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.
Former Member
Originally posted by Fritz
We may have different definitions of fitness swimmer. In my mind, a fitness swimmer is anyone that swims solely for the purpose of exercise. That means Mark Spitz is a fitness swimmer. What would Mark Spitz gain from being a member of USMS?
Social aspect?
He would instantly gain 40,000 wannabee best friends?
Originally posted by Rnovitske
Some quick thoughts for reflection:
If newbies were able to find the USMS discussion boards on our site, chances are they found the "getting started" section, too. Maybe these posts are not really looking for information, but some emotional support. This should be an underlying theme in the responses we give.
Actually, they're not likely to find the getting started section first.
You're right about them most likely looking for some emotional support as well.
I also think that the national organization could be little clearer about where 'newbies' could find most support - which is in their local areas and clubs. This part is very tough to figure out on the USMS website... I see a bit of a 2 prong attack here... people with active clubs in their areas could be quickly directed to that club or LMSC... It could be as easy as "Welcome newbie", contemplating swimming? Here's where to start, type your city in the search section and let's see what local clubs are available in your area.... and here are a few tips: (tips on what a good club usually provides and a note that not all clubs are equal, some are more competetive than others...)
Other portion could be for the unattached swimmers or those who don't have an active club in the area... Here are some online tools, tips, articles, workouts...
I think a lot of this is just the matter of making a lot of the existing information 'repackaged' in a nore 'newbie friendly' format - for the section that pertains to newbies.
Onthe other hand, USMS could help provide the local clubs with marketing materials and strategies focused on one, two or three most likely types of swimmer.
A digression from the subject of newbies...
One area that can be looked into is how to make the LMSC's and Zones little more active in the social aspect that may be of more interest to the fitness swimmer then a serious competitor. Possibly more tips for clubs as well.
Originally posted by emmett
But the other 85% of the users see it as item #10.
that's the 85% of computer users in general using Internet Explorer.
I'm discovering that a lot of swimmers tend to be more 'hands on' and less 'hands on the computer' kind of people. They spend their free time swimming - not learning computers and uopdting their windows service packs.
In my webmastering endeavors I've noticed that if I make a swimming website for more computer savvy people I lose more of the audience than I do with your regular run of the mill website.
Where you'd expect to lose 15% of the general audience, in the Active sports population segment that % is higher, maybe up to 25 or 30%.
Okay, this is a bit of a leap here, but let me do this to illustrate my point in different terms:
As for the USMS membership, 15% growth in membership would mean 6000 members... 25% would mean 10,000 members. 10,000 x $35 is $350,000 Not such a negligeable number afterall.
Originally posted by breastroker
One thing that puzzeled me was one of the first fitness articles. It was written at a level that professional coaches would like, but way above what a fitness swimmer would or could use. There should be no acronyms used, and they should be easy to understand. If we are to communicate to our fitness swimmers, we should survey them to see if they are understanding it all.
As I often say " If your people can't understand you, then perhaps you need to look within and not at them"
Boy, do I agree on that one!
I get a chance to work with newbies on our team (I help out woith clinics a lot) and in our intro to masters clinic, most people don't know what a circle swim is, much less the need to know how to do it.
Also, I hear that we are trying to keep the website void of as many graphics as possible because it 'slows it down' but in reality that is starting to be a thing of the past. Some photos, diagrams and other illustrative aids would really go a long way, and I think there is room to use them effectively and still spoaringly, wiothout overloading the site. Especially with diagrams etc... you can make a simple gif file that barely contains 10-100K to it, and effectively convey a lot more information then a 50K of text might.
Originally posted by LindsayNB
As Connie also points out some of the things we are talking about here might work best if multiple committees worked together, and of course working with the clubs is also important. I personally think that providing information about the benefits of coached group environments would be beneficial to someone just getting started, so I don't view it as purely a marketing issue. I just think it would be a GoodThing(TM) for everyone if this aspect were covered more extensively in the getting started section.
I agree. The getting started articles are great, but they are good for those who are in clubs already, and have already been convinced to join (at least the club).
Also, when I first came to the website, I was looking for information about 'training' not fitness, because when yu come from a non-swimming woirld, when you go to the gym, when you work out, run, bike, lift weights, whatever you're doing to 'get fit', what you do is TRAIN. In fitness section a lay person would expect to see articles and information on why swimming is good for you. In training I was looking for ways to start training.
Then, there is places to swim... It's a grat tool, but when you use it it desn't really hit you in the face that you are best off looking for an active Masters club to join, it gives you a list of places to swim.
Also, nowhere does it really impress on people that even though your'e talking about teams and clubs, you don't have to 'make the team' to come and swim. To a lay oerson "team' usually means that you have to be at a certain level, good enough to be accepted. Most new people, and those who just want to get in shape are going to have that 'team' mental barrier. Even a lot of former USA swimmers will probably have that same mental block, knowing that USA swimming is a lot nore competetive than Masters.
I think we have a lot of information available, but the way it's being presented to the 'outside world - the potential new members' needs a face lift when it comes to the look, feel and the terminology to make it more effective.
Originally posted by breastroker
One thing that puzzeled me was one of the first fitness articles. It was written at a level that professional coaches would like, but way above what a fitness swimmer would or could use. There should be no acronyms used, and they should be easy to understand. If we are to communicate to our fitness swimmers, we should survey them to see if they are understanding it all.
I think we're getting a little (a lot) confused here.
A fitness swimmer is someone who swims for fitness.
A newbie is someone who is new to swimming.
Sometimes these two types overlap, but not always. Just because someone swims for fitness, it doesn't mean they don't know what an IM is. Let's not make the incorrect statement/assumption that all fitness swimmers know nothing about swimming. Many fitness swimmers have been swimming for years and are very experienced and knowledgeable.
One other thing: if there is an article you would like to have us consider for a fitness article of the month, please submit it to Jani Sutherland and myself here for possible inclusion. Jani and I coordinate the articles of the month and we welcome your ideas and submissions.
~Bill
Originally posted by Conniekat8
that's the 85% of computer users in general using Internet Explorer.
USMS site statistics indicate 85% of users are using IE.
I just saw another survey where 95 % of the internet users use IE. Either we are ahead of the curve or behind I don't know:D
I used to test my web sites using all the browsers like Netscape, AOL, Web TV, etc. Now I just use IE, even though IE does not fully support all the latest stuff, like CSS.
The next IE will be deeply imbedded into the new "Longhorn" operating system because Microsoft WON the law suits they "lost".
One thing that puzzeled me was one of the first fitness articles. It was written at a level that professional coaches would like, but way above what a fitness swimmer would or could use. There should be no acronyms used, and they should be easy to understand. If we are to communicate to our fitness swimmers, we should survey them to see if they are understanding it all.
As I often say " If your people can't understand you, then perhaps you need to look within and not at them"
I have not read each and every message but it seems that we are forgetting the definition of Fitness as it is stated on the Fitness website: The state or condition of being fit. Good health or physical condition especially as the result of exercise and proper nutrition. It seems that fitness and fitness swimming could cover a lot of people, whether they compete or swim just for themselves
