How many years have you been in USMS?

The first few pages of this report will give you some interesting membership statistics from the past 30 years. Anna Lea Matysek Thank you for posting those reports, Anna Lea. For the uninitiated, our growth rate since establishing paid, professional staff has pretty much flat lined, with one particular year that was simply awful. New membership growth is what we always need in order to not only stay viable, but keep dues reasonable. Unfortunately, the board of directors has not shown much interest in doing what it takes to grow at an aggressive rate (7% or more per year), instead just raising your dues $1 or 2 per year for ten years. The common thread in resisting growth (and it has been debated as long as USMS has been around) is that everyone envisions yet another body in their lane during workouts. Protecting turf gets expensive in a hurry, and it isn't even necessary. There are plenty of pools around, and plenty of areas ion the country that have never even heard of USMS. Rant over. I am 62 and have been a member continuously since 1977 (39 years).

The first few pages of this report will give you some interesting membership statistics from the past 30 years. Anna Lea Matysek Thank you for posting those reports, Anna Lea. For the uninitiated, our growth rate since establishing paid, professional staff has pretty much flat lined, with one particular year that was simply awful. New membership growth is what we always need in order to not only stay viable, but keep dues reasonable. Unfortunately, the board of directors has not shown much interest in doing what it takes to grow at an aggressive rate (7% or more per year), instead just raising your dues $1 or 2 per year for ten years. The common thread in resisting growth (and it has been debated as long as USMS has been around) is that everyone envisions yet another body in their lane during workouts. Protecting turf gets expensive in a hurry, and it isn't even necessary. There are plenty of pools around, and plenty of areas ion the country that have never even heard of USMS. Rant over. I am 62 and have been a member continuously since 1977 (39 years).