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 NASTISWMR
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!
It is not a bargain if you may participate with that same group of people regardless of USMS membership. A number of the clubs in our area do NOT require USMS membership to participate with them. Those clubs generally have only a few who register with USMS - generally just those who compete. Are there compelling reasons the other members of those clubs should join USMS?
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?
I think when you say Masters, it automatically brings to mind TEAM... just look at all these posts talking about how to grow teams. However, there are probably more people who don't live in areas with teams, than do. USMS is an 'urban and suburban' organization. If USMS wants to expand membership in both competitive and fitness categories it needs to reach out with benefits for INDIVIDUALS who can not join a team... start thinking outside the 'TEAM BOX.'
This entire discussion is tremendously important. I generally swim alone. I'm far more than a fitness swimmer. When I bring USMS up to peole, they do not see any benfit to them as swimmers. I think that most people who get workouts off of the internet are more than fitness swimmers. Most I know are good, lifelong swimmers who live where there are no coaches. I livein a town of about 33,000 people in west central Illinois. Most pure fitness swimmers don't really care if they have a written workout or not. They tend to do the same thing every day. I rarely use the workouts from USMS. I like Swim 2000 better. They are easier to read & remember as I'm doing the set.
I've worked in nonporfit organizations all ofmy life-from the Smithsonian to a small children's museum to a large, international fraternal organization. Itis almost impoosible ot get new members with out a true membership brochure of some kind. I've never seen one for USMS. Oddly,many memberships are growing throughutthe country. The new magazaine could be a great tool to build interstfor the fitnes swimmer.
If I understand the Australian system correctly, one coach builds an entire range of age swimmers around his reputation. to a certain extent this is what Curle-Burke has done. If a region could incorporate all swimmers into the same superclub, a full-time coach could make a living probablyin large metropolitanliving. A huge problem with the USA is our dependence on University swim tems to coach swimmers. the fce of swimming has changed drastically.
As laineybug points out, maybe there should be more focus on the swimmer plodding through workouts alone. I am one of those people. I take part in the competitions, so being a USMS member is easy and justifiable. If I didn't take part in the meets, I wouldn't be a member. The SWIM magazine is nice, but I can get interesting swim info on the internet.
Now, what keeps me motivated to swim lap after lap between the last meet in the spring and the first in December? Besides to stay in basic shape and not loose it all...it's silly, but it's a log kept at the pool that we keep track of our distance. Our goals are to reach the 100 and 500 mile marks. I find myself doing one more set to add to my total. In the end we get our name in the pool schedule/brochure and we get a simple piece of clothing. For the effort put in it is silly/simple. Why do I mention this? If USMS could have some e-version of this where members could enter yardage, see their names posted in some categorical system I believe it could be a motivator.
What?...I'm ranked #142!!...today I shoot for #140!!. Obvious problem is honesty and integrity. This type of feature would be paid members only. What other internet based incentives could we provide? Just a thought...
I don't know how much aquatic facilities embrace or even are aware of USMS. But, it seems to be mutually beneficial that aquatic centers encourage/advertise participation in USMS. This gives their lap swimmers more motivation to stay a member of the facility and keep swimming.
If USMS wants to attract the pure fitness swimmer, more needs to be offered...something fun...something more than insurance.
As someone who has not ever been a competitive swimmer, I find even coached workouts with a group are pretty intimidating. I belong to the EWGA, a women's golf organization that puts a strong emphasis on getting women into the game. The members who play well volunteer their time to help out in the beginner leagues, walking the 9 holes with the "newbies" and helping them learn the rules. The association runs clinics for absolute beginners to teach them everything from the ground up. It's a supportive learning environment for what can be a really intimidating sport. USMS could develop a stronger membership by sponsoring beginner clinics-they could be weekend events that also revolved around some social activities. Maybe those beginners will evolve into competitive swimmers, maybe they won't, but what they will have gained is a bond with a swimming community.
Originally posted by LindsayNB
I realize I don't know all the factors that went into the various things I mention, but I think the basic point is valid, the USMS site doesn't currently demonstrate a clear emphasis on/commitment to the non-meet-oriented fitness swimmer. With a site redesign coming up now is the time to ensure that the new design presents fitness swimmers with a face that makes it clear USMS has something to offer to them. I've presented one idea above, what other suggestions do people have?
Well....
I can tell you it's not out of lack of the desire.
Having sat in the USMS convention meetings, more particulary in the comittees that deal with just this issue I can tell you that when it comes to the website they are working very hard, and by the same token, the volume of work that needs to be done is HUGE and the human resources are limited.
I've seen a preview of the new home page, and the navigation will be a lot more intuitive, and things will be easier to find. Won't have to dig quite as deep to find things.
Also, with some other changes in general, I'm hoping you'll see some new and exctiting things happening... But, patience please. We're talking about one year projection here.
Originally posted by Conniekat8
Having sat in the USMS convention meetings, more particulary in the comittees that deal with just this issue I can tell you that when it comes to the website they are working very hard, and by the same token, the volume of work that needs to be done is HUGE and the human resources are limited.
Actually, this is why I found it so surprising that it was decided to add a project that is described as requiring at least 500 man hours to the workload of the web developer.:(
Originally posted by Conniekat8
One quick thing...
Do you know about 'virtual swims'?
www.usms.org/.../virtualswims.shtml
they have them round various places in the country, and I think in 05 they may start a swim around the world... with international places.
I volunteered to make a swim along the coast of my home country which has tons and tons of pictoresque little islands.
I do have to say I'm yet to get little more familiar with how that particular feature works...
I hear lot of people suggesting a 'member only' areas, not just here on the bulletin board but at the convention too.
Sorry if this is off-topic, but wow! This virtual swims thing is a great initiative. I agree it's a bit complicated (and may just entice me to go and swim in the places described, I mean REALLY) but neat! I love the descriptions of the swims! Amusing yet informative. Thanks for the tip.
