My team, Rockwall Aquatic Masters is having a long course meet on 6th July and I am actively trying to convince team mates to sign up. On my blog I was describing my disappointment that more of my team mates had not signed up. One commenter posted the following, "Why do they have to participate? I have more fun going to practice than I do meets. I don't find meets fun anymore." I guess I had assumed that most people enjoy meets and I found it strange that my team mates did not want to sign up. This got me thinking and I wondered why people compete or don't compete? Any thoughts?
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I'm in the UK and chairman of a club with ~120 members, of which maybe a quarter will compete once or twice a year, and about 10% will do more than that, so I recognise the issue both from a numbers perspective and from the arguments.
Personally, I love to compete - but not too often, and I won't go too far to do it. I have other commitments, and I also don't want it to become boring. A lot of our guys will limit the number of meets they are prepared to do and the distance they are prepared to travel - whether it's for Nationals, Euros, Worlds doesn't make a massive difference. You can't really argue with that, as it is down to preference.
There are, however, a number of issues that we do need to try to address as clubs- which have all been articulated already, such as first time misconceptions, ex-swimmers comparing their times to the past, etc. We do need to give encouragement without being pushy, because many of our members (who are most welcome) just want to stay fit. Simple messages for me:
- You're not an age-grouper now and if you go to a meet, you go through your own choice.
- Your first masters meet is an opportunity to reset your times, and your first meet in a new age group likewise.
- Don't get hung up on how 'good' you are or used to be. Neither will improve your enjoyment of the event.
- You're not going to stand out for being 'slow'. Because of time seeding and the wide age range, literally anything goes.
- It's not medals that matter, nor even times, but having fun and challenging yourself to do something active.
- Masters meets can be great socially, particularly going to a big meet with a big team; but at any meet if you talk to the people that you're swimming 'against' there's a good chance that you'll make new friends.
I'm in the UK and chairman of a club with ~120 members, of which maybe a quarter will compete once or twice a year, and about 10% will do more than that, so I recognise the issue both from a numbers perspective and from the arguments.
Personally, I love to compete - but not too often, and I won't go too far to do it. I have other commitments, and I also don't want it to become boring. A lot of our guys will limit the number of meets they are prepared to do and the distance they are prepared to travel - whether it's for Nationals, Euros, Worlds doesn't make a massive difference. You can't really argue with that, as it is down to preference.
There are, however, a number of issues that we do need to try to address as clubs- which have all been articulated already, such as first time misconceptions, ex-swimmers comparing their times to the past, etc. We do need to give encouragement without being pushy, because many of our members (who are most welcome) just want to stay fit. Simple messages for me:
- You're not an age-grouper now and if you go to a meet, you go through your own choice.
- Your first masters meet is an opportunity to reset your times, and your first meet in a new age group likewise.
- Don't get hung up on how 'good' you are or used to be. Neither will improve your enjoyment of the event.
- You're not going to stand out for being 'slow'. Because of time seeding and the wide age range, literally anything goes.
- It's not medals that matter, nor even times, but having fun and challenging yourself to do something active.
- Masters meets can be great socially, particularly going to a big meet with a big team; but at any meet if you talk to the people that you're swimming 'against' there's a good chance that you'll make new friends.
