Picture that you have been suddenly transported to an alternative universe in which none of the swimmers enjoys competition. You find yourself the president of an organization sort of like USMS and have been put in charge of designing programs for swimmers who aren't at all interested in racing but who enjoy swimming and have a desire to improve. What do you think an organization like USMS would look like under such a scenario?
A couple of things have been suggested to me:
Think of swim clinics like TI offers but based on a largely volunteer basis like USMS is instead of having an entrepreneurial basis. Instead of going to meets to race swimmers would be going to clinics to learn, and yes, test their progress.
Consider the number of person-hours needed to organize a swim meet, just in terms of officials. A tremendous amount of effort is put into ensuring a "fair race" and that times swum at one meet can fairly be compared to times swum at another. If you were able to get the same number of people to volunteer the same number of hours and undergo the same level of training aimed in a more instructional vein what could you accomplish? It seems to me that you could organize really great clinics, that non-competitive swimmers would benefit from a lot more than swimming in a meet and perhaps still obtain a similar social experience.
Would it be possible to produce tools for evaluating swimmers progress that would be more informative than just time in a race? For example could one use stroke checklists to give more feedback on technique? Could you develop standardized evaluation tools that, for example, used inexpensive video equipment to do a detailed analysis of a swim, including all the stuff currently used for analysis of elite swimmers such as reaction time, distance under water, time to 15m, stroke count and turnover, turn time, etc..
I suspect that there is a lot of great stuff being done at larger more established clubs that have really good coaches that could be captured and documented and codified and used in the many clubs that are currently struggling to find a good coach in their area that they can afford.
What can you envision?
Lindsay:
Perhaps because of my swimming background in youth, I have not been able to convert to distance swimming. I still like to race short distances fast. (The theoretical idea of a 200 fly is appealing, but my youth times would depress me.) But running... Yes, I am addicted to running. LSD (long slow distance) running to be precise. If I could, I'd run a 10K every day for fun, with my ipod, but alas, my loose swimming ankles can't take it. So I run every other day. But I love it. Even though I know it's not good for my swimming (George) and I know it tires me out later for swim practice. Lindsay, shouldn't you be asleep by now if you're going to that early morning practice? Now, me I'm not getting up until 7:30 if my children are nice.
same thing goes for you Geek, this isn't a thread about who/what/why of clubs. If you can contribute something constructive to this discussion please do I would love to hear it.
You prove my point about why the committee should only be made up of coaches and fitness swimmer... you can not see beyond competition as a measure of fitness. Think differently, take off the competition blinders.
My vision of what a fitness meet for not competitive swimmers would be very similar to a swim meet. Except, instead of events, tere would be time trials to determine if the swimmer met time criteria.. there would be stroke judges who would determine if the swimmer met the techinical criteria set by the fitness committee. Just as competitive swimmer pay registration fees and event fees, so would the fitness swimmers.
Lainey
yet another reason why I wouldn't want someone like you to be on the taskforce to set criteria for fitness swimmers. You can't see beyond the boundaries of USMS Clubs.
Lainey
Okay, Geek, come up with another vision for promoting and recognizing fitness swimmers. Keep in mind we are talking about fitness swimmers who do not want to compete.
Lainey
Thank You Leslie. Yes it is true I was made to feel very unwelcome by several USMS members, not just Geek. If you've read my postings you will probably realize Geek, Gull, et al, don't scare me.
What Geek doesn't seem to be able to understand is that I don't think that USMS Club members are evil or that USMS Clubs are bad organizations. I also don't doubt that a USMS swim meet is a lot of fun. What I have said though is that USMS doesn't offer a swimmer like myself, in a town where there is no club and who doesn't want to compete, an incentive for joining, and I am not interested in going to a swim meet, whether it is to compete or to socialize. Now, if there was something in place like what is being discussed in this thread, that might lure me to join.
I'm still interested in hearing Geek's plan for including a swimmer like myself. Remember Geek, I have no club to swim with, I have no coach, I don't want to compete or socialize at swim meets. What I do want to do is improve my swimming and fitness. Design a USMS program for swimmers like myself.
