I finally got my USMS Swimmer magazine today. Thought a poll might be in order.
My own first impressions, very well done. I was worried about lack of advertising space. I was surprised that so much space was sold. I count 5 full page adds, and many quarter page adds.
Hopefully this added potential income to USMS will allow us to better serve our members.
My overal all grade is an A-, why not a A or A+?
Well I actually liked the Freestyle Open Turns article. I have perfected my own freestyle turn where I can beat most flip turn people. Note I said most. Having a great flip turn is an awesome advantage to fast freestylers. But that leaves me out.
A good open turn allows me to get a good breathe, VERY important for someone with asthma. It also allows me to get in a perfect streamline and push off about 7 to 8 yards before the first stroke. I also have a bad wing, so taking less strokes per lap means I can sleep at night.
But now to be critical, looking at pages 18 and 19 there are several minor flaws in this "Competitive Butterfly Turn". My concern is that both new and older swimmers will think this is the "perfect" butterfly turn, and it is not. I will elaborate in another thread on this.
I am sure many people worked very hard on this issue, everyone deserves credit in making this first issue a proud new tool for our organization to spread the values of Masters swimming.
Former Member
Wayne, You like the new magazine? It isn't even worth putting into the recycle bin! Read my views in the magazine thread. I have talked with you, Mark Moore and others about this before it came out. I know that you feel that Swim magazine didn't share with USMS as much advertiser $ as you and some others inside the USMS felt it should. I hope, for USMS sake, no advertiser looks at the cover or what is printed within them, because if they do, we(USMS) will never get another $(ad) from them. Tell me again, how long is it going to be before this folly$ is to break even, and then start turning a profit. How much does USA Swimming's SPLASH make, and they have what, about 20X the number of members. Or is it the old saying that Masters swimmers are just like USS swimmers except they have more money? We are killing ourselves, who is going to fight to keep mens college swimming? If there is no college swimming why would boys swim in high school and if there is no high school swimming then boys will go out for other sports(football). It then drops into the club ranks, if no boys are on the team will there be enough girls to support the pool rent and coaches pay. We can then say goodbye to the club teams. So with no club, high school and college swim teams why would there be masters. So maybe we should learn to improve freestyle open turns, since all that will be swimming soon are old swimmers and maybe some injuried football players.
Terry,
I somehow got lost in your logic that USMS Swimmer will destroy swimming in the United States.
And you failed to take your slippery slope to its inevitable conclusion. Since it is a published fact that swimmers have test scores and graduation rates higher than football players (the sport you said the boys will flock to when they cement over the pools), the intellectual decay of America will be accelerated and soon the leaders of the free world will all be ex-football players instead of ex-swimmers (think Gerald Ford ex-football player and Ronald Regan ex-swimmer). In no time at all we will be invaded by hordes from Canada and civilization as we know it will end. And all because of a freestyle open turn.
I just joined USMS this year, so I never got the "old" magazine. However, I was pretty happy with the new one. Sure, I would have preferred an article on flip turns, but perhaps that is for another issue. Last night at the pool, thanks to the article on open turns, I realized that I was doing a pretty lousy turn (I don't flip often - I can do it, but it makes me dizzy b/c of an inner ear thing).
I loved the article about the English Channel swimmers. Almost (but not quite) makes me want to give it a try.
I got a complimentary copy of Swimming a few weeks ago and found it depressing in the focus on college, high school, and competitive swimming. Since most USMS swimmers are out of college (certainly high school and club age), I think it's best that USMS leaves those areas to other publications.
I gave the magazine a "B". Suggestions for later include:
-- more articles on technique (w/ illustrations)
-- an 'ask the coach' section (not all of us have coaches we can ask for help)
-- workouts for different skill levels.
Overall, though, I'm pleased - keep up the hard work!
Kae
Rob,
Yes I agree that mens college swimmers have higher test scores and much better graduation rates then does football. I also know that schools like UCLA, Iowa State, Nebraska, Long Beach State all cut mens swimming just so they did not have to add womens sports. Except for Long Beach State, did any of these schools cut into the football budget?
As for your other point about intellectual decay, Ford was a star foolball player at Univ. Mich. as well as an honor student and went on to Law school at Yale, in WWII was an accomplished swimmer and became a Lt. Commander in the Navy. Reagan might have known how to swim but played football at Eureka College and avoided military service and who with his high morals was living with Nancy Davis(later Nancy Reagan) while still married to to his first wife Jane. Was this the intellectual decay you speak of? I don't feel that knowing how to swim makes you a swimmer any more than knowing how to throw a football makes you a football player.
The point I was trying to make is that if almost every university and college offers football, with a full ride, for about 100 males and very few schools offer mens swimming much less with a full ride, boys will go with football.
I don't think the'll will be cementing over many pools, where would football players go to rehab and do cannonballs off the boards?
Originally posted by Matt S
But, I ask you, given USMS runs on volunteer labor, and we have only so much in the volunteer labor pool to draw on, is publishing our own magazine, instead of contracting out to Swim, the best use of our limited labor supply?
Jim only partially responded to this comment when he stated that we have a paid USMS editor. The misconception is that we, as a volunteer organization, have taken on the full burden of publishing the magazine - not true. We also have a professional publisher who we contracted with to publish our magazine, the same as with SWIM. The real differences are that we own the product - hence the increased ad revenue and control over what goes in the magazine.
I gave them an E because I too have yet to receive my first issue of the year, 2.5 months into 2005. I know there are start up issues, etc. etc. However, I think the folks that thought Swim magazine was eating up too much ad money in expenses may have underestimated the difficulty getting a new magazine off the ground.
I anticipate the product will improve, so it's not a big deal. But, I ask you, given USMS runs on volunteer labor, and we have only so much in the volunteer labor pool to draw on, is publishing our own magazine, instead of contracting out to Swim, the best use of our limited labor supply?
Matt
