Enjoyed the articles about us ordinary people

Hi Cynthia, I'm glad you enjoyed the latest SWIM Magazine. It was a fun issue to put together. Usually by the time the magazine arrives in my mailbox, I have read and re-read all of the articles so many times that I just thumb through to see how the layout turned-out. But this time, I really enjoyed reading all of the articles again. Phil Whitten did a wonderful job with this issue, and I was particularly touched by his Editor's Letter. If you haven't read it, go back and see what he has to say. With so many competitive events in Masters swimming, it is sometimes challenging to balance out the magazine and represent the interests of Masters swimmers who don't compete or don't think of themselves as competitive. The September/October issue presented us with a good opportunity to explore some of these stories, and thus far the response has been overwhelmingly positive. We're always looking for ways to try new things with the magazine. We want to keep it fresh, and we want to keep our readers interested. Most of all, we want the magazine to reflect who we are as a group, and who we are as individuals. Right now, we're in the process of writing our editorial calendar for 2004, and I can say without hesitation that it looks like another year full of truly wonderful features, inspirational stories, informative pieces, and fun! Thank-you for the positive feedback. Keep on reading, and keep on swimming! Bill Volckening USMS Editor SWIM Magazine

I swam against Phil Whitten in the 50 meter *** at the Arizona state meet. And at the time I didn't know he had Parkinsons's and I'm impressed that has not prevent him yet from being able to swim.

Regarding the last issue of Swim magazine, the Sept./Oct. 2003 issue, I asked myself once again: is there anything for my competitiveness in it? Because usually there isn't much. And this time, true to the Swim magazine's tradition, after going over it twice, there is nothing again: .) to me overweight people are inflicting body self-mutilation upon themselves; .) the article about Mike Collins is all made of peachy superlatives, and nothing of profound information. I am thinking: .) Bill Volckening is in this issue so often, and I saw that the guy has no integrity when promising in the summer of 2002 to give me a voice in an article in Swim magazine, then not to hear about it ever since, like if it never happened; .) who sees me breaking my word by lacking integrity in what I promise?

I rarely post in the forums but I must respond to Ion's last post. USMS is for everyone who swims, not just competitive swimmers, and not just for one person. It is inspirational for many to see stories about people who are using swimming not just to compete, but to better themselves physically and mentally. I felt that the most recent issue of SWIM addressed itself to these people and has been positively received. On an aside, I think Phil Whitten's letter was very positive and inspirational on many levels but particularly to those who compete just for the love of swimming and are not necessarily elite swimmers. To use the forum for a personal attack is not what USMS is about and not what swimming is about. I think that a) Bill Volckening has done an outstanding job representing USMS interests in SWIM and b) Bill is not the sole arbiter of what is seen in the magazine. I would like to thank USMS, Phil Whitten and Bill Volckening for addressing all the swimmers in USMS in a positive way. Jody Welborn

Ion, you don't seem to have a problem finding fault with what you read in SWIM and, with your usual finesse, you expressed some pretty harsh criticism. Instead of just vaguely pointing out what you objected to and didn't like in the content, why don't you instead challenge yourself to make some suggestions as to how it could be improved, including SPECIFIC examples of how you would do things better? Was there anything in the issue that you DID like?

At the risk of repeating what's already been said, Bill has done an excellent job as editor in representing USMS and its membership,in all their diversity. USMS is organization whose members have a wide variety of goals and SWIM has to reflect that. SWIM has had plenty of material in past issues devoted to competition. No one can expect that every article in every issue will be written for him.

Regarding Ion's last post, I asked myself once again: Is there something worthy of note in his post? Because usually there isn't much. And this time true to Ion's tradition, after going over it twice, there is nothing again. Harsh words, probably so - but no harsher than those posted against Bill V. The fact is Swim does a pretty good job of covering all aspects of swimming, elite level on down. There are other publications that discuss the more scientific / technical aspects of swimming, if that's what you want then read those magazines.If you don't like it, don't read it or try offering some suggestions to make it better instead of just berating. Going by the earlier posts most people seem to enjoy the more personable side of the magazine (I think this was talked about in an earlier topic about TV coverage how the up close and personables were shown versus the actual swim event). If you keep your mind open you probably should be able to extract at least one thing from the magazine that you can apply to your own life. Frankly I can't speak about your integrity because to be honest I don't think you have promised anything (at least not that I am aware of). Anyways just my 2 cents worth. Thanks to Bill and the SWIM magazine contributers for the hard work you put in. Jeff

Hypothetically speaking, of course, why would an individual choose to belong to an organization which consistently failed to meet his or her expectations?

Maybe I am missing the point to this thread but I really do not understand what all the fuss is about. Masters swimming is supposed to be fun and challenging starting at the beginner swimmer level up to the more experienced swimmer levels. USMS is all-inclusive, not exclusive. Everyone can learn something from each of the different abilities in the pool. I think people can inspire one another to a high level. I just think if you’re in swimming for medals that is the wrong thinking and attitude. There is more to it that that. The journey along the way to achieve your goals is the best part. Swimming should be for fun, exercise, friendships built and the competition, but most importantly the personal gratification one gets from swimming regardless of their swimming ability. I say kudos to Bill and those at swim magazine for including these types of articles. Thanks CJ

Masters swimming is about everyone from the elite to the swimmer that just completed their first race doing in excess od a minute for the 50 free. Its about fitness, freindship and fun. A story about any swimmer can be very interesting, and for sure in Masters as we have swimmers that have battled back from cancer, or have like myself survived a heart attack, maybe they were just people that did nothing for years and decided to start swimming for fitness. I am not an elite swimmer but I can hold my own and I enjoy reading about us everyday people that have accompliced what we have. For me and I am sure many more just seeing and reading what ordinary swimmers have done is enough to make me push a little harder. Just remember that any Master swimmer that has competed has still done more and swam faster than Billions of other people in the world. I think that any swimmer of any level should be able to find something that would interest them in a swimming magazine. I know I can always find something in the ones I read through. Even the best of the best must remember that we swim in Masters where everyone is the best. Just my thoughts