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.
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.
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.
