Since my son swam in Division G this summer, I happen to have a Div. G t-shirt in the house. Here's that division's divisional shirt:
If anyone else would like to email me a jpeg of your division's shirt, I'll be happy to post it.Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Fashion parade
Lisa from Woodley Gardens suggested I publish some of the divisional t-shirt designs. You can see why she made the suggestion--here are two designs (yes, they gave people a choice) from Division C. The front of the shirt had the 50th anniversary logo. These are pretty impressive, huh?
Since my son swam in Division G this summer, I happen to have a Div. G t-shirt in the house. Here's that division's divisional shirt:
If anyone else would like to email me a jpeg of your division's shirt, I'll be happy to post it.
Since my son swam in Division G this summer, I happen to have a Div. G t-shirt in the house. Here's that division's divisional shirt:If anyone else would like to email me a jpeg of your division's shirt, I'll be happy to post it.
Monday, July 21, 2008
End-of-season banquet
Are any kid sports banquets as elaborate as the summer swim team's? My kids played basketball, baseball, and soccer, and about the most we ever did was go out to a fast food eatery. But the swim team end-of-season event includes speeches, awards of all sorts, and a slide show. (One year we had a play complete with scenery, but that was admittedly a bit over the top.) We even had a banquet in the Old Days. I remember at least one or two occasions where Glenwood celebrated a season well swum at that famous Wheaton former eatery, Anchor Inn.
Last night our team banquet was particularly poignant, since it was my last. Some of it I won't miss--the predictable lack of air conditioning at the school, the somewhat less than elegant ambiance, the very hard benches. But the slide show is always a highlight, and I'd been anticipating this year's with both dread and delight, particularly the portion that celebrates the graduating seniors. (An aside here--back when I did the slide show, it was indeed composed of slides. Technology has come to all aspects of swimming, and now the season retrospective is produced on a computer.)
Since I'm the mother of our only graduating senior and had provided some of the slides, I had an inkling of the content and had wisely brought along some tissues. Watching my baby grow up before my eyes in the few minutes of the senior tribute evoked quite the pangs of nostalgia. (And who were those old people standing next to him in that one shot? Surely not his parents!)
What other team can our kids join at age 5 or 6 and stay on, year after year, until they're 18? What other team can all the kids in a family join at the same time--boys and girls, young and old. (One year I was the mom of an entire graduated freestyle relay team.)
I think I'll like getting my Saturday mornings back, but I know I'll miss the fun and excitement of summer swimming--lathering that sunscreen on, seeing my sons swim, watching the little 8 & unders attempt the butterfly, chatting with parents I see only in the summers, but whom I have seen summer after summer for over a decade.
I won't be leaving MCSL swimming--I have another year as president and we usually don't kick the past presidents off the board immediately. But I also suspect I'll be strolling over to Rockshire from time to time to watch a home meet and see my summer pals.
Last night our team banquet was particularly poignant, since it was my last. Some of it I won't miss--the predictable lack of air conditioning at the school, the somewhat less than elegant ambiance, the very hard benches. But the slide show is always a highlight, and I'd been anticipating this year's with both dread and delight, particularly the portion that celebrates the graduating seniors. (An aside here--back when I did the slide show, it was indeed composed of slides. Technology has come to all aspects of swimming, and now the season retrospective is produced on a computer.)
Since I'm the mother of our only graduating senior and had provided some of the slides, I had an inkling of the content and had wisely brought along some tissues. Watching my baby grow up before my eyes in the few minutes of the senior tribute evoked quite the pangs of nostalgia. (And who were those old people standing next to him in that one shot? Surely not his parents!)
What other team can our kids join at age 5 or 6 and stay on, year after year, until they're 18? What other team can all the kids in a family join at the same time--boys and girls, young and old. (One year I was the mom of an entire graduated freestyle relay team.)
I think I'll like getting my Saturday mornings back, but I know I'll miss the fun and excitement of summer swimming--lathering that sunscreen on, seeing my sons swim, watching the little 8 & unders attempt the butterfly, chatting with parents I see only in the summers, but whom I have seen summer after summer for over a decade.
I won't be leaving MCSL swimming--I have another year as president and we usually don't kick the past presidents off the board immediately. But I also suspect I'll be strolling over to Rockshire from time to time to watch a home meet and see my summer pals.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Moving up or down divisions
Yesterday I talked about how teams place in their divisions based on their win/loss records and their performance at the two divisional meets. You might assume that the division winners would move up a division next season.
You'd be wrong. They might move up one or two or several divisions--or they might stay where they are. It is even theoretically possible that the division winner could move down. How could that be? Simple. A team's division assignment isn't based on this year's meets--it's based on this year's times.
