Friday, November 30, 2007

Invitational meets

Several comments from survey respondents addressed the subjects of the big multi-team invitational swim meets in which many TSA teams participate:

Why wasn't the Cary City meet posted on the front page [of the TSA web site] like the Wave and MOR meets?

There should be input by impacted TSA reps on invitational city meets operations and dates.

TSA needs to get more money from the outside sponsors of the invitational meets--money toward scholarships or to bring dues down.

I'd like to address these comments here. The important thing to remember is that none of these championship meets are TSA events. TSA does not control them, and they do not receive any funds from TSA. They are private, invitational events, and all operational aspects are under the control of their hosts. If you have comments or suggestions about the scheduling, finances or invitation policies of any of these meets, you need to get in touch with the organization that runs the particular meet in question (RSA, MOR, New Wave, Scottish Hills or Cary Swim Club) -- not with TSA.

I am always glad to pass along information from the organizers of these events because most of our teams enjoy participating in at least one championship-style meet. However, I will only do that if the meet organizers ask me to do so, as the MOR JC Meet and the New Wave Greater Raleigh Invitational Meet did this year. It's not surprising that those two meets wanted general notification to all TSA clubs, because they invite all clubs to attend (though in practice, virtually all of the attendees in recent years are North League teams). The other two invitational meets, in contrast, have chosen to define themselves geographically, and they directly contact the teams they wish to invite (but only those teams). That is probably why the Cary City Invitational Meet and the South Wake Invitational Meet did not ask me to post invitation information on the TSA home page.

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