As a competitor moves up the ranks, the experience they get from different competitions can vary drastically. At some competitions, the standard of the division matches really well with prior expectations and the qualification process. Whereas in a different competition, divisions are named the same as others, but it’s a notch or two up or down when comparing.
This difference can be very frustrating as an athlete and coach. It means that some competitions don’t provide useful information to help with training and improving.
It’s going to be impossible to make everyone happy—for some it will be too hard and for others it will be too easy. But having some consistency across competitions will make for a much more streamlined process in both competing and training for athletes.
In this week’s episode, we explore potential ways of having some level of guidance or standardization, as well as discuss the realities for athletes competing at different divisions and progressing throughout their training and competing.
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Show Notes:
- [1:00] Difference amongst divisions in different competitions
- [3:10] Can you keep all participants happy?
- [5:00] The Open is not longer the measure it was
- [7:30] Finding common benchmarking amongst competitions
- [15:20] Should divisions be policed by competition organisers?
- [23:30] Standardization or guidance
- [26:00] Level systems from back in the day
