"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.
I think the face of Masters Swimming should be ALL of us. We all swim for different reasons. We have all had obstacles we have had to overcome to swim..... or swimming has helped us through life's obstacles.
I will never forget when I was getting ready to swim the 100 free at Nationals in Ft. Lauderdale. I was soooo nervous and really putting the pressure on myself. I sat by the pool and watched the first heat of the 100 free. These women were 80-90 years old, They had to have help getting on the blocks but they all did RACING DIVES and FLIP TURNS. It literally brought tears to my eyes. I want to be like that when I am that age. It totally put things in perspective for me.....that I needed to lighten up and just have fun. So, maybe our "face" should be someone like that!
I think the face of Masters Swimming should be ALL of us. We all swim for different reasons. We have all had obstacles we have had to overcome to swim..... or swimming has helped us through life's obstacles.
I will never forget when I was getting ready to swim the 100 free at Nationals in Ft. Lauderdale. I was soooo nervous and really putting the pressure on myself. I sat by the pool and watched the first heat of the 100 free. These women were 80-90 years old, They had to have help getting on the blocks but they all did RACING DIVES and FLIP TURNS. It literally brought tears to my eyes. I want to be like that when I am that age. It totally put things in perspective for me.....that I needed to lighten up and just have fun. So, maybe our "face" should be someone like that!
