"Dara Torres should be the face of United States Masters Swimming"
Brent Rutemiller, October issue Swimming World Magazine
"Of Course, Torres isn't on this trip alone. Aside from the support of Hoffman, her daughter and her coaches, Torres relies on a team. She has a nanny who tends to Tessa, a strength coach, and physical and massage therapists who work her like a piece of dough."
John Lohn, October Swimming World Magazine
With all due respect to Mr. Rutemillier & Mr. Lohn I would suggest that they spend a little more time around the people who not only compete in the meets of our sport but with the people who are the backbone as volunteers in the day to day running of it....Dara's only contribution has been making a few workouts early in her comeback, attending a couple of meets and signing autographs and collecting checks for clinics.
If you want a "face" of Masters Swimming look to Susan Von der Lippe who beat Dara as the first person over 40 to qualify for Trials....and she did it training with a masters team 3x a week...working par time, no nanny, no trainers....no PR person....that to me this is the core of what we are in my opinion.
How about Rob Copeland who somehow manages to run this entire organization, swim extremely well, post on our forum....all without a massage therapist and pilates instructor....again this is what Masters represents...to me.
Dara has done something remarkable for anyone her age... give her credit..but lets see if at some point she wants to time at one of our meets...or be on one of our committee's to help promote masters...without an appearance fee.
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I agree. The face of Masters swimming should be a person without their own "team" behind them.
Alison
Now this is a very interesting statement (for me). I'm not sure as to whether I agree or disagree. What would be a "team?" Massages a couple of times a week and a personal trainer? An acupuncturist, pilates instructor and nutritionist?
However, from all of the masters swimmers and even runners, cyclists, and triathletes that I know, many would be eliminated from being considered the "face" of their sport due to working with a team of people to enhance performance. I would estimate that of the adults that I know, about half of them work with some combination of a trainer, massage therapist, physical therapist, chiropractor, pilates or yoga instructor, nutritionist, etc. So, I feel Dara's getting a bit of a bad rap in that area. I know that I was surprised to find that some of the masters individuals I swim with (and this goes for 50 and 60+ yr individuals) have acupuncturists, yoga instructors, pilates classes, and weight trainers. Now, they don't go around advertising this info. It does make sense to me as to why they are so quick in the pool . . . I'm sure there are swimmers out there who are fabulous and they just swim (I know of a few). But usually, there are specific reasons as to why some swimmers are so quick in the pool.
So, I guess unless I really knew what everyone does in and out of the pool, I can't pass judgment. This sort of reminds me of the kids who would say, "I did not study at all for that test!" and then they aced it when you better believe they did all kinds of things to prepare for it.
And having your own PR company backing you is not, in my mind, always a win-win for the individual. . .
So is what people are saying is that to be the "face" of masters, you are expected to be OT speed while training minimally and only in the pool? Sign me up! :lmao:
But back to the topic at hand, I feel Dara is one of the many faces of Masters. She's very unique and not at all typical of our group.
Anyway, interesting thread.
I agree. The face of Masters swimming should be a person without their own "team" behind them.
Alison
Now this is a very interesting statement (for me). I'm not sure as to whether I agree or disagree. What would be a "team?" Massages a couple of times a week and a personal trainer? An acupuncturist, pilates instructor and nutritionist?
However, from all of the masters swimmers and even runners, cyclists, and triathletes that I know, many would be eliminated from being considered the "face" of their sport due to working with a team of people to enhance performance. I would estimate that of the adults that I know, about half of them work with some combination of a trainer, massage therapist, physical therapist, chiropractor, pilates or yoga instructor, nutritionist, etc. So, I feel Dara's getting a bit of a bad rap in that area. I know that I was surprised to find that some of the masters individuals I swim with (and this goes for 50 and 60+ yr individuals) have acupuncturists, yoga instructors, pilates classes, and weight trainers. Now, they don't go around advertising this info. It does make sense to me as to why they are so quick in the pool . . . I'm sure there are swimmers out there who are fabulous and they just swim (I know of a few). But usually, there are specific reasons as to why some swimmers are so quick in the pool.
So, I guess unless I really knew what everyone does in and out of the pool, I can't pass judgment. This sort of reminds me of the kids who would say, "I did not study at all for that test!" and then they aced it when you better believe they did all kinds of things to prepare for it.
And having your own PR company backing you is not, in my mind, always a win-win for the individual. . .
So is what people are saying is that to be the "face" of masters, you are expected to be OT speed while training minimally and only in the pool? Sign me up! :lmao:
But back to the topic at hand, I feel Dara is one of the many faces of Masters. She's very unique and not at all typical of our group.
Anyway, interesting thread.
