For the first 5 years of our program our team was very competitive. I really think this was due to the fact that most of us were competitive swimmers in high school and college. Realizing that we needed to enhance our program by getting the more recreational/fitness swimmer involved, we have now become a team of "tile counters" that rarely if ever test themselves at our masters swim meets or postal events. I realize that every doesn't need to compete, nor do I want to force anyone to compete. I'm just looking for some creative ideas or examples of how any of you were able to get people to participate in masters competitions. I would appreciate any help...
I've been thinking about your original question and another idea from a team I swam on was to have a newsletter. The results of the swimming meet would be inlcuded as well as the coaches comments on why the swimming meet was fun and why everyone should come to the next meet. Also, the coach would highlight everyone who had done a personal best or a Masters best. Another way to encourage more people to come is to encourage the "slower" swimmers who maybe have never competed before. On our team, the "slowest" lane is always the fullest; more people are in the slowest lane than the fast lane. Usually, when the coach was able to convince these swimmers to come, they had so much fun that they convinced others to come and our meets began increasing in terms of numbers of swimmers. On our team the fast swimmers didn't want to compete anymore because they knew they could never achieve their college times. So, our coach focused more on the "slower" swimmers. Also, prizes would be given out at the end of the year for the swimmers who made the most improvement or attended the most meets or swam the most events or whatever.
I've been thinking about your original question and another idea from a team I swam on was to have a newsletter. The results of the swimming meet would be inlcuded as well as the coaches comments on why the swimming meet was fun and why everyone should come to the next meet. Also, the coach would highlight everyone who had done a personal best or a Masters best. Another way to encourage more people to come is to encourage the "slower" swimmers who maybe have never competed before. On our team, the "slowest" lane is always the fullest; more people are in the slowest lane than the fast lane. Usually, when the coach was able to convince these swimmers to come, they had so much fun that they convinced others to come and our meets began increasing in terms of numbers of swimmers. On our team the fast swimmers didn't want to compete anymore because they knew they could never achieve their college times. So, our coach focused more on the "slower" swimmers. Also, prizes would be given out at the end of the year for the swimmers who made the most improvement or attended the most meets or swam the most events or whatever.