Lainey
If one looks at the world of running it is interesting to note that the bulk of adult participants are as interested in endurance as in speed. There are far more people interested in doing a 5km road race than in doing 100m or 200m sprints on a track. And many of those people move on to 10km runs and beyond rather than focusing on going faster and faster at the 5km distance.
In my own experience with running I found that after a point getting faster at the 5km distance seemed to be as much a matter of tolerating pain as anything else, so I found it more enjoyable to go for longer runs at a more comfortable pace. As far as I know the health and fitness benefits of a medium paced 10km run are as good or better than those of a faster 5km run.
A couple of years ago I did an 8km open water swim and that was as challenging and rewarding as anything I have done in the pool. Hmm, completing my first 200 fly was another high point. In neither case was I particularly fixated on my time or with "racing" anyone.
Another example of testing your fitness outside of racing is swimming for distance in a given time, e.g. how far can you go in 30m or an hour.
I find it very hard to comprehend why competitive swimmers can’t grasp the concept that there are other ways of measuring success and fitness than swimming a race. I find it even harder to understand in light of the fact that competitive swimmers frequently talk about, and are very proud of, their personal bests. A personal best has nothing to do with whether or not you placed in an event, it means that you challenged yourself, set a goal, and succeeded. Why must a swimmer who isn’t interested in competing be told that swimming a race is THE WAY to measure success/fitness and improvement? Isn’t it possible that fitness swimmers can set and meet PBs without competing? The “Competition Blinders” need to come off.
I like the idea of different levels of achievement. A USMS task force, made up of coaches and fitness swimmers, should develop the different levels. The last thing a fitness swimmer wants is a competitive swimmer telling him/her what he/she should be doing. The beginning levels should be low so even beginning swimmers will not be intimidated and to provide early success. The achievement criteria for successive levels should be increasingly more difficult to attain with emphasis on achieving PBs while working toward the criteria. The highest levels should require the swimmer to demonstrate superior skills in all four strokes.
As the swimmer progresses through the levels, there should be an emphasis on meeting a speed criteria because speed does measure fitness, and is an indication of good technique. However, these criteria should not be equivalent to qualifying times. Remember the emphasis is on FITNESS, not on fitness to compete. The difficult question the task force will have to address is “What time is a measure of good fitness?” A possible starting point for determining the time criteria might be Dr. Kenneth H. Cooper’s research. For example, one of several fitness criteria for a male 40 to 49 years old might be swimming an 800 free in 16 min, 30 sec.
Who would judge whether or not a swimmer met the criteria? His or her coach, of course. The coach will submit a form to USMS affirming that he/she has ‘tested’ the swimmer and that the swimmer met or exceeded the level criteria. The swimmer should also be required to pay a fee to USMS in order to be officially recognized at that level. This raises another question. What about members who are not affiliated with any team? There must be something in place so these swimmers will have as much access to the ‘fitness program and recognition’ as those who are members of a team. A possibility might be regional fitness meets, or, perhaps, testing should not be allowed at the team level, and all testing should be done at regional fitness meets.
The one problem I see with this honor system of recording your distances, times, etc, is NOT with the honesty of members, but with the weight the certificate carries. In my opinion, a recognition based on "testing" is far more impressive, than one in which the individual does his or her own thing, submits results and then a piece of paper is issued.
Lainey
I guess I am a so called " fitness " swimmer because I have not been in a swim meet in 30 years. That may change soon. I think USMS has a TON to offer fitness swimmers. Try one of the postal events to see how you stack up against others. I swim totally alone ( Like I am the only one in the pool alone ) 6x a week 3-3500yds at a time, and have gained lots of stroke knowledge, encouraging words and workout advice since joining USMS 2 years ago.I would not have gotten this otherwise.Thanks USMS.
If you want to track your yardage try the Presidents fitness challenge that was recommended to me on this forum,you can even check your progress against others. I consider ALL swimmers fitness swimmers, some are just faster than others.
