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Another reason why we should support the different components of our "sport". The growth and well-being of masters does depend on the growth and well-being of "youth" swimming (USA, Y, summer league) as well as college varsity programs. Many of our coaches in masters swimming come from varsity swim programs at all levels. Furthermore, we depend on varsity programs for coaches and pool time. Our experience in New England is that college swim teams (and Y teams) have made tremendous contributions to our growth. I think all of the components youth-varsity-masters are connected and need each other to thrive in the future. I speculate that very few USMS members swam at the varsity level but have an impact on our organization well beyond the demographic numbers. If I do a quick scan of NEM volunteers the vast majority have some college swim experience; and an even greater number of our coaches have similar background. Yet in our surveys of members very few (less than 20%) swam in college. In one way, I think it unfortunate that USMS is separate from US Swimming because we could help them do a better job of promoting the l fitness and social aspects of our sport that make it so attractive to many people once they reach masters. In the meantime, we lose a lot of young people who decide to opt out of swimming because the demands of the sport are no longer attractive. Perhaps the USMS planning committee should develop )or expand ) our attempts to leverage the strenghts of the different parts of the swimming community with the objective to grow our sport on all levels.

Another reason why we should support the different components of our "sport". The growth and well-being of masters does depend on the growth and well-being of "youth" swimming (USA, Y, summer league) as well as college varsity programs. Many of our coaches in masters swimming come from varsity swim programs at all levels. Furthermore, we depend on varsity programs for coaches and pool time. Our experience in New England is that college swim teams (and Y teams) have made tremendous contributions to our growth. I think all of the components youth-varsity-masters are connected and need each other to thrive in the future. I speculate that very few USMS members swam at the varsity level but have an impact on our organization well beyond the demographic numbers. If I do a quick scan of NEM volunteers the vast majority have some college swim experience; and an even greater number of our coaches have similar background. Yet in our surveys of members very few (less than 20%) swam in college. In one way, I think it unfortunate that USMS is separate from US Swimming because we could help them do a better job of promoting the l fitness and social aspects of our sport that make it so attractive to many people once they reach masters. In the meantime, we lose a lot of young people who decide to opt out of swimming because the demands of the sport are no longer attractive. Perhaps the USMS planning committee should develop )or expand ) our attempts to leverage the strenghts of the different parts of the swimming community with the objective to grow our sport on all levels.