Summer National scheduling

[PeterGustafsson]

Hi!


This was touched upon in other threads, but since I do not want to do a threadjack I post a separate thread.

How should one schedule the SN so that it gives the best experience to everyone?

Some people have two events at the beginning and end of the week, and have to stay several days without fencing. If one can not sightsee, help other teammates, this can be a bad use of vacation days. This could be counteracted by shuffling the events around so that all male events go in the beginning of the week and the female in the end (or vice versa), but then the number of same-day event collisions would increase.

Splitting up the SN into several smaller events would lessen collisions and waiting days, but cause some fencers to have to travel long distances to more than one nationals, a bad thing in a big country where employed people have few vacation days.

Always having the team event just after the corresponding individual event would probably be a good thing - or can anyone see any downsides?

If one would have a few of the really big events start out the week and let them run until they have finished 1st DE - but no further - then a lot of people would be finished early, and out of the system. The better fencers would have to wait longer, though.

If all events would be run in pairs, with the same age/weapon/classification -but different gender - at the same time, then there would be no competitor collisions, but the load balancing would be difficult since most men´s events attract many more competitors than the women´s.

In Sweden, where ME outnumbers all other events combined, many competitions are run with ME starting out and the other events have their poules starting once all ME poules have ended on all pistes. I think it would be better to have the non-ME poules start whenever there is a piste ready, to maximize piste utilization.

Also, the Swedish nationals are split up into: Individual senior M/F, Ind. MS, Team senior, cadet´s , youth´s. Not sure about the younger events - they may be split up into ind. and team also. At least 5 competition times for nationals, at different places. This for a country the size of California, with 4000 members in the fencing federation, and the largest event having 70-80 competitors.

There is some seriously complicated math to optimize this, so it is an interesting problem.

Your thoughts?


Have a nice time!

Peter Gustafsson

[Ordway]

Overall I think the SN schedule is usually pretty decent. Not always, mind you, but usually. Some of the things I think are important:

--Putting youth events at one end of the week. This may stretch out the schedule for the talented 19-year-olds who are also doing senior events, but for the most part, the U-14 and below competitors are usually just doing their youth events. As an adult fencer, I have to say I appreciate this too - the days with a youth event running simultaneously with an event that I'm in tend to be much more crowded (more parents as spectators). This is usually done this way, I think.

--Not overlapping different divisions in the same weapon/gender, and trying to have them within a few days of each other.

I would definitely not like having the men's and women's events segregated at different times... I have lots of friends and teammates in the men's events whom I want to cheer for, and in general I like the integrated feel of fencing.

I also like the Giant Carnival O' Fencing feel of Summer Nationals. There's something in the air that's not there in a NAC or a big sectional competition. Part of the appeal is seeing other age categories and weapons fenced at a high level of competitiveness. It's also a way to bring together people from all over the country who might not be in the same events, but who will run into each other and reconnect. I always end up talking with old teammates, competitors, friends whom I just happen to run into while wandering around the venue.

I am probably the only person in the world who loves the 8 AM starts, but I think they're great.

One suggestion that I have:

--Hold the senior team events in the MIDDLE of the week, not at the end. It's really hard to put a team together if it means that some or all of the team has to stay an extra 3-4 days with no fencing! If the team events were in the middle, then it would be much more likely for people to be able to coordinate their schedules to compete in them.

[Peach]

We decided not to have a team competition because of the scheduling, so I agree that they need to be held nearer the middle. Also, of course, I am quite disappointed to have the Division I-A held at the same time as the veterans. Scheduling the veteran age groups simultaneously makes sense, however, as people can't fence in more than one of these.

[edew]

Seeding for the Senior Teams is based on the results of the fencers in the Div IA, Div II, and Div III events. They need to run the Senior Teams AFTER the Div IA, Div II, and Div III events.

That said, they could start the nationals with the Div IA, Div II, and Div III events, and then run the youth events towards the end of the week.

If you look at the schedule, the youth events and the Div I events populate the beginning of the schedule and the Div IA, Div II, Div III and veterans populate the end of the schedule. That's fine as well, although I would prefer to see it the other way. But that's for purely selfish reasons. I will be fencing and refereeing, so I would rather get my fencing done first while I'm fresh and referee the rest of the week rather than referee the first half and be leg-worn for the latter half and not be able to fence well.

(On the other hand, I'll have ample opportunities to see other referees, other fencing styles and techniques and perhaps utilize those information to my advantage when I fence.)

[wbowman]

I agree with those who commented about the scheduling of the senior team events. My club also decided not to enter an epee team this year because not enough people could stay the extra days. (and those who CAN are also fencing Vets' foil that day -- which might prove difficult since the Vet foil and the epee teams are both listed as morning events.).