I started swimming Masters as soon as I could at 25(this was before 19 and then 18 year olds could swim Masters-I'm 57 now.)
I gather this is not what most people do. Swimming was the only thing that allowed me to retain a veneer of sanity in college and med school so I was ecstatic at being with an organized group of swimmers at the first opportunity.
Parents
Former Member
Great Poll!
I took about 6.5 years off after getting out of college in 1981, simply because I had never heard of USMS. A year or two after college I found a Masters group at a local Y and swam a workout or two with them. Unfortunately they weren't that competitive and told me that you had to be 25 to compete at Y nationals back then. That was a few years off for me at the time so I had no motivation to swim short uninspired workouts without the possibility of competing. They never mentioned USMS. When I found out about USMS a few years later, I swam on my own for a while and did a few meets until I found a local team to join. I definitely would have continued swimming right after college if I knew about USMS back then.
I don't think it's likely that many age group, high school, and college kids today are unaware of Masters, so I don't think this would happen to many of the potential new Masters swimmers now. If it is likely, this is a huge market for USMS to go after. If nothing else, we can get Masters into their heads so that they'll remember us after they take whatever time off they may need or once they've gained enough weight to realize that they NEED to swim again.
Great Poll!
I took about 6.5 years off after getting out of college in 1981, simply because I had never heard of USMS. A year or two after college I found a Masters group at a local Y and swam a workout or two with them. Unfortunately they weren't that competitive and told me that you had to be 25 to compete at Y nationals back then. That was a few years off for me at the time so I had no motivation to swim short uninspired workouts without the possibility of competing. They never mentioned USMS. When I found out about USMS a few years later, I swam on my own for a while and did a few meets until I found a local team to join. I definitely would have continued swimming right after college if I knew about USMS back then.
I don't think it's likely that many age group, high school, and college kids today are unaware of Masters, so I don't think this would happen to many of the potential new Masters swimmers now. If it is likely, this is a huge market for USMS to go after. If nothing else, we can get Masters into their heads so that they'll remember us after they take whatever time off they may need or once they've gained enough weight to realize that they NEED to swim again.
