"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've lurked for years but this topic has finally inspired me to post. This is a (mostly) intelligent and thought-provoking discussion. USMS is a uniquely complex organization, trying to be all things to a wide variety of people aged 18 and up who have many and diverse goals. Their only common characteristic is swimming. So it's ludicrous to assume that there is one or even twelve faces representing our organization.
If we try to define who we are too precisely, we risk alienating a segment of the membership, and that would be a bad thing for the organization. I happen to train for competition and can't imagine just swimming for the heck of it. But if I only trained with like minded people, our team would be about a fourth of it's current size and I wouldn't have met some of the wonderful fitness swimmers, triathletes, cross-trainers, and rehabbing runners that share lanes with. We would also not generate enough income to have a full-time coach, and sixteen opportunities a week to fit workouts into our busy lives.
I believe that if folks think it's the elite swimmers who are the face of USMS, maybe they're just a little confused. I understand that there's no age limit in USS which might be a more appropriate platform for the aging awesomes.
USMS has a huge mission. I'm really glad to see that people are asking questions and having these thought-provoking discussions. Bottom line for me, is that while some fine-tuning (modernizing) and organizational changes are necessary, precisely defining our members would be a little hazardous to our health.
Whew! That wasn't as hard as I thought it would be! :doh:
I've lurked for years but this topic has finally inspired me to post. This is a (mostly) intelligent and thought-provoking discussion. USMS is a uniquely complex organization, trying to be all things to a wide variety of people aged 18 and up who have many and diverse goals. Their only common characteristic is swimming. So it's ludicrous to assume that there is one or even twelve faces representing our organization.
If we try to define who we are too precisely, we risk alienating a segment of the membership, and that would be a bad thing for the organization. I happen to train for competition and can't imagine just swimming for the heck of it. But if I only trained with like minded people, our team would be about a fourth of it's current size and I wouldn't have met some of the wonderful fitness swimmers, triathletes, cross-trainers, and rehabbing runners that share lanes with. We would also not generate enough income to have a full-time coach, and sixteen opportunities a week to fit workouts into our busy lives.
I believe that if folks think it's the elite swimmers who are the face of USMS, maybe they're just a little confused. I understand that there's no age limit in USS which might be a more appropriate platform for the aging awesomes.
USMS has a huge mission. I'm really glad to see that people are asking questions and having these thought-provoking discussions. Bottom line for me, is that while some fine-tuning (modernizing) and organizational changes are necessary, precisely defining our members would be a little hazardous to our health.
Whew! That wasn't as hard as I thought it would be! :doh:
