USMS, I want your help! In a nutshell: I'm the master's rep to the board of a cradle-to-grave swimteam. At our last board meeting, we discussed the need to reach out to those kids who finish age-group, but don't swim college, and are left with a giant swimming-shaped hole in their heart. For various reasons, they don't get it that masters is for them. I want to develop, or better yet, for someone skilled in this kind of thing to develop a pamphlet or fact sheet, or whatever it is that kids these days read, that describes Masters swimming to them. I want to describe how ferocious the level of competition is in their age groups. I want to dispel myths that it's just for oldsters like me. I want them to learn how challenging the workouts can be, how they can continue to improve, and that they need not be done with the sport they love.
Do any of you have something like this? Or can you suggest material to feed it?
THANKS!
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If you want to show them the level of competition or the marquee names that are Masters Swimmers look no further than this video of Cullen Jones, this video of Nathan Adrian, or the top 10 times for their age groups, or the top 10 rankings for their age groups 18 - 24 and 25 - 29.
Many universities have college club programs or are willing to start college club programs for those students that do not want to join the university's NCAA team. There is a college club championship every year in Georgia Tech that brings 1,300 swimmers from across the country to compete. Many of these swimmers are USMS registered and more and more of the college clubs are becoming USMS registered clubs.
The best way to pique an 18 - 24 year old's interest is to introduce them to the benefits of Masters Swimming beyond the swimming... the opportunity to find a job or internship. Most Masters teams are small communities that take care of their own. If a new swimmer joins, they might have 30 or 40 teammates that are either business owners, managers or just a have a large rolodex and lots of local connections.
If you are looking to convey this information to age-groupers, who are already on your team, you have to introduce them to the benefits of Masters before they hit 18 or 19 and are going off to college. Also, the Masters program cannot be an afterthought to your facility because you have essentially already shown these kids that Masters is unimportant and not a valuable part of the facility. It helps when the age-group coach and Masters coach get along and both understand that the other is important to their survival (the Masters program can help fundraising, volunteering, etc. while the age-groupers are future Masters swimmers and can volunteer for Masters events).
If you want to show them the level of competition or the marquee names that are Masters Swimmers look no further than this video of Cullen Jones, this video of Nathan Adrian, or the top 10 times for their age groups, or the top 10 rankings for their age groups 18 - 24 and 25 - 29.
Many universities have college club programs or are willing to start college club programs for those students that do not want to join the university's NCAA team. There is a college club championship every year in Georgia Tech that brings 1,300 swimmers from across the country to compete. Many of these swimmers are USMS registered and more and more of the college clubs are becoming USMS registered clubs.
The best way to pique an 18 - 24 year old's interest is to introduce them to the benefits of Masters Swimming beyond the swimming... the opportunity to find a job or internship. Most Masters teams are small communities that take care of their own. If a new swimmer joins, they might have 30 or 40 teammates that are either business owners, managers or just a have a large rolodex and lots of local connections.
If you are looking to convey this information to age-groupers, who are already on your team, you have to introduce them to the benefits of Masters before they hit 18 or 19 and are going off to college. Also, the Masters program cannot be an afterthought to your facility because you have essentially already shown these kids that Masters is unimportant and not a valuable part of the facility. It helps when the age-group coach and Masters coach get along and both understand that the other is important to their survival (the Masters program can help fundraising, volunteering, etc. while the age-groupers are future Masters swimmers and can volunteer for Masters events).
