There's a story on swimswam (swimswam.com/.../) about Anthony Ervin swimming at USMS Nationals and the first comment states:
There is nothing better than going to a USMS meet and seeing swimmers like Anthony Ervin compete. It makes you feel like a 12 year old fan again!
In the same breath I will ask; what is the point of letting their times count as USMS records? They are professional two-a-day swimmers in the same age group categories as young professionals who might make a few practices per week. There is no way real Masters swimmers are able to train to be able to beat them. The professional swimmers wouldn’t be able to beat themselves with the same schedule afforded to the a real Masters swimmer. Thoughts?
My thoughts are that this is ridiculous. Anyone who is registered in USMS has as much right to set a record as anyone else. Who exactly is the arbiter of what a "real masters swimmer" is?
I have no problem with elite athletes swimming USMS and setting records. They raise the bar for all and have every right to be there.
I have more of a problem with a situation such as Y-Nationals being recognized by USMS with results that will count towards the lists but excludes many USMS members from participation.
USMS meets need to be open to all registered members and all members should be able to be recognized for their accomplishments. Period. Anything less would be uncivilized.
I don't understand your second paragraph. The YMCA Nationals times count for all USMS members that have been entered in the meet. The reason its recognized and not sanctioned is that they cannot discriminate against YMCA members that don't belong to USMS. Those Y members times will not count because they are not members of USMS and this is similar to National Senior Games and those competitions are recognized also.
The only reason that the YMCA would exclude any member of USMS from participation would be if you not a member of the YMCA. You have to join a YMCA 30 days before the meet starts. The YMCA has kind of cleaned up there act because a couple of years they did exclude YMCA members from setting a YMCA National Record unless you joined a full service YMCA. They also set YMCA Club fees at a minimum of $75.00 regardless of what kind of a YMCA you belonged to.
I was a member of a YMCA that had only a house and had all of the programs done at schools and REC centers. I was told I had to pay $75 regardless of what services that I used and that if I set any YMCA Records they would not count because I was not a full service member paying $900 a year. The YMCA Nationals have currently cleaned up there act because they do not have the 90 day joining rule and scaled that down to 30 days before the meet. They also got rid of the minimum $75 dollar limit for YMCA's that are not full service and will allow any YMCA member to set a YMCA National Record and not discriminate against YMCA members that set records but were not full service members. These changes were instituted this year as I was told that there attendance figures were way down because swimmers were deserting them because of these ridiculous absurd rules.
I have no problem with elite athletes swimming USMS and setting records. They raise the bar for all and have every right to be there.
I have more of a problem with a situation such as Y-Nationals being recognized by USMS with results that will count towards the lists but excludes many USMS members from participation.
USMS meets need to be open to all registered members and all members should be able to be recognized for their accomplishments. Period. Anything less would be uncivilized.
I don't understand your second paragraph. The YMCA Nationals times count for all USMS members that have been entered in the meet. The reason its recognized and not sanctioned is that they cannot discriminate against YMCA members that don't belong to USMS. Those Y members times will not count because they are not members of USMS and this is similar to National Senior Games and those competitions are recognized also.
The only reason that the YMCA would exclude any member of USMS from participation would be if you not a member of the YMCA. You have to join a YMCA 30 days before the meet starts. The YMCA has kind of cleaned up there act because a couple of years they did exclude YMCA members from setting a YMCA National Record unless you joined a full service YMCA. They also set YMCA Club fees at a minimum of $75.00 regardless of what kind of a YMCA you belonged to.
I was a member of a YMCA that had only a house and had all of the programs done at schools and REC centers. I was told I had to pay $75 regardless of what services that I used and that if I set any YMCA Records they would not count because I was not a full service member paying $900 a year. The YMCA Nationals have currently cleaned up there act because they do not have the 90 day joining rule and scaled that down to 30 days before the meet. They also got rid of the minimum $75 dollar limit for YMCA's that are not full service and will allow any YMCA member to set a YMCA National Record and not discriminate against YMCA members that set records but were not full service members. These changes were instituted this year as I was told that there attendance figures were way down because swimmers were deserting them because of these ridiculous absurd rules.
