U.S. Masters Swimming Open Water Service Award

IronMike

Hey! Good news! Got the following in the May 2013 USMS Streamlines:

The Open Water Committee is pleased to announce the creation of a new annual USMS award. The U.S. Masters Swimming Open Water Service Award will honor an individual who has made significant contributions to promoting and building excellence in USMS open water swimming in one or more of the following ways:

- Embodies the USMS mission, vision, goals, and objectives through open water swimming
- Contributes notably in several roles (i.e., USMS national committee, LMSC open water/long distance chair, event and/or safety director, official, coach, clinician, and/or volunteer)
- Contributes notably at different levels of USMS (i.e. national, zone, LMSC, and/or local)
- Demonstrates extraordinary measurable achievement and impact.

See! USMS loves open water swimming!

evmo

lol. I nominate irishpolarbear!

timsroot

IronMike wrote:

See! USMS loves open water swimming!

I got a kick out of one of the race directors at their national 5k championships this past weekend complaining a bit to me about how much harder it was this year to get a sanction. Also interesting that they lost one of their national championships because of the new rules.

lakespray

IronMike wrote:

The U.S. Masters Swimming Open Water Service Award will honor an individual who has made significant contributions to promoting and building excellence in USMS open water swimming in one or more of the following ways:

- Embodies the USMS mission, vision, goals, and objectives through open water swimming
- Contributes notably in several roles (i.e., USMS national committee, LMSC open water/long distance chair, event and/or safety director, official, coach, clinician, and/or volunteer)
- Contributes notably at different levels of USMS (i.e. national, zone, LMSC, and/or local)
- Demonstrates extraordinary measurable achievement and impact.

See! USMS loves open water swimming!

I think there missing thee most credible way to promote and build excellence in USMS open waters swimming.

-Quantity over quality internet forum posts on usms.org ;-)

david_barra

The definition of circle jerk is: see "circle jerk"

Rob_Copeland

Niek wrote:

I'll nominate Rob Copeland

Thank you. Your nomination means a lot, especially coming from such an open water luminary.

evmo

Rob_Copeland wrote:

Thank you. Your nomination means a lot, especially coming from such an open water luminary.

Silly polarbear. Niek does far more for open water swimming in his region of the world than you do in yours.

Rob_Copeland

evmo wrote:

Niek does far more for open water swimming in his region of the world than you do in yours.

Wow, now this is getting embarrassing. First to get nominated by Niek and now to find out you are spending your spare time keeping track of my open water activities.

evmo

Rob_Copeland wrote:

and now to find out you are spending your spare time keeping track of my open water activities.

It doesn't take much time at all, and honestly, it's more for the comic relief.

timsroot

Rob_Copeland wrote:

Niek wrote:

I'll nominate Rob Copeland

Thank you. Your nomination means a lot, especially coming from such an open water luminary.

evmo wrote:

Rob_Copeland wrote:

Thank you. Your nomination means a lot, especially coming from such an open water luminary.

Silly polarbear. Niek does far more for open water swimming in his region of the world than you do in yours.

Easy, kids. Let's play nice. Isn't there some kind of forum rule about personal attacks?

evmo

Really? Pretty benign stuff, IMO.
@loneswimmer can delete it if he wants.

Rob_Copeland

"timsroot wrote:

Isn't there some kind of forum rule about personal attacks?

Tim thanks for your question. On this discussion forum it appears okay for the moderator to post using an alias and bully members. If you know this going in, then you learn to post at your peril and deal with the consequences.

evmo

Who is posting under an alias?

loneswimmer

Knock it off all of you.

@Rob_Copeland, you are making what looks like a pretty serious accusation. I expect either a PM with explanation or a clarification. In the meantime this thread is locked.

loneswimmer

This thread was closed firstly because I didn't want it to escalate. And secondly because of what I took to be a serious accusation from @Rob_Copeland that @Evmo or I were using other accounts (aliases/sockpuppet/proxy/whatever you want to call it) to bully members.

Over the past 24 hours I have had a number of communications with members, most specifically with @Rob_Copeland and I am happy to post this verbatim clarification from him:

It has been brought to my attention that some members of this forum have misunderstood my response to Tim Root’s question about personal attacks. I would like to clarify my statement “On this discussion forum it appears okay for the moderator to post using an alias and bully members.”

First let me correct a misstatement; the person I was referring to is an administrator of the forum and not a moderator.

Second there is some confusion over my use of the word alias. Alias, as per the Merriam-Webster dictionary is “an assumed or additional name”. I did not mean to imply the administrators of this forum are posting under aliases other than evmo and loneswimmer. I have no knowledge of either Evan or Donal having or using other accounts on this forum. I’m sorry if people got the wrong implication about this.

Third I have been trying to find a term other tan bullying to try to express how I feel, but I can’t come up with anything that will further any meaningful dialogue.

In closing, Donal and Evan, I wish you much success with this forum and your other endeavors to provide a conduit for open water swimmers. Swimming in general and open water swimming has and continues to be a valuable part of my life. It was a pleasure to see others who share this belief and share their passion for our sport.

FROM THE ADMINS: The marathonswimmers forum has since its inception had a policy against personal attacks. This does not mean members can't disagree, criticise each other or have arguments. This does not mean you have to like each other. But the Admins have demonstrated and will to continue to so do, a policy against egregious personal invective or attacks. One previous member was banned precisely for continuing personal attacks against USMS & @Rob_Copeland.

We categorically reject any assertion of bullying by @evmo or myself and see the assertion as mischievous or even vexatious, and believe that the community will support us in this.

We leave it to the community to balance all the evidence and past history of all sides and come to your own conclusions.

evmo

Not off-topic:

http://dailynews.openwaterswimming.com/2013/05/open-water-swimming-safety-in.html?m=1

<blockquote>No two individuals have a greater influence on their country's open water swimming culture than Richard Broer and Niek Kloots.

The long-time Dutch open water enthusiasts have served in every possible role within the open water swimming community in the Netherlands. And over the years, they have collectively pushed for and implemented a number of safety protocols, procedures and policies with the athletes always in mind.</blockquote>
Congrats on the recognition, @Niek!