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
Parents
Former Member
Not swimming related, but here's another example of the "I got mine, Jack" mentality.
"LONGMONT, Colo. - A man who said he bought a device that let him change traffic lights from red to green received a $50 ticket for suspicion of interfering with a traffic signal.
"Jason Niccum of Longmont said the device, which he bought on eBay for $100, helped him cut his time driving to work. “I guess in the two years I had it, that thing paid for itself,” he told the Daily Times-Call on Wednesday.
"Niccum was cited after city traffic engineers who noticed repeated traffic light disruptions at certain intersections spotted a white Ford pickup passing by whenever the patterns were disrupted."
Full story at: www.msnbc.msn.com/.../
Now we've all fantasized about changing ill-timed or long cycle traffic lights. We don't actually do it because to speed one vehicle on its way causes far greater delay for everyone else caught in the same traffic pattern, so we reserve that for emergency vehicles who really need it. This is intuitively obvious to everyone, except this narcissistic , and it speaks volumes about this so & so that after he's caught, after the disruption he's caused for two years becomes apperant, his attitude is that he feels it was worth it because he got away with it for two years!
Some might ask what has that to do with us? I'll grant you this is peripheral. I would like to point out that I feel Masters is similar to a traffic pattern in that we are all in this together. We all have to contribute towards building the roads, or they won't exist, just as all of us have to contribute towards building USMS. We all use the roads, just as all of us participate in Masters events, and no one will be able to get anywhere without all of us being able get to where we are going. I'm not saying NQTs, lap swimming, or any particular aspect of Masters swimming is sacred, but I am saying that the minute you start thinking "I got mine, Jack" and everyone else can take care of themselves, you will do damage to what we have all built together. BTW, all of us owe a great debt to the pioneers and the leaders of Masters swimming who put in the volunteer hours with little thanks other than their personal satisfaction, who started the meets that are now big deals, but at the time were crappy little local events with a half dozen people showing up that they nutured into what they are today. I could go on, but the point is we can NEVER repay the June Krausers or the Bill Earlys, etc. etc. for what they did that all of us are living off of right now. Where then do some of us get off staking out as if they own it a corner of the sandbox that belongs to everyone?
Matt
Not swimming related, but here's another example of the "I got mine, Jack" mentality.
"LONGMONT, Colo. - A man who said he bought a device that let him change traffic lights from red to green received a $50 ticket for suspicion of interfering with a traffic signal.
"Jason Niccum of Longmont said the device, which he bought on eBay for $100, helped him cut his time driving to work. “I guess in the two years I had it, that thing paid for itself,” he told the Daily Times-Call on Wednesday.
"Niccum was cited after city traffic engineers who noticed repeated traffic light disruptions at certain intersections spotted a white Ford pickup passing by whenever the patterns were disrupted."
Full story at: www.msnbc.msn.com/.../
Now we've all fantasized about changing ill-timed or long cycle traffic lights. We don't actually do it because to speed one vehicle on its way causes far greater delay for everyone else caught in the same traffic pattern, so we reserve that for emergency vehicles who really need it. This is intuitively obvious to everyone, except this narcissistic , and it speaks volumes about this so & so that after he's caught, after the disruption he's caused for two years becomes apperant, his attitude is that he feels it was worth it because he got away with it for two years!
Some might ask what has that to do with us? I'll grant you this is peripheral. I would like to point out that I feel Masters is similar to a traffic pattern in that we are all in this together. We all have to contribute towards building the roads, or they won't exist, just as all of us have to contribute towards building USMS. We all use the roads, just as all of us participate in Masters events, and no one will be able to get anywhere without all of us being able get to where we are going. I'm not saying NQTs, lap swimming, or any particular aspect of Masters swimming is sacred, but I am saying that the minute you start thinking "I got mine, Jack" and everyone else can take care of themselves, you will do damage to what we have all built together. BTW, all of us owe a great debt to the pioneers and the leaders of Masters swimming who put in the volunteer hours with little thanks other than their personal satisfaction, who started the meets that are now big deals, but at the time were crappy little local events with a half dozen people showing up that they nutured into what they are today. I could go on, but the point is we can NEVER repay the June Krausers or the Bill Earlys, etc. etc. for what they did that all of us are living off of right now. Where then do some of us get off staking out as if they own it a corner of the sandbox that belongs to everyone?
Matt
