I was reminded of a simple logic puzzle when a friend of mine asked if I had read the Kiwi Swimming Facebook post about Swimming New Zealand (SNZ) asking Counties’ Clubs to join either the Auckland or Waikato Regions. I will be sad to see Counties go. Many outstanding people have run that Region for a very long time. In fact, the management of its clubs is better than the options Counties is being asked to join. If anything, Auckland and Waikato should both be told to join Counties.

However, mergers are the way of the world. Auckland City did it. National water is on its way. We are all going to have better health when regional health boards are a thing of the past. And so Counties, suck it up, decide which Region you dislike the least and start making plans to take over their administration. You will do a better job than is being done now. Everyone will benefit.

I think one word of caution is important. Watch like a hawk what happens to Counties’ money. It seems like Counties have about $57,000 in the bank. That money was hard earned by some good Counties’ clubs and that is where it should stay. Make sure the way Wairarapa’s money disappeared into Wellington’s hungry little hands does not happen here. Because make no mistake those who manage Auckland and Waikato will have their greedy eyes on Counties’ cheque book.

Be careful of SNZ as well. I can already hear their Board whispering clauses of the Charities regulations and the responsibilities of a parent company. Just remind them that when SNZ is prepared to assume responsibility for a Region in financial trouble, only then can they buy a better Board lunch at Sails Restaurant with Counties’ money.

Personally, I’d make a distribution of the Counties’ money a condition of the merger. The distribution to be decided on the basis of Counties’ club membership numbers. Something like this.

CLUB	MEMBERS	$ DISTRIBUTION
Fulton Swim	68	$4,325
Howick Pakuranga	403	$25,638
Manurewa	86	$5,471
Mangere	19	$1,209
Papakura	95	$6,043
Papatoetoe	73	$4,644
Pukekohe	152	$9,670
SCM ADMIN	6	$0
TOTALS	902	$57,000.00

In addition to their cash Counties probably have sone fixed assets, items like touch pads, computers, chairs and the like. Those could be donated to the new Region, I guess. But not without the Counties’ clubs getting the first option. Or the assets could be sold and the proceeds added to the $57,000 for distribution to the clubs. Yes, that’s what I’d do. Sell the assets and distribute the money.

But back to my logic puzzle. As you have probably guessed, I took my friend’s advice and read the Kiwi Swimming Facebook post about the Counties’ merger. I also read the previous post about swimmers missing out on the Age Group Championships. And boy-oh-boy, there is a pile of rubbish posted on that Facebook page. Honestly, I’ve never read the like.

You know, when I was at University, I did a course in logic. One puzzle was, “The day before two days after the day before tomorrow is Saturday. What day is it today?

The answer is Friday, because, the “day before tomorrow” is today; “the day before two days after” is really one day after. So, if “one day after today is Saturday,” then it must be Friday.

Now if you think any of that is the slightest bit complicated just click on the Kiwi Swimming Facebook page and read the stuff written there. Here for example is most of a paragraph about the Age Group Nationals.

“Those of you who were 15 last year may have wanted to do NAGs. NAGs was cancelled in 2020. While it was held this year, who knows what will happen next year when last year’s 15-year-olds will be 17.”

I think what he or she might be trying to say is, because of the COVID19 some swimmers might miss swimming in the National Age Group Championships. From my experience of coaching for a decade in the United States, where there are no Age Group Nationals, missing the New Zealand event could be the biggest plus in a swimmer’s career.

Believe me the Americans do not have a National Age Group Championship for a reason. The meet is bad, bad, bad. Too much pressure at too young an age. Too many inflated egos at too young an age. Too much stimulation for “over-anxious-parents”. And too much of everything for ill-informed Facebook novelists.

The post about the Counties’ merger with Auckland or Waikato is just as bad. Most of it is rambling speculation about COVID19 borders. Although what COVID19 borders have to do with a long-term plan to unify two swimming Regions is hard to imagine. Only Kiwi Swimming could find enough to write a 300-word puzzle about nothing. Perhaps we could do the guy a favour by sending him a Facebook comment that says, “The answer is Friday”.