In what countries, besides USA, is Masters Swimming "big"? Now, it's very difficult to define excatly what I mean by masters swimming being "big" but let's define it like this:
1. An arbitrarily chosen city with a population of more than 100,000 in the particular country would be likely to have a masters team with at least 10 members.
2. Annually there should be at least 5 masters swim meet being held in the country.
So basically, if I reside in the particular country in a not too small city, I'd be likely to be able to join a masters team and compete without having to travel abroad.
Australia comfortably meets the definition: www.mastersswimming.org.au/
(Ballarat - current population ~95,000 - is the largest town without a Masters team. They have 3 swimming clubs, tho, and one seems to hold Masters training sessions twice a week)
Great Britain get my vote. If I joined another team it would be a team from Great Britian. I believe there are many programs that USMS could adapt from our swimming colleagues across the sea. I have participated in some of their events via the internet.
I have also participated in a couple of swimming events, via the internet, with the Australian Masters.
I'm an Australian expat in Peru and we have a reasonable Masters Swimming organisation here. (Hope you don't mind me lurking on your forum). There are at least 6 comps per year (not including open water - there's heaps of these in summer) and the standard is pretty impressive. I'm a 48 year old that has started swimming again after a hiatus of over 30 years so it's all reasonably new - again.
FYI - The Peruvian record for 45-49 Men's 100m Free is 55sec which is comparable with US and Australian standards.
There are some really good Masters swimmers from Mexico.I don't know how many teams there are though.At the international competitions I have been to(which have been in only in the US and Canada) there have been a disproportional number of Russian and Japanese swimmers.Based on last years Worlds entries,there must be a lot of Masters in Italy.
There are some good teams in London. Outside of London, the choices are far more limited. Go north of the M4 and they're almost non-existant. "Masters" clubs are the squads for the 18+ age group swimmers and a handful of older swimmers who are still pretty fast. Birmingham has a dedicated Masters club, but all of the other choices in the West Midlands mean swimming with the main swimming club. Or attending the "Masters" session at the local leisure centre, which is what the more optomistic centres call their SwimFit times. Competitions are moderately rare: the counties may have a County championship, each Region will have a SCM and LCM Regional championship, and there are National SCM and LCM meets. The National SC meet is the most attended, and lasts 3 days. LC Nationals is a single day. I'm getting ready to swim at the Southeast Regional SCM meet (I live in Kidderminster but swim with Southampton - which has a great Masters team, thanks mostly to its coach), which is just an afternoon/evening (1:00 pm - 9:00 pm).
There are some great folks in GB Masters Swimming. But I wouldn't say it's particularly "big". Then again, most sport isn't particulary "big" here if you're not just spectating. Cycling and sailing would be the exceptions.
Biil Sive,
Where did you get information on internet events for Great Britain and Australia.
Betsy Durrant
Information on Masters Swimming in Britain can be found here:
www.swimming.org/.../masters
I found Swim Fit to be beneficial. I managed to do a number of their on-line guided workouts. Isn't getting into a pool and moving what its all about anyway? I've recommended to USMS to look at the Swim Fit program and see if they can adopt some of its material for swimmers in the USA.
