At the convention I kept hearing...
"Swimming is the number one choice of exercise in adults" and
"Ask anyone and they'll be able to tell you gow beneficial swimming is" and similar phrases...
Well, I can't dipute the facty that swimming is good for you, one of the best forms of exercise there is.
Now, having said that, I can't help it notice that even in this 'day and age' where so many people are close to obsessed with fitness and exercise - especially in California - the USMS membership of some 40,000 is only 0.15% of the population of the US.
This leads me to think that we (the USMS) has missed the boat somewhere!!!
Coming back from my fiorst convention, I see that thewre is a lot of focus on competetive swimming, and most of the delegates and BOD nad EC are either current or former competetive swimmers, and naturally the focus would be on competing.
That alone is wonderful... BUT...
It is my understanding that close to 80% of the USMS membership consists of fitness swimmers.
Also, I hear that :
- in the last 2-3 years the USMS membership has been stagnating.
- USMS does want to grow in membership.
And...
at the convention, I see 'fitness' as being an auxiliary, almost a stepchild focus to the competetive side.
Don't get me wrong, I love to compete myself, BUT...
Competetive adult swimmers are a very narrow demographic and if USMS wants to grow, they (we) need to find more attractive ways to "build-educate-service" our potential fitness swimmers.
I find it puzzling that many 'fitness swimmers' will readily enter open water swims, but when they hear of a swim meet, they don't think they're good enough for it... I've done both, and let me tewll you, swim meets are much easier, especially for a first timer, then an open water mile swim in an ocean or a lake.
I also see coaches right here in this forum that are having a hard time explaining to their fitness swimmers why (other then insurance that some clubs require) they should be members of USMS.
I think USMS is failing in it's core objectives when it comes to attracting membership, servicing them and educatiing them, which I strongly believe will mostly come from the fitness side.
Well, this is all that comes to mind at the moment. I'm hoping to eventually refine the thoughts.
Comments, thoughts anyone? I'd love to have some dialogue about this and hear what other people think.
Parents
Former Member
Originally posted by Fitswimmer04
It is certainly far easier for USMS to exist primarily for people who are experienced swimmers than to expend energy and cost on teaching new people.
As someone who's been running a Masters team for 24 years, "teaching people" is the primary business I'm in. I think you'll find that most Masters groups that survive for any substantial time do so because they don't wait around for experienced swimmers to join up but, rather, spend a goodly portion of their resources CREATING experienced swimmers.
"Experienced" doesn't generally mean "competitive". For some it may simply mean having sufficient skills and knowledge to be able to feel like they "fit in" a group practice situation. For some it may be swimming just freestyle well enough to "look like I know what I'm doing". For some it is being able to do "that somersault turn". For some it may mean being good enough to lead the lane from time to time. For some it is having skills that allow them to enjoy swimming for fitness rather than struggling through every lap. For some it may mean being able to say they are capable of swimming every event in the rule book without getting DQ'd (whether or not they actually ply that ability in competition). And yes, for portion of Masters it means being a competitor.
I'm guessing here but few if any organizations, local or national, are prepared or willing to bear the cost of really teaching new people. INTRODUCING people to Masters through promotional starter clinics is a different story and certainly doable. But bearing the expense of really getting a person from "newbie" to "experienced" is a long, involved process and the cost will nearly always be the swimmer's to bear. People in this transition stage tend to consume greater organizational resources (coaching minutes, teaching expertise, lane space, patience, etc) than those who've come through it already.
Originally posted by Fitswimmer04
It is certainly far easier for USMS to exist primarily for people who are experienced swimmers than to expend energy and cost on teaching new people.
As someone who's been running a Masters team for 24 years, "teaching people" is the primary business I'm in. I think you'll find that most Masters groups that survive for any substantial time do so because they don't wait around for experienced swimmers to join up but, rather, spend a goodly portion of their resources CREATING experienced swimmers.
"Experienced" doesn't generally mean "competitive". For some it may simply mean having sufficient skills and knowledge to be able to feel like they "fit in" a group practice situation. For some it may be swimming just freestyle well enough to "look like I know what I'm doing". For some it is being able to do "that somersault turn". For some it may mean being good enough to lead the lane from time to time. For some it is having skills that allow them to enjoy swimming for fitness rather than struggling through every lap. For some it may mean being able to say they are capable of swimming every event in the rule book without getting DQ'd (whether or not they actually ply that ability in competition). And yes, for portion of Masters it means being a competitor.
I'm guessing here but few if any organizations, local or national, are prepared or willing to bear the cost of really teaching new people. INTRODUCING people to Masters through promotional starter clinics is a different story and certainly doable. But bearing the expense of really getting a person from "newbie" to "experienced" is a long, involved process and the cost will nearly always be the swimmer's to bear. People in this transition stage tend to consume greater organizational resources (coaching minutes, teaching expertise, lane space, patience, etc) than those who've come through it already.
