regions are all different sizes with different swimmers. Having the same times would result in some regions having an uneconomic meet with too few swimmers and some regions having too many swimmers to fit in the time available.

Dates: Everything is run by volunteers and different people need different amounts of time to process entries.