How Fast Was Swim International?

It's been over a month since my last blog post, I apologize for not being on the ball with this as of late. I've had a lot going on the past month or so. Aside from that, I've been working hard on this blog post. Now most swimmers my age probably don't care how all the other swimmers are doing a particular meet and until now I didn't show much interest until learning of the 78% failure rate at the 2014 Canadian Swimming Trials in Victoria this past April.

I chose to look at the best time rate for Swim International for a few reasons 
a) I was unable to swim do to injuries so counting best times seemed like a good idea to pass the time
b) Swim International was the first meet in Ontario to be ran 3 tanks 
c) Swim International is known as 'a fast early season meet' for most swimmers

I asked myself the question how fast was Swim International and is there any evidence to show a tank with faster results or a larger percentage of best times then the rest?

The below chart outlines all the sessions, ages, No show rate, DQ rate, and overall best time percent and more. Check it out below.

Day	Pool	Age Group Genders	Number of Swims	Number of NS	Number of DQ	Percentage of BT
Friday Nov 7	65M Shallow	13-14 Girls 13-14 Boys 17&O Boys	393	23	11	44.44%
Friday Nov 7	65M Deep	15-16 Girls 15-16 Boys 17&O Girls	387	13	21	36.08%
Sat Nov 8	65M Shallow	13-14 Girls 17&O Boys	601	23	6	27.15%
Sat Nov 8	65M Deep	13-14 Boys 15-16 Boys	666	14	10	50.49%
Sat Nov 8	25M Pool	15-16 Girls 17&O Girls	498	9	4	20.08%
Sat Nov 8	65M Shallow	11-12 Girls 10&U Boys	541	20	15	55.61%
Sat Nov 8	65M Deep	11-12 Boys 10&U Girls	586	13	14	55.98%
Sat Nov 8	65M Deep	13&O Finals	304	0	0	75.65%
Sun Nov 9	65M Shallow	15-16 Girls 17&O Girls	502	20	4	14.34%
Sun Nov 9	65M Deep	13-14 Girls 17&O Boys	590	32	7	26.94%
Sun Nov 9	25M Pool	13-14 Boys 15-16 Boys	674	15	7	39.46%
Sun Nov 9	65M Shallow	11-12 Girls 10&U Boys	595	16	23	59.15%
Sun Nov 9	65M Deep	11-12 Boys 10&U Girls	515	25	21	62.52%
Sun Nov 9	65M Deep	13&O Finals	319	0	4	88.08%
		Total	7171	223	147	46.86%

NOTE: The finals percentage was determined by the swimmers prelim to final time. For example if swimmer A had a 30:50 50 free entry and went 31:09 in prelims then went 30:75 in finals this is considered a best time. I was looking at the prelims to finals difference. This raises the question maybe the meet should be structured differently. IE A,B finals 13,14,15,16,17&O format for prelims/finals since it really isn't fare having 100+ 15-16 year old's in an event and trying to fight for 8 spots. Just a thought.  

A few things I picked up from this meet was the satisfactory best time rate of just shy of 50% not bad for November, the high number of people not showing up to there events and the number that raised my eyebrows the most was the DQ rate of 147 for a 2 and half day meet is ridiculous let alone any meet. The large number of DQ's raises the question are officials calling way to many things? Are swimmers making that many mistakes? And are the DQ's even valid?

Deep end results I noticed swimmers were swimming the best and this is normally true with any meet. How ever the shallow end results were quite poor as they normally always are, especially at this pool, for what reason, I don't really know. The new 25M pool that is said to be a 'fast pool' well I'd say that's not nearly the case... Now with only 2 sessions of data and an average out of the two less then 30% that to me says enough that the swimming in this particular pool needs improvement. The 25M was never really designed for racing, one could argue it has top of the line blocks, and an anti wave system, but swimmers and coaches were complaining about poor air quality and warm water for swimmers to race in, mix the two together and it sets up for disaster. I'd like to see the 25M pool stay as a warm up/warm down pool for this meet and any other meets that is hosted at the Wayne Gretzky Sports Center since the side 18M small pool is well not a real space to properly warm up/down.

Overall I believe a lot came out of this meet and I hope BAC listens and takes the comments and suggestions made by other coaches into consideration to make the meet even better in the years to come. Do I like the idea of 3 tanks being ran at the same time? No because it forces coaches to try and be in 3 places at once unfortunately we don't have 6 eyes to watch all these tanks it's sometimes hard enough with 2. The parents didn't really have a proper place to watch there athletes compete (little deck space). And the scoreboard needs fixing since some of the panels weren't working. Finally, I felt with 3 tanks, teams were forced to split up where they were sitting as some needed to be in the 25M pool, other in the shallow and the rest in the deep, it may sound small but team dynamic is critical for overall team success.

I'll wrap this up with overall a strong meet for November with most swimmers trying to beat times from championship meets in February. I believe from some of the results posted at this meet December and the rest of the SC season will shape up well. As I look at it every SC meet counts as LC is finally beginning to take the drivers seat instead of the backseat it's been riding in for way to long. All the best Ontario swimmers with many major championship meets coming within 1-2 weeks before the Christmas break.