May/June cover of USMS Swimmer

Originally posted by gull80 So according to Craig and Matt, by criticizing the cover/content of USMS Swimmer, I am displaying insensitivity toward the disabled and being intolerant of fitness swimmers. Here's a news flash--I pay my dues too, and as a member of USMS who chooses to train seriously and compete, I find Swimming World a lot more relevant. Yes Craig, you do pay your dues and you are entitled to content in USMS concerning your favorite sport. But just as you pay your dues, so do others who may have other ideas than you. This is the first inclusion of non comeptitive content I have seen in USMS since I joined. Is it really all that bad to have one issue out of 6 that does not specifically pertain to you? If you prefer Swimming World then get it. I doubt anybody is going to lose any sleep over it, that is for sure. Maybe you could do USMS a favor and cancel your subscription thereby saving the organization some money on printing and mailing costs. I am not wild about aqua aerobics on the cover of USMS but I understand that the magazine is for USMS members, not comeptitive swimmers.

Originally posted by aquageek Let me answer your questions this way. If I had an interest in other forms of exercise to supplement my swimming, I'd buy a book or magazine on that topic. I don't need my swimming magazine, published 6 X a year to have it's feature story on water aerobics. And, since you asked about my 100 free time I'd much rather have the featured cover story in a swimming magazine dedicated to a total strategy for the 100 with input from some of our better swimmers (Smith, etc) and coaches (Kerry O'Brien, apologies for spelling). I totally disagree that we should stoop to a group that will never swim for fitness or in meets to increase membership. That's not what I want USMS to be. We gonna have noodling classes at Nationals? Might be ok if beer were involved. You can't be all things to all people and I think concentrating on the fitness and competitive bunch is perfectly fine. I'm starting to understand Smith's poll better and better now. Stoop to a group? Are you a better person than they are? Your life is somehow more valuable or worthy of praise? Like I commented to Craig, I am not a big fan of aqua aerobics/noodling but USMS is not just about racing. From what I have seen in USMS Swimmer, most of the content does deal with competition and I suspect that the issue in question has competitive information in it as well. It's not as if the entire issue was devoted to aqua aerobics, was it?

Please don't read too much into this. I haven't seen the cover, nor the articles that go along with it. I am undecided about whether I like pictures of people wearing gear that water aerobics classes use on the cover of the USMS magazine. I don't know if there are any interesting articles in the magazine, or not, that would put the cover in context. I share many of Aquageek's and Gull's concerns about watering down (no pun intended) the content of the USMS magazine such that USMS members find little value in it. However, "I guess I just thought that a more appropriate cover photo for May/June might have been Rich Abrahams or one of the other swimmers heading to Nationals." Ooh! Like we haven't had 100's of articles in our magazine about people who will break records at Nationals. Like we don't talk about what goes on at Nationals, nonstop. As if there are depths unplumbed about pacing strategies for the 50 free. To be fair, I am uncomfortable with the idea of USMS Swimming and Water Aerobics Magazine. However, I am also uncomfortable with the idea that articles that are not about the top performing 1% (of the 20% of our members that compete) are a waste of space. Please, let's give the editors a little breathing room to experiment. If after you've read issue, you don't like it, feel free to tell them why. But, let's not assume a radical change in editorial policy based on speculation about one frimpin' photograph. Matt

Originally posted by aquageek My goodness, I think you've gone off the deep end without your water belt. I don't think any of us have said we are better than anyone else or deserve more praise. What we've said is that we are swimmers and want articles about swimming, not noodling, especially cover stories. How you have managed to morph this into some commentary that we think we live more praiseworthy lives and don't respect others is beyond me. I want a magazine about swimming, with featue stories about swimming. Would you buy a Newsweek or be more likely to subscribe if it's cover story was about home decorating tips? Would you be more or less likely to join a national triathlon association if their primary magazine had it's feature article on how jumping rope makes you a better triathlete. It's about the core, man, not the fringe group. You said stoop to their level. That implies that you are above them, no? I have not morphed anything, I simply read what you wrote. I'll ask again...is USMS swimmer on newsstands? If you must be a USMS member to get the magazine then the magazine will do little to lure people into the organization. If it's about the core then USMS Swimmer should not have anything to do with competition since those who actually compete are in the minority. Right?