What does this mean? It means our automation gurus create a virtual team for each MCSL team using the median times from the 5 dual meets. They then have a computerized swim-off, pitting each virtual team against all the other teams in the league. Those with the most wins end up in "A" division. Those with the fewest wins--or brand new teams--end up in our lowest division. (Right now, "O" division.)
If you study the division assignments in our handbook very carefully--yes, you are a geek!--you'll see that, particularly in the middle of the league, sometimes a team with fewer points is in a higher division than a team with more points. It's wins that count here, with points only being used to break ties.
While there is a significant difference between Division A and Division O, there is not so much difference between Divisions D, E, and F, for example. So it wouldn't be surprising for teams to bounce a couple divisions up or down from year to year.
How do we get the times for this computerized swim off? It's easy now--you can just upload the file. But in the Old Days before the league was computerized, the rep--or some poor soul--had to write down all the times for every meet. (Below you can see--if your monitor is good and my camera skills don't prove completely terrible--a copy of the "MCSL Swimoff Worksheet" from 1990. The top two pictures are close ups of the third. This version had 5 pages and didn't capture the first heat of the double heat freestyle events.) Someone then entered the averages into a computer for the swim off...I think.
And in the Old, Old Days before personal computers were around? Then I think we did "time in water"--adding up all the swim times. The teams with the fastest swims--and so the lowest number--were in "A." But anyone with more information--please feel free to correct me!
You'd be wrong. They might move up one or two or several divisions--or they might stay where they are. It is even theoretically possible that the division winner could move down. How could that be? Simple. A team's division assignment isn't based on this year's meets--it's based on this year's times.
What does this mean? It means our automation gurus create a virtual team for each MCSL team using the median times from the 5 dual meets. They then have a computerized swim-off, pitting each virtual team against all the other teams in the league. Those with the most wins end up in "A" division. Those with the fewest wins--or brand new teams--end up in our lowest division. (Right now, "O" division.)
If you study the division assignments in our handbook very carefully--yes, you are a geek!--you'll see that, particularly in the middle of the league, sometimes a team with fewer points is in a higher division than a team with more points. It's wins that count here, with points only being used to break ties.
While there is a significant difference between Division A and Division O, there is not so much difference between Divisions D, E, and F, for example. So it wouldn't be surprising for teams to bounce a couple divisions up or down from year to year.
How do we get the times for this computerized swim off? It's easy now--you can just upload the file. But in the Old Days before the league was computerized, the rep--or some poor soul--had to write down all the times for every meet. (Below you can see--if your monitor is good and my camera skills don't prove completely terrible--a copy of the "MCSL Swimoff Worksheet" from 1990. The top two pictures are close ups of the third. This version had 5 pages and didn't capture the first heat of the double heat freestyle events.) Someone then entered the averages into a computer for the swim off...I think.
And in the Old, Old Days before personal computers were around? Then I think we did "time in water"--adding up all the swim times. The teams with the fastest swims--and so the lowest number--were in "A." But anyone with more information--please feel free to correct me!
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Division Champions
During Relay All Stars, I'll be presenting enormous trophies to the teams that finish first, second, and third in each division. How do we decide who gets these awards? Rule 14 explains all, but in case you don't have your handbook handy, here's how it's done.
Teams get points for dual meet wins and for their placement in the two divisional meets (relay carnival and the division championship). The total of those points determines where they finish in their division.
Teams get 6 points for each dual meet win, and no points for losses. If the final dual meet score is a tie, the 6 points are split--each team gets 3 points. So a team that wins all 5 dual meets ends up with 30 points.
In a normal six team division, the team that wins the division relay carnival gets 10 points. Second place gets 8 points--and on down in 2 point steps to sixth place--zero points. The point scale for the division championship (divisionals) goes from 20 to zero in 4 point steps.
Are you still with me?
Sometimes there's one really strong team in a division. It wins all its dual meets (5 x 6 = 30 points), comes in first at relay carnival (10 points), and wins divisionals (20 points) for a season total of 60 points. No surprises there.
But sometimes calculating the division champion is more interesting. As an example, let's look at G division, since I have a swimmer there. If I did the math correctly--a big if--Old Georgetown and Tallyho both won four meets, so they each have 24 dual meet points. Old Georgetown won relays (10 points) and Tallyho placed second (8 points), so going into divisionals OG has 34 points and TH has 32. Very close.
Who will win Division G? If Old Georgetown wins divisionals, then it wins the division. But if OG comes in second at divisionals (16 points) and TH comes in first (20 points), Tallyho wins the division: TH (20 + 32 = 52) to OG (16 + 34 = 50).
And we can't rule out the come-from-behind possibilities. For example, if Robin Hood, the current third place team, has stellar swims and OG and TH don't--or if a few of key OG and TH swimmers are sick or out of town--and RH wins divisionals with TH third and OG fourth, then RH (24 + 20 = 44) and TH (32 + 12 = 44) tie for first in the division and OG ends up with third (34 + 8 = 42).
