Recently, NAR leadership has put forth some major changes to the format for competitive rocketry. No longer will flyers receive points for finishing well in NAR sanctioned meets held by local clubs with whatever events that club chooses. Instead, there will be six different events each year that can be run at sanctioned events and at NARAM. Not every one of those six events has to be run at any meet and other events may be added as desired by the club running the meet. However, if a flyer competes in one of the national events, his/her results will be posted on the NAR website along with the results of all other flyers, regardless of where they competed. At the end of the contest year, the top flyers in each event will receive awards and will be eligible to compete for national titles at NARAM.
Some of the details will likely change before these rules are put into effect. Overall, however, this new system should benefit S.W.A.R.M. It has traditionally been difficult for our members to gain many points in a year because of the lack of local events. Now, all it really takes is one good showing at an event to place in the national standings. We could even give our members more opportunities to try the six national events by holding more sanctioned competitions. This won't be difficult, as the events could be the same at each competition. The Harvest Classic could be run with the six national events as well as any others of our choosing, but we could also run the six national events at any of our launches, as long as we nofify our regional competition chair.
As with any type of change, there will likely be disagreements along the way. Regardless, I am very much looking forward to this new system and the possibilities it will open up for S.W.A.R.M.!
Some of the details will likely change before these rules are put into effect. Overall, however, this new system should benefit S.W.A.R.M. It has traditionally been difficult for our members to gain many points in a year because of the lack of local events. Now, all it really takes is one good showing at an event to place in the national standings. We could even give our members more opportunities to try the six national events by holding more sanctioned competitions. This won't be difficult, as the events could be the same at each competition. The Harvest Classic could be run with the six national events as well as any others of our choosing, but we could also run the six national events at any of our launches, as long as we nofify our regional competition chair.
As with any type of change, there will likely be disagreements along the way. Regardless, I am very much looking forward to this new system and the possibilities it will open up for S.W.A.R.M.!