WSJ Article on Masters Swimming

I'm going to p*** some people off, but this article really bugged me. So, here goes my :soapbox::bitching:: If the goal of the USMS leadership is to grow the membership, I think they are off-base strategically by de-emphasizing competition. USAT references about 500,000 members (www.usatriathlon.org/.../about.aspx), almost 10x as many as USMS. When you see and talk with people who are triathletes, they identify with the RACE / the "big event" as a key factor in their training. They take pride in the RACE, they advertise the RACE, they enthuse about the RACE. Just about anyone who sees a 140.6 or 70.3 bumper sticker on a car knows that the person in the car is a triathlete. I think this pride and joy USAT members show in the RACE is the main factor contributing to the organization's growth and the their membership's satisfaction and health impacts. We don't have that same broad-based racing culture in USMS. I think that hurts our membership numbers ... and I think that not emphasizing competition, not encouraging competition, not cajoling more of our members to compete means that USMS is doing a disservice to our membership, in terms of the mental/emotional and physical value they can get from the sport. Yes, everyone might not be comfortable racing, but growth and development is uncomfortable. I'd like to see people clamoring to buy "400 IM" or "1500 M" or "5K OW" bumper stickers. I'd like to see more Masters swimmers bragging about their last "Splash & Dash" as Rowdy likes to call the 50. I'd like to see the general public know what any of this terminology means in the way they understand triathlon lingo. I'd like to see USMS move away from the current "everyone gets a trophy for showing up to workout" mindset and to a competition-forward culture. There, my :soapbox: is over and I need to go train because I've got my next meet in less than two weeks. Disagree with most of this post. There are certainly hardcore triathletes who like to RACE but more who participate simply for the right to put that sticker on their car. And I use the word "participate" deliberately because they are not "racing" at all, they simply want to fuel their water cooler talk. And that's fine but I don't think there is much parallel to masters (pool) swimming, they are more like OW swimmers who take pride in completing a particular (possibly quite challenging) swim. Swimmers who want to fire up their competitive juices are already drawn to USMS because they are mostly the only game in town for adults who are serious about competitive swimming. Attendance at nationals flat-lined long ago and probably so has the number of swimmers in other sanctioned meets. Don't get me wrong, I think that the more competitive USMS members are a huge asset, and I think we should be more aggressive in pursuing swimmers who quit or "graduate" out of USA-S or college varsity/club swimming. But IMO even those people are less interested in competition than a great club environment. Great coaches and great clubs are the secret sauce, not more/better catering to competitive urges.

I'm going to p*** some people off, but this article really bugged me. So, here goes my :soapbox::bitching:: If the goal of the USMS leadership is to grow the membership, I think they are off-base strategically by de-emphasizing competition. USAT references about 500,000 members (www.usatriathlon.org/.../about.aspx), almost 10x as many as USMS. When you see and talk with people who are triathletes, they identify with the RACE / the "big event" as a key factor in their training. They take pride in the RACE, they advertise the RACE, they enthuse about the RACE. Just about anyone who sees a 140.6 or 70.3 bumper sticker on a car knows that the person in the car is a triathlete. I think this pride and joy USAT members show in the RACE is the main factor contributing to the organization's growth and the their membership's satisfaction and health impacts. We don't have that same broad-based racing culture in USMS. I think that hurts our membership numbers ... and I think that not emphasizing competition, not encouraging competition, not cajoling more of our members to compete means that USMS is doing a disservice to our membership, in terms of the mental/emotional and physical value they can get from the sport. Yes, everyone might not be comfortable racing, but growth and development is uncomfortable. I'd like to see people clamoring to buy "400 IM" or "1500 M" or "5K OW" bumper stickers. I'd like to see more Masters swimmers bragging about their last "Splash & Dash" as Rowdy likes to call the 50. I'd like to see the general public know what any of this terminology means in the way they understand triathlon lingo. I'd like to see USMS move away from the current "everyone gets a trophy for showing up to workout" mindset and to a competition-forward culture. There, my :soapbox: is over and I need to go train because I've got my next meet in less than two weeks. Disagree with most of this post. There are certainly hardcore triathletes who like to RACE but more who participate simply for the right to put that sticker on their car. And I use the word "participate" deliberately because they are not "racing" at all, they simply want to fuel their water cooler talk. And that's fine but I don't think there is much parallel to masters (pool) swimming, they are more like OW swimmers who take pride in completing a particular (possibly quite challenging) swim. Swimmers who want to fire up their competitive juices are already drawn to USMS because they are mostly the only game in town for adults who are serious about competitive swimming. Attendance at nationals flat-lined long ago and probably so has the number of swimmers in other sanctioned meets. Don't get me wrong, I think that the more competitive USMS members are a huge asset, and I think we should be more aggressive in pursuing swimmers who quit or "graduate" out of USA-S or college varsity/club swimming. But IMO even those people are less interested in competition than a great club environment. Great coaches and great clubs are the secret sauce, not more/better catering to competitive urges.