If you win your division, does that mean you'll be in a higher division next season? No--but that will be tomorrow's blog topic.
Teams get points for dual meet wins and for their placement in the two divisional meets (relay carnival and the division championship). The total of those points determines where they finish in their division.
Teams get 6 points for each dual meet win, and no points for losses. If the final dual meet score is a tie, the 6 points are split--each team gets 3 points. So a team that wins all 5 dual meets ends up with 30 points.
In a normal six team division, the team that wins the division relay carnival gets 10 points. Second place gets 8 points--and on down in 2 point steps to sixth place--zero points. The point scale for the division championship (divisionals) goes from 20 to zero in 4 point steps.
Are you still with me?
Sometimes there's one really strong team in a division. It wins all its dual meets (5 x 6 = 30 points), comes in first at relay carnival (10 points), and wins divisionals (20 points) for a season total of 60 points. No surprises there.
But sometimes calculating the division champion is more interesting. As an example, let's look at G division, since I have a swimmer there. If I did the math correctly--a big if--Old Georgetown and Tallyho both won four meets, so they each have 24 dual meet points. Old Georgetown won relays (10 points) and Tallyho placed second (8 points), so going into divisionals OG has 34 points and TH has 32. Very close.
Who will win Division G? If Old Georgetown wins divisionals, then it wins the division. But if OG comes in second at divisionals (16 points) and TH comes in first (20 points), Tallyho wins the division: TH (20 + 32 = 52) to OG (16 + 34 = 50).
And we can't rule out the come-from-behind possibilities. For example, if Robin Hood, the current third place team, has stellar swims and OG and TH don't--or if a few of key OG and TH swimmers are sick or out of town--and RH wins divisionals with TH third and OG fourth, then RH (24 + 20 = 44) and TH (32 + 12 = 44) tie for first in the division and OG ends up with third (34 + 8 = 42).
If you win your division, does that mean you'll be in a higher division next season? No--but that will be tomorrow's blog topic.
Friday, July 18, 2008
All Star scratches
It's time to look at the All Star seedings--both for Relay All Stars and for Individual All Stars--and send in your scratches. You can find the details about scratching here. Scratches for Individual All Stars are due by 6pm on Sunday, July 20.
With regard to Relay All Stars, please note that swim ups are not permitted (see Rule 16e), so if all your 13-14s have left town, you'll need to scratch that 13-14 medley.
Please get your scratches in promptly so that events can be seeded properly and the next swimmers down the list or the alternate relay teams can plan to be on deck!
With regard to Relay All Stars, please note that swim ups are not permitted (see Rule 16e), so if all your 13-14s have left town, you'll need to scratch that 13-14 medley.
Please get your scratches in promptly so that events can be seeded properly and the next swimmers down the list or the alternate relay teams can plan to be on deck!
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Winding down
Our 50th season is beginning to come to an end. My team had its "B" relay carnival last night. This Saturday is divisionals, the last meet where our swimmers really compete as teams. The end-of-season banquet is right around the corner. After Sunday, only the kids going to Relay or Individual All Stars will still be coming to practice, and by the following Sunday, many pools will be deserted.
I'll be keeping the blog open until July 27th. I have a few topics I'm still planning to cover, but it you have a question you've been dying to ask, now's the time to ask it. I can't guarantee answers--I'm still working on that place judging question Lisa asked here (though I have gotten some input on that)--but I'll do my best.
I'll be keeping the blog open until July 27th. I have a few topics I'm still planning to cover, but it you have a question you've been dying to ask, now's the time to ask it. I can't guarantee answers--I'm still working on that place judging question Lisa asked here (though I have gotten some input on that)--but I'll do my best.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Psyche ups and cheers and other spirited events
Early in my career as a team rep, I was fortunate to hire a young woman who was a wonderful coach. She was also a frustrated theater director, I think. She created the most amazing psyche ups before our swim meets. One of her most ambitious projects was staging a mini Star Wars complete with light sabers, Chewbacca, Princess Leia, and a host of 8 & under Yodas. Her psyche ups amused the parents, delighted the little kids, and caught the imagination and the enthusiasm of the older swimmers.Most psyche ups aren't so elaborate. The only one I can remember from my days as a swimmer was pretty lame. (Sorry, Bill B.) Of course, I was a rather introverted teen at the time, so perhaps everyone else was wildly enthusiastic about getting in the pool and kicking down the length on our backs...growling--or making whatever noises tigers make. (We were the Glenwood tigers...)
Anyone out there in blogland have a favorite psyche up, cheer, or other spirited activity from your MCSL days to share?
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