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 emmett
It is not a bargain if you may participate with that same group of people regardless of USMS membership. Are there compelling reasons the other members of those clubs should join USMS?
well, as publicized right now, it doesn't appear to be any really compelling reasons...
I think the reasons need to come from the leadership of USMS as a part of their mission statement and core objectives... The objective of recruiting finess swimmers and servicing them is built in, but it is not being followed up on or even being developed.
So, emmet... A quastion back to you, you know some of your fitness swimmers, what would in your opinion be interesting to them? Not within what USMS is offering right now. I want to hear your ideas!
Originally posted by LindsayNB
A key issue that needs to be considered is how to measure success. Should USMS success be measured by the number of USMS members or by the number of adults who are actively swimming? The mission statement supports the latter, but how do you measure that?
One possibility is to find a way to get swimmers to register without necessarily becoming paying members, but you still need to provide some motivation to get them to spend the time to register. You could also try to get clubs to register the number of swimmers they have, you still need to offer the clubs something to motivate them, perhaps a listing on the web site to advertise their existance and services to potential new members. Dealing with clubs does reduce the overhead.
Anyway, I just want to point out that number of USMS members is not necessarily the right metric for measuring success.
In response to Emmett, what services would you like to see USMS offer to clubs and coaches?
Well, I don't think we necessarily want to just have more registered members because they are required. That doesn't do much for the growth of a happy functioning organization and is usually very short lived result.
I'd much rather have members who actually want to belong, because they thinkthey are benefiting from the membership (in ways other than just insurance)
As for measuring the sucess... that's another long multi faceted topic. Ways of doing this are many.
For one, just the fact that many, or parhaps most coaches don't think that USMS offers much to the fitness swimmer is a pointer that something is not functioning. I kjnow there is desire to reach the fitness swimmer, but the result is ... as you see, many of them see no reason or benefit to being a member.
Also, I don't think we need to be overly concerned with measuring sucess before we have a detailed plan in place on what we want to accomplish. The core objectives of the USMS aren't the plan, they're just a broad bruch begining of it.
Once a number of tasks necessary to accomplish the general plan have been defined, measuring whether the tasks have been sucessfully completed or not won't be as hard, or asd much of an esotherical topic. It will become a puzzle that will fall into place, almost on it's own.
Originally posted by emmett
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.
Actually, this year with the magazine change, and the change of the governing structure of USMS many people are hoping for wholesale changes, and the groundwork for those changes has been laid out.
Originally posted by LindsayNB
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.
I think you're absolutely right!
I'm hoping over the next year we'll be able to develop some tools to that effect.
Connie,
Again, great subject...and thanks for taking the time to consider and respond to these messages. (You've earned my respect.)
Not to answer a question with another question...but, I see a ton of triathletes finding time to run and bike and attend events, and by the same token, they find very little time to swim (in very general terma). Makes me wonder why especially with knowing that swimming requires more skill than the other two put together??? I can't say I really know. I may need to get inside the head of a few of them and see why.
You can get inside of my (triathlete) head. I used to strictly be a swimmer, but as I developed triathlon skills I swam less and dedicated more time to the other two sports. I agree that swimming, in comparison with cycling and running, demands the greater amount of skill to perform optimally. Yet most triathlons are structured so that cycling takes up about 50% of the time it takes to do the whole race, running about 35% and swimming about 15%. I believe most triathletes, when pressed for time, will budget their training more towards cycling and running since they do take up the bulk of a triathlon.
As for going to events...if you like to swim, bike and run that much, you like going to triathlons. They are fun, challenging, and satisfy many people from each end of the competitive spectrum. I wouldn't mind doing a few stand-alone running races, open water swims, and maybe a swim meet or two on occasion...yet most of the time (especially outside of Winter) those stand-alone events are scheduled on the same days as the triathlons that I desire more to do.
Originally posted by LindsayNB
In response to Emmett, what services would you like to see USMS offer to clubs and coaches?
Seamless liability insurance coverage. Liability coverage regardless of USMS registration status of swimmers in the water. Opportunity to purchase health insurance at group rates. Online registration. Club management tools/services ala www.clubassistant.com (including credit card merchant service).
That's for starters.
Originally posted by Conniekat8
So, emmet... A quastion back to you, you know some of your fitness swimmers, what would in your opinion be interesting to them? Not within what USMS is offering right now. I want to hear your ideas!
Professional instruction/coaching.
Convenient location and times.
Enjoyable, encouraging, friendly training environment.
Feel they are no less important than the competitive swimmers.
My point is that USMS, as a national organization, is not really in a position to effectively and directly serve the needs of fitness swimmers directly. Coaches/Clubs are.
Of course, if all these hypothetical fitness converts did join & a certain percentage of them did get 'turned on' to competing...well then, we'll probably end up resurrecting everyone's favorite thread (next to pool measurement techniques & standards of course) - tougher & compulsory time standards as a method of controlling entries at Nationals...no...no...no...
Hi Connie!
Great post... just wanted to put in my 2 cents from another reality (masters in Italy). I really liked what Peter Cruise had to say about masters in Canada...
Masters is still a growing phenomenon in Italy, after about 15 years. In fact this year it looks like there are going to be even more meets than last year, even though the official calendar is not out yet.
However, here as in the States, it seems like the emphasis is on competitive swimming, and a lot of ex-competitive swimmers are dominating the movement. I'm happy to say that my team (Nuoto Club Firenze headed up by Andrea Prayer) upholds the original masters motto of "promoting swimming as a sport at all ages". I just LOVE that! A lot of people who are new to swimming join our club because it is the cheapest way they can do some lap-swimming in this city! After a while, they get hooked on it (we're a great group of swimmers) and even if they've never swum in a meet before, we try to get them to take a dive at the Tuscan Regional Championships.
As for starting out racing in pool meets or open-water events, I would imagine that if you NEVER swum in a meet, it would be pretty hard to stand up on that block. Let's face it, you're almost naked and scared to death, thinking that EVERYONE'S looking at you even though they're really distracted with their own thing... that's a pretty scary prospect! In open-water swims you just run in with the crowd...
That said, it's so much fun! I like something I read in SWIM Magazine: "We're all just a bunch of folks who maybe don't have much more in common except that this is how we choose to spend Sunday mornings."
YEAH!
