FSRA, Peter, et al.
While I take a recess from reading your manifesto Peter (can only read so much in one sitting...), I would be remiss to not make a point of clarification regarding the Florida Sprints League. The FSL has ZERO to do with FSRA, it's rules, and the State Championship race. To restate "our" purpose, it is simply a group of teams who CHOOSE to adopt a method of racing that best benefits the direction of our teams. ANY team who wishes to race may do so. My team, and I believe many others, found the format refreshing and look forward to another go round this season. And may I add, this past season (as a "member" of the FSL) Space Coast Crew also participated in the OARS Regatta, Hood Cup, etc. ONE STYLE OF RACING DOES NOT REPLACE THE OTHER.
With regard to the upcoming meeting, I would hope that we can all work toward the betterment of the Florida State Championship race, something I think that we made great strides towards doing last year, and can continue to refine how we run that race. Other than that, I think it unwise for us to try to dictate or predetermine the direction of Florida rowing as a whole. It will, if nothing else, prove to be an exercise in futility I'm afraid.
Look forward to seeing everyone in August. All the best,
Patrick
Space Coast Crew
P.S.--> For the record, my club (SCC) has NO interest or intent in "breaking down" into scholastic boats. Our athletes are proud members of SCC, practice as SCC, and will race as SCC. Please don't include us in any discussion to the contrary.
----- Original Message -----From: Crossley, Brice ASent: Thursday, July 27, 2006 10:13 AMSubject: [FSRA] champ options comments From Peter de Manio
See Peter's attachment and comments below.Also, I'm assuming Champs will be scheduled for the weekend of April 28. I received a comment that AP exams may start April 30 which be a factor for some if we race on Sunday.-----Original Message-----
From: Peter de Manio [mailto:pdemanio@hotmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, July 26, 2006 8:56 PM
To: Brice.Crossley-1@.... gov
Subject: RE: [FSRA] Spring schedule and champ options
Brice: I agree with many of the points you raise in your letter as you will see by my attached report. This is the response to all of the activity of a few months ago raised by the creation of FSRA. I would appreciate your disseminating to the coaches so that we can be prepared to discuss it in an expeditious and thoughtful manner at the meeting. Thanks.Peter de Manio
941.539.1905www.ospreyoars.com (rowing)www.peterdemanio.com (mediation)
From: "Crossley, Brice A" <Brice.Crossley-1@.... gov>
To: <FSRA@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: [FSRA] Spring schedule and champ options
Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2006 13:35:32 -0400
Regarding 2007 Florida State Champs (4 items to consider plus some options): Does this mean Scholastics or Youths or a combination (which I believe is an idea that has merit)?1) keep the same events as 2006 with the same qualifying requirements2) keep distance at 1500m - if youths are included, then it should be longer, perhaps a compromise of sorts.3) move to a 2-day (Sat & Sun) format - The one day format required a very tight schedule with no extra time. It also provides no weather contingency. With a 2 day format, we can consider options: 2 days sounds like a good idea and if it is adopted, then I believe youths should be included.3a) modify progression system: 1) add reps for all youth champs events - gives crews experience for national events; and/or 2) add semis for all events over X number of entries. We can stop relying on refs to provide time to calculate the progression. I would suggest only having semis for championship events. That would be possibly 14 more races and that is a lot of added races in itself.3b) add petites to all events over 9 entries - this would keep most boats involved for both days (keep kids busy and reduce complaints about hanging around for a 2nd day). Or remove petites altogether to shorten the race days? I feel very strongly that only championship events should have petites if any at all. If you will refer to my suggestions, you will see that I am encouraging awarding no points below the first six places, so I see no need for them at all.3c) race day time restrictions: example no race before 8am or after 6pm (Sunday 3pm) No one likes to get ready in the dark and most would like to know what time they can expect to get home. Again, please refer to my paper and you will see that I am in full agreement. I would even encourage starting later if possible.3d) remove doubling restrictions - with the above options, most boats would have 3 to 4 races over the weekend. If a coach wants to double that number of races for some rowers and thereby reducing their overall performance, that should be the coach's decision. You are right on! It is a coach's decision.Summary: The new format would be Saturday: heats and maybe reps and/or semis; Sunday: maybe semis and petites/finals. There are several options depending if members approve petites, reps and / or semis. And this also allows weather options such as dropping petites if we need to reduce the number of events. This is quite similar to the Cincinnati format except in our case, since we have non-championship events, I would encourage the elimination of all petites.4) change point schedule for Youth All Points - Both the Scholastic and Youth team trophies have almost identical point structures and therefore who wins one most likely will win both. For several years there has been discussions about having a trophy more based on efficiency. The proposal is to base youth points on the number of event entries you beat. Example: an event with 16 boats: 1st place gets 15 points down to zero points for last. Recognizing this is a Youth Champs trophy and concerns for more points for 'varsity' boats, the proposal also calls for doubling points in Youth Champ events - Varsity 4 & 8, Light 4 & 8, all sculling events.In my paper I just forwarded to you, I believe I have laid out a plan that would encourage broader participation and thus eliminate the complicated proficiency scoring system that I submitted last year. The simpler one I have now submitted I believe would work very well. However, I like your thinking on the subject and agree that there is a great need for revision so as to level out the playing field of award giving.Here is the full blown summary of the above:2 day regatta
- 1st day: heats and reps
- 2nd day: semi and finals
2 classes
- 14 Champ events: V 4, V8, Lt 4, Lt 8, 4x, 2x, 1x
- 12 Non-Champ: JV 4, JV 8, 3rd 4, 3rd 8, Fr 4, Fr 8
2 progressions
- Champ events: heats, reps, semi (if 13+ entries), finals
- Non-Champ: heats, semi (if 16+ entries), finals
End using time to calculate progression
Continue Petites for events with 9+ entries?
Allow doubling?
Change Youth points table
- Champ events: 2 points per boat beat
- Non-Champ: 1 point per boat beat
Using 2006 data w/o doubling:
Saturday
48 heats (start 7:30am) (21 boats don’t race Saturday – Sunday finals only)
13 reps (finish 6pm)
Sunday
8 semis (start 7:30am)
42 finals (finish 3pm) 33 of 262 boats no race 2nd day
or no petites (finish 1pm) 97 of 262 boats no race 2nd day