I workout with a masters team at noon on Tue & Thu, so of course it's mostly retirees that are available midday. There are also sessions at 5:30 AM and 7:00 PM where I assume the younger folks are.
I agree that scheduling constraints of young families are a big factor keeping the 30 somethings away. The combination of inconvenient practice times for both Masters and open lap swim as well as the commuting time to the only indoor pool in town made swimming impractical for years. Other forms of exercise were much more convenient. We do see a decent number of single 20 somethings at our pool. The other factor I have noticed is that a number of middle aged people take up or resume swimming as they age due to joint issues and injuries that interfere with running.
But also, lot of folks that swam for years and years through college may just need a break, ... sad that you'd dedicate so much of your time to something you didn't like to do...
Being a swimmer and a student was my self identity for many, many years. Once senior year of college rolled around, the light at the end of the tunnel meant that everything was about to change. Student became professional, and frankly, I was completely burned out from swimming. After several years, I tried hitting a lap swim here and there, but just couldn't get into a routine as my children were small, and my sleep schedule wasn't conducive to early morning or even late evening workouts. After 17 years out of the competitive pool, I got the itch to return, and my kids and home life were at a stage that I could commit to a swim schedule.
I would venture to say that my situation is fairly common and that is why you don't see too many folks under 35 in Masters.
The first answer to this question seems to often be the kids thing. As someone in that age bracket, I don't find this to be the case at all. In my experience, there are a variety of factors that vary by region, but the underlying thing is that as an organization, I don't believe USMS offers much for this age bracket.
To start off, JPEnge hit the nail on the head. For many high school and college swimmers, they can't wait for swimming to be over. Its tough on the body and demanding coaches and rigorous schedules are also tough on the mind, and they just want a break. If 18-40 y/o are participating in athletic events, its typically triathlon and/or some sort of road race, and they don't need to swim with a USMS group to do that.
For those former swimmers getting back in the water, many will continue to stay away from competitive events for years due years of bad experiences and/or fear of not being as fast as they were. This seems illogical to many of us, but there are plenty of swimmers who want NOTHING to do with a meet. Completely uninterested. So again, if all you are doing is working out in the water, you don't need USMS to do that.
Finally, as folks this age are getting on their feet financially, there is a financial piece to this discussion. Parents are not supporting this habit any longer. There are costs to join a club/pool, join usms and pay for workouts. Throw in an event or two, new suit, goggles, equipment, and you can easily surpass $1000/yr (at least where I am located), not to mention transit/parking costs. Think of a kid who graduated yesterday with $100k in student loan debt. Even with a decent job, I'm pretty sure that finding a roof over their head and eating (probably a lot of ramen) will usurp swimming for 9 out of 10 former swimmers who will have to put swimming at the bottom of financial priorities. Plus lets not forget there are plenty of other new, fun non-swimming activities for kids fresh out of college (happy hour!).
I'm sure having young kids is part of it, but it should be an increasingly smaller part of it since fewer people are choosing to have kids. I think Muppet hit on some good points. There's burnout, there's financial issues, there's coping with work schedules. All these things play a part.
Financial issues are a big one, too. From 22-28, I couldn't afford to go to the pool to swim. I really wanted to swim but couldn't. Now, in my 30's, I can afford the lap swim, I can work my schedule around the kids but I still can't afford the master's team. So, I coach it. lol!
This thread got me thinking - are there equivalent organizations in other countries? (Yes, I admit it, I am a newbie about competitive swimming). I read BOWLING ALONE a decade or so ago. It's about how little time for civic engagement Americans have of late. It's showed up in every kind of volunteer project that I have been a part of. I think lots of it is the pressures that workers face here, to produce more and more, to work longer and longer days. Yes, I am sure college "loan" debt and family establishment come into play, but the real low level of true time "off" in the US must affect whether someone can choose how he or she spends that time.
If there are masters swim organizations in other countries, do they experience similar membership trends? I guess that's my short-form question!
I'm kind of on my own path with swimming right now because I started almost from scratch at age 17 and now, at 19, I'm the youngest Masters swimmer I've seen in my area so far who's actually going to practices and/or meets. In a way it's kind of nice because it motivates me to go out of my way and invite people or talk to people in my age group so I end up having a lot of fun with fellow close-to-twentysomethings. We aren't the majority and it's easy to feel really young and maybe out of your comfort zone at first.
Both in and outside of the swimming community, people do not always consider how your body can still improve well into your years. I've always been surprised to see really good or passionate swimmers just stop "cold turkey" but at the same time I get it, because there's a lot of other things to do in life and some people might have never had, or have lost, their intrinsic motivation. Masters is really good for people who love swimming or fitness in and of itself and who would make sacrifices just to spend time training for personal improvement, but I've heard former competitive swimmers describe Masters as a "drastic" difference from varsity swimming and for that reason it may not offer the same social or tangential benefits that ex-varsity swimmers want from their time in the pool.
I'm pretty happy to see there are still a good amount of younger people here, though. Even though it doesn't look like there are a lot of people my age in Masters from a glance, if you dig around in the online search you'll find a good amount of 18-24, or 25-30 aged people and some of them are even still swimming in college and are posting really impressive times. I really enjoy how I was able to find swimming competition here, which is a huge goal of mine, and I'm glad my age group is included in Masters, because otherwise it would be hard to find people to swim or compete against. There are a few varsity swimmers in my Masters age bracket that I've noticed online so I try to track their times and go to meets with them to have a rival/swimming role model.
Plus what's nice with Masters is that even though not many people start young, if you do start young you have the opportunity to pursue swimming from the perspective of it being a lifelong sport instead of the perspective of it being an eight-year or four-year competition. That point is what has made a world of difference in my life.
...What's a most fun in swimming? Kids summer league dual tri and quad meets on a beautiful summer evening. I'd love to head to my local pool on a weekend evening or afternoon have something like a bar setup for spectators, a crowded deck and have the 2,3,4 or 5 (whatever) local masters clubs square off for team points and light bragging rights. ...Sailing has weeknight races. Towns have summer night 5k race series. Cities have incredibly popular kickball, soccer, and softball leagues after work. Why not swimming?...
A "summer league feel" dual meet for Masters could be very fun. Most clubs are quite small so there would have to be an innovative scoring system to compare the quality of swims across ages and possibly genders. Maybe points are earned for getting closest to the NR in your age group on a percentage basis (power points kind of idea). Maybe the losing squad brings the pizza and beverages to the next meet.
There are 10 YMCA pools within an hour of me and each one has masters team practices, but there is no coordination between them. At mine, there are 3 sessions, 5:30 AM, Noon, and 7:00 PM with maybe 8-10 in each session, but I only go at noon and don't know any of the swimmers in the other 2 sessions. This could mean a couple hundred masters swimmers in the district, just a guess. My impression is that very few are USMS members. I asked a neighbor who has been a long time swimmer and he said while swim competition used to be big in this area, it has fallen off dramatically in recent years. That is not unique. As a long time runner I have noted, from actual results listings, that race entries have fallen off a bit there too, but not as much.
