Is there really a division between masters swimmers? i.e. one camp allied to a more low key fitness oriented approach with low membership growth vs. a meet oriented competitive (elite) camp?
This sounds ridiculous to me. I don't think I've ever run into anyone that acknowledged this debate on a pool deck.
What spawns this rift in Masters swimming? Is this an old guard vs. younger member phenonmenon?
Are there different motivations that exist that create this conflict in terms of the future of USMS? Why can't both coexist?
I say we poll some people out there and find out what they support.
John Smith
If USMS was really committed to growth, was able to reach out via marketing/PR and provided some tangible benefit then the amount of swimmers that would sign up should easilly push our membership into 100,000+ range.
Heck, if we started just by really trying to tap into the high school swimmer who's not good enough to swim for a college team how many people a year would that equate to?
One thing I've noticed in training with Sun Devil Masters over the years (at ASU) is they do a great job of tapping into this "customer base"........in chatting with a few of these swimmers it blew my mind that virtually none of them new what masters swimming was prior to stumbling upon a workout at the pool.
I'd love to see us come up with some type of "invitation" to this group to try out a team in their area. Not sure how we could get access to high school swimmers but it might be interesting to see the response.
If USMS was really committed to growth, was able to reach out via marketing/PR and provided some tangible benefit then the amount of swimmers that would sign up should easilly push our membership into 100,000+ range.
Heck, if we started just by really trying to tap into the high school swimmer who's not good enough to swim for a college team how many people a year would that equate to?
One thing I've noticed in training with Sun Devil Masters over the years (at ASU) is they do a great job of tapping into this "customer base"........in chatting with a few of these swimmers it blew my mind that virtually none of them new what masters swimming was prior to stumbling upon a workout at the pool.
I'd love to see us come up with some type of "invitation" to this group to try out a team in their area. Not sure how we could get access to high school swimmers but it might be interesting to see the response.
