Automation

Tonight is the first of our two automation clinics--check the website for details.

It seems hard to imagine now, but meets weren't always automated. Before 1996--the year MCSL switched over completely to computers--Friday afternoons or nights meant time spent with a typewriter (or very strong hand), 5-part forms, and pink and blue cards. Here's a picture of the blank white/top copy of the dual meet score sheet and the pink copy filled out:

And two close ups:



When coaches met at the home pool on Friday afternoon, the visiting coach brought a stack of pink and blue cards--yes, pink for girls, blue for boys--and an entry sheet. The person setting up the meet would fill in the 5-part form, putting the fastest--or "A" swimmer--for the home team on the top line, the "B" swimmer below that, and the "C" swimmer last. That process was repeated for the visitor's section of the form--and then repeated for every event. Then you seeded the meet. If the visitors chose the odd lanes, then the "A" home swimmer would be in lane 4, the "B" in 2, and the "C" in 6. (Correspondingly, the visitors would be in lanes 3, 5, 1.) The lane numbers were added to the cards and the cards shuffled so they were in event order by lane.

After the event was swum, the cards went to the scoring table where the scorers would check the times, put them in order from fastest to slowest, and assign place and points. Until 1995, there was a 10 point cap on each event. As you can see from the picture above, the visitors earned 12 points, but were only awarded 10 because of the cap. In addition, the scorers circled the All Star times in red. At the bottom of every page, they added up the points for that page, added that to the total points from the previous page, and moved on. There were two scorers--one from each team--and they checked their totals as they went to be sure they agreed.

Our virtual Hall of Fame

To celebrate our 50th season, we're starting a Hall of Fame, but since we don't have any offices--no physical wall on which to display names--our Hall of Fame will have to a virtual one.

We're collecting names of people who made significant contributions or are outstanding representatives of the league. Swimmers, coaches, officials, team reps, board members, league founders--if you think someone deserves special recognition for his or her connection to MCSL, we want to hear about it. Send the name of your nominee along with a short statement telling us why you think this individual should be included in the Hall of Fame to Pam--see our website for her email address.

Don't delay. The deadline is June 12.

First full clinic

Today was the first of our full clinics. Here you see some of the many parents who came out to recertify or to learn for the first time how to be a referee, starter, or stroke and turn judge. The morning began about 8 am at the Olney swim center with Marty, a former MCSL president and current chair of our competition committee, giving everyone an overview of MCSL officiating. Standing next to him on the stairs is Denice, the chair of the clinics committee, who organized the day's events. It was so crowded, we had to keep telling folks to move closer to the stairs side of the room so people arriving later could get through the doors.

After the general session, we broke out into job-specific groups. First, the stroke and turn judges left for their classes--very experienced judges went with Lionel; less experienced and new people went with Brian. Starters and referees stayed to hear Jim discuss topics that are important for both positions. When Jim finished, the referees went upstairs with Marty and Dave; the starters went outside with Denice.

Here's Denice running the starter clinic. She provided a very thorough discussion of everything a starter should know and even had all participants try their hand at the starting machine before receiving their "diploma"--the card we use to track who has attended which clinic.



Finally, here's Brian in the water, teaching the basic stroke and turn clinic. He started on land, going over general stroke and turn topics, assisted by Scott. But there are so many things you just have to see to understand, so he donned his goggles and, along with a current swimmer, physically illustrated some to the things you'll see in a swim meet.

Our next full service clinic, also at Olney, is June 8, followed by an evening clinic at the county's Germantown pool on June 11. Check our website for details.

All about the logo

Yesterday you saw our 50th anniversary logo turned into a car magnet. But how did we get the logo?

When we were trying to think of ways to mark our 50th season, I went poking around on the Internet and found the Northern Virginia Swimming League site. Luckily for us, NVSL was established in 1956. I emailed the chair of their 50th committee, and he generously shared what they had done. He was particularly enthusiastic about the contest they'd held to design a special 50th anniversary logo.

Since it was now the off season, we tossed the logo idea out there via the team rep email list and got some great designs. The 50th anniversary committee chose their favorites and send recommendations to the MCSL board. The board decided to combine two designs, one from long time vendor and former swim mom, Lois at Capital Sport & Swim, and the other from Morgan, a swim dad at Manor Woods.

We've got the logo on all our program materials this season. (Eagle-eyed readers may discover an interesting inconsistency there which I'll discuss at a later date.) It will be on our invitational t-shirts, and we hope it will show up on many team and divisional tees as well.

Clinics and cars

It was standing room only at last night's advanced referee clinic. Based on a rough head count, I'd say there were almost 100 people in the room. I saw many familiar faces--men and women I've seen on deck for years. What a knowledgeable crowd!

Our next officials clinic is June 1--check our website for details. This clinic is for everyone, experienced or brand new. We'll have separate sessions on refereeing, starting, and stroke and turn judging--but you can only attend one session per clinic as they run concurrently. Plan to spend the entire morning.

At the clinic, I ran into Mike from Underwater Wear. He took our 50th anniversary logo--more on the logo tomorrow--and turned it into a car magnet. Here it is:




Cool, huh? It also looks great on refrigerators.

Advanced referee clinic

Tonight's the recertification clinic for advanced referees. Check our website (http://www.mcsl.org/) for the place and time.

What's an "advanced" referee? At a minimum, it's someone who has refereed before. People looking to become a referee shouldn't attend tonight's clinic--there are other clinics for them in June. Even folks who have refereed for a couple seasons are probably not "advanced." Tonight's clinic is really designed for individuals who are very comfortable as refs and have been doing it for a while.

What do refs do? Well, they are responsible for the entire meet. In one way or another, they manage all the meet officials, making sure everyone knows his/her job and carries it out. A good ref anticipates problems before they happen, or, failing that, addresses any issue quickly.

A good ref is knowledgeable, decisive, and fair. Nothing substitutes for a thorough understanding of the rules, but perspective, a sense of humor, and a basic unflappability are all pluses.

Little flyers (and breaststrokers)

One of the challenges coaches face at the beginning of the season is teaching the little kids how to swim breaststroke and butterfly. In the Old Days, the only 8 & under events were in freestyle and backstroke. These strokes are relatively simple. Get from one end of the pool to the other without pushing off the bottom--that's the basic requirement to be"legal" in free. The backstroke adds the complication of staying on your back, but still, pretty simple. (Though lots of little ones do turn over onto their stomachs before they touch the wall at the finish.)

However, at the March 1993 MCSL meeting, the team reps voted to add 8 & under breaststroke and butterfly to our meets. Breast and fly have strict stroke requirements--kids must move their arms and legs in a definite pattern or they will be disqualified.

Some of the young swimmers are naturals--or swim year round--and seem to move effortlessly through the water. Others look like they're drowning. It can be a challenge for stroke and turn judges to determine if the odd motions they are seeing conform to the stroke requirements or not.

The really fun part comes when the stroke finally "clicks" for kids and they start dropping lots of time.