Post-Grads in U.S. Masters Swimming Events

Masters Swimming is for EVERYONE age 18 and over. Exactly! I'd also like to get past the idea that once you've graduated from High School, College, Post-Grad, whatever, that your swimming career is OVER. It's not over. You're just swimming in a new league, where training has to take its place alongside work, spouse, kids, and all the other demands of real life. Now it gets interesting!

Masters Swimming is for EVERYONE age 18 and over. yes and no. USA Masters Swimming is for everyone 18 and older however FINA Masters Swimming is for everyone 25 and older

Totally +1 to having them swim. One of the things I love about Masters swimming is the occasional opportunity to swim in the lane next to a former world-record holder. Having such people swim in Masters meets can only be good for the sport and organization.

A meet where no one in the top ten can swim? That's just sad. Why not just put a speed limit on each event? Think about it. You're telling someone about a meet. Would you rather say "there were a lot of nice people, I got lapped by a dude with a beer gut who was eight years older than me, and it was tons of fun" or "there were a lot of nice people, I got lapped by a dude with a beer gut who was eight years older than me, it was tons of fun, oh and Olympic gold medalist Misty Hyman (for example) swam too"? And so what if they set records? They're age group records. If they are set by an Olympian, that makes masters swimming look better. Does Rowdy not deserve his records? And time limits are arbitrary. Can a one-time Olympian at age 18 set masters records when she's 29? Does Dara Torres have to wait until she's 52? Any restriction you can think of "to level the playing field" will fall apart in practice because it's fundamentally unfair to exclude anyone based on achievement or ability. We either let everyone compete (and set records) or the competition is meaningless. I guess you would say "there were a lot of nice people, everyone swam the same speed because we don't allow fast people, yeah I don't know what the point is either."

I have never had an experience of being at a meet with a former Olympian and finding them anything but great to be around.I joke that I want to hate Rick Colella because he is too fast and heck,better looking,but I can't because he is just a great guy.If you start trying to not let people swim because they are too good it seems to violate our idea of inclusiveness. It has been a long time since I was a first time swimmer,so I can't know how I'd react to being lapped by an Olympian,but I expect I'd be honored.I felt honored to get smoked by Megan Jendrick at a local meet.

I think it's awesome to swim in meets with current and former Olympians. The vibe is fantastic. Admittedly, I am a huge Olympics geek. I'm proud to say I competed head to head with Biondi at Nationals. Well it was more like head to feet in my case. I don't compete to break records and I would imagine 99% of masters don't either. Sure it's great to see how I rank at the end of the year but I swim for me and compete with myself and my own times.

I think it's awesome to swim in meets with current and former Olympians. The vibe is fantastic. Admittedly, I am a huge Olympics geek. I'm proud to say I competed head to head with Biondi at Nationals. Well it was more like head to feet in my case. I don't compete to break records and I would imagine 99% of masters don't either. Sure it's great to see how I rank at the end of the year but I swim for me and compete with myself and my own times. Agree. I also love the idea of trying to take down an Olympian!!

the presumed negative effect of pros/post-grads/Olympians grabbing all the records. And I don't think this is even a negative. A record that restricts the fastest swimmers from holding it ain't much of a record! Personally the idea of a "tallest dwarf" competition doesn't sound that interesting.

Of course they do. And they should be encouraged.

Agree with @sickfish. From my perspective as a more-or-less recreational swimmer, I see a couple benefits which would more than counterbalance the presumed negative effect of pros/post-grads/Olympians grabbing all the records. Most of us will never be close to swimming records anyway. It doesn't really matter to me who holds a record. It will never be me. :) There's the added cachet of having these world-class swimmers at Master's events. Rowdy has big shoulders but he shouldn't have to carry the full weight of being swimming's ambassador to the world. Their presence would be a draw for USMS. Where else are they going to keep their competitive fires burning?