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
Well said Fritz, awhile back I told everyone I wasn't a USMS member and several people tried to tell me why I should become a member. Not one of their reasons held water. A USMS membership doesn't really offer me anything other than a membership card and a magazing and I already have a wallet full of membership cards and way too many magazines come to my house as it is.
I agree with Fritz. I joined Masters as a way to get back into competitive swimming since USA Swimming isn't organized with the older swimmer in mind. I think it's a tall order to expect USMS to appeal to and fill the needs of all adult swimmers, competitive or fitness. The content of SWIM reflects this compromise.
Originally posted by Conniekat8
One thing about seamless insurance... Providing that would mean that member end up carrying financial burden for non members. I think that is unfair to members. I wonder if the insurance compamies would see thhat as too much risk as they wouldn't be able to exactly quantify the numbers they are insuring. Perhaps there could be a 'club fee' for covering the non USMS swimmers. Just thinking out loud here.
The insurance company is not the limiting factor, USMS policy is. USMS could easily make blanket coverage available to teams, for an additional premium. Right now, teams that absolutely, positively HAVE to have uninterupted coverage must purchase insurance outside USMS. Once a club has this, USMS registration for swimmers is no longer needed. The larger the team, the more this option makes good business sense. What most teams do, though, is simply ignor the places where gaps appear in their coverage and hope it never catches up with them.
Originally posted by Conniekat8
I;ll have a look at the clubassistant. To my knowldge, USMS relies on the local LMSC's for club assistance.
Not that kind of assistance...Club Assistant is a club management software service that helps manage rosters, billing, communications and other administrative stuff that a well organized team needs. There are, to my knowledge, no LMSCs providing such services.
Oh and, a slight departure from the fitness topic...
I think if more coaches thought they could make the full time living out of coaching masters there would be more quality clubs and programs.
How many full time masters coaches are out there anyways?
How big of a club does it take for them to make a decent living doing this full time?
What comes first, the chicken or the egg?
People who have the opportunity to not work full time and put fort the effort to grow a club are a few, much fewer than those who have a desire to do so.
Also, it's a risky proposition. I get the feeling that many part time coaches think that it is impossible to make a full time decent living coacing masters(bills paid, comfortable but not extravagant).
I doubt that it's possible to grow a team like that with coaching being your second job.
I know many masters coaches do this as their second job, more out of love for what they do and less for monetary compensation (I'm not sure I could say 'monetary gain' here)
Is this a whole new thread?
Originally posted by Conniekat8
I think if USMS encouraged a pilot program, or even looked at the more sucessful heavily 'fitness' clubs they could encourage clubs and coaches to have some focus in that direction as well
Most of the financially successful clubs are successful precisely because they embrace the fitness swimmer. That's their base membership.
Now, there are over 4,000,000 ex-competitive swimmers out there in the US adult population. So there is also certainly opportunity for heavily competitive clubs to thrive as well.
But I still think the fitness market is a much more target-rich environment for building club participation.
Originally posted by aquageek
As long as people incorrectly assume USMS is just for meet entry, we will have a problem getting the message across.
The OTHER thing it is for is to provide USMS insurance for the workout group (which many groups do not need either as a result of their facility association or because the group has purchased other insurance). MOST USMS members are members primarily because they are required to register in order to work out with a group - not because of other recognizable value that USMS provides.
Absent a desire to compete in USMS meets and absent a USMS registration requirement by one's workout group, there are no compelling reasons for a person to plunk down several sawbucks to join USMS.
The other benefits that can be had from USMS - mainly, the web site and the magazine - are available without registering.
Only when USMS directly ties recognizable (to the fitness swimmer) value to membership dues should we expect to see unattached fitness swimmers signing up.
On the feeling of accomplishment from a triathlon versus a swim meet, just finishing a triathlon gives a newcomer a sense of accomplishment (and there are longer distances right up to ironman and beyond to present new challenges) whereas for a fitness swimmer finishing a 50 or 100 or even 200 doesn't seem like much, it's all about how fast you go even if you only compete against yourself. Even the 1500 is only nudging into the finishing is an accomplishment feeling keeping in mind that many swimmers swim more than that every time they go to the pool. 200 fly may be a notable exception... :)
Swimming is one of the few sports that comes to mind where you do 3000 or even 5000m/y workouts to train for a 50 or 100m/y race!
Thanks Connie, this is a great topic!
I have so many thoughts on this that it is difficult to write them out in a coherent manner, so I'll start small with one hypothesis:
My suspicion is that masters swimming thrives or not at the local club level more than based on anything that can be done at the national level. I suspect that the most effective way for USMS to advance masters swimming is to provide resources to clubs rather than things aimed directly at individual members. I would think that if I went to the USMS home page I ought to find a prominent link to a section on how to promote and grow your local club. It would list the major reasons people join masters clubs and offer suggestions on how to cater to those desires. It would list common problems encountered in starting and growing a club and what approaches have worked for clubs that have been there and done that. It would address how issues differ for teams in big cities versus small towns. It would have ready made, fill in the blank promotional materials that clubs could use with a minimum of effort. It would explain the challenges in finding a coach, organizing a swim meet, attracting officials, etc. and how to overcome them. It would explain how to go about catering to those who primarily want a conditioning program while at the same time drawing in new swimmers who need intensive work on their technique. Etc. etc. etc.
Originally posted by LindsayNB
My suspicion is that masters swimming thrives or not at the local club level
USMS is only just beginning to wake up to the fact that their real customers are the clubs (more accurately, the people who own/organize/operate the clubs - coaches, BODs etc), not the individual swimmers. For every Club that perceives and embraces the value of USMS affiliation, USMS gains lots of members. For each Club that ceases to perceive and derive value from USMS affiliation, USMS loses lots of members (example: SCAQ).
Unless there is wholesale revision of what USMS is, how it operates and the benefits it provides, the unattached individuals that register with USMS for other than competition purposes will forever be small in number. This is simply not a viable growth channel for USMS in its current form.
Membership in USMS is certainly a personal choice, "Do I want to swim with an organized group or do I want to have a go at it on my own?" I honestly believe, at least this seems to hold true for our group, that the majority of swimmers join the local USMS sponsored group for the social aspect as much as the fitness benefit that it provides. A very small percentage of our swimmers (and USMS members in general) compete regularly, if at all. Emphasizing the fitness and health benefits of swimming, having a great group of people to swim with, drink with, celebrate with, or provide support to is tantamount to having a successful local and national USMS organization.
Is $35 a year a large amount to pay for having the benefit of being around a great group of people...absolutely not...it is a real bargain! Anyone can pay $62 a month to compete for lane space at my local Y (I sheepishly admit that I do but I also admit that I only compete for lane space a couple of times a month) or they can join USMS for $35 a year and participate in organized workouts with great individuals, many who have similar goals; improving health and fitness and having fun during workouts.
I see the great potential USMS has to increase membership, but I feel that the effort must start at the local level with local effort to attract swimmers. If all USMS groups are as fun as ours is, and I suspect most are, a grassroots effort will greatly enhance the membership of USMS.