It is true that roughly 20% of masters swimmers are interested in competition. However, I don't think it would be correct to assume they are the same 20% that are the most involved in USMS. Many of our most active volunteers are fitness only swimmers (not claiming they are noodlers, but they are not competitive swimmers).

Originally posted by scyfreestyler Maybe you could do USMS a favor and cancel your subscription thereby saving the organization some money on printing and mailing costs. Actually the price of the subscription is included in the membership dues.

Originally posted by aquageek Wrong, again. Core never means majority, never has. The core is the smaller but central part, not the majority. Pick up an apple if the concept remains foreign. You will frequently hear that a group that alientates it's core is in dire straights. I'm with gull80, proud to be part of the core that trains hard and competes. I would also hazard a guess the core group does more for USMS than the rest by promoting the sport, flying to meets, participating in non USMS events and talking up USMS, etc. It's that 20% that does 80% of the heavy lifting, pretty much the case across any organization, matter of fact it is referred to as the 80/20 rule. So, you decide, take the 20% out that do meets and bust their butts for USMS in return for 20% of noodlers who will do absolutely nothing for us. Pick one. I guess it depends on how you view USMS. I don't see it as just a means for competition. I think you are overinflating the benefit that USMS competitors have on the organization as a whole. Certainly they provide a benefit but so do all of the swimmers who attend workouts, pay their dues, improve their health, but never attend a meet. Without the annual dues of the non-competitors where would the competitors be left? You would be left with a rather small organization with insufficient funds to promote the events currently on the roster. I agree that the competitors are the core of the online forum group. However, I think that the fitness/non-competitive group do just as much good for the organization by bringing others to their workouts in hopes of adding friends to their routine. You and Gull are coming from the competitive side and I am coming from the fitness side (although I do compete a few times a year). I am just trying to be accomodating to other members because it is the fair thing to do and it has very little impact on my USMS membership or how I use it. I will read the issue when it arrives and if it is lacking any information about lap swimming or competition I will allow you to serve me up a heaping dish of crow. ;)

Let's not judge a book by its cover. And don't knock it 'til you try it! Point of information: one of the swimmers interviewed in the story about water exercise is longtime Masters swimmer and author Dr. Jane Katz, who has accumulated more than 30 USMS All-American swims over three-decades. Katz swears by water exercise and is also a water exercise instructor and competitive Masters synchro swimmer. A separate story about swimmers who survived serious health battles features Mike Shaffer, who used water jogging as part of his rehabilitation after he was involved in a near-fatal cycling accident. Shaffer has accumulated almost 25 All-American swims since 1993. He has been a USMS All-Star six times since 1996, and currently holds five USMS national records in pool competition and four USMS long distance postal national records. You won't find many swimmers as competitive as those two. So, maybe we should read what they have to say -- or even better, try water exercise -- before making an assessment about its value. ~SB

Originally posted by gull80 Actually the price of the subscription is included in the membership dues. I know...I was just trying to add some sarcastic comedy to the thread. Have you read the magazine yet? I am curious to see what the contents are.

The May / June issue of SWIMMER includes a six-page technique pictorial on butterfly by coach Simon Percy of Sun Devil Masters; a personal account of three Masters swimmers who were reunited through Masters swimming decades after their competitive swimming experiences were cut short by WWII; a product roundup on sports drinks; the annual lists of USMS All-Americans and All-Stars; and a Splashback column about Masters swimmers who were affected by the US led 1980 boycott of the Moscow Olympics. The Training & Technique department contains a "Favorite Practice" by our very own John Smith, and the web workout was written by Masters swimmer, coach and four-time NCAA champion Lia Oberstar of the Dallas Aquatic Masters. Thank you for asking. Enjoy! SB