"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.
Parents
Former Member
Just a note from a sort-of-outsider: I've been a card-carrying Masters swimmer for over twenty years and whether I've been competing like a whirling dervish (my late 30's), training consistently but not competing much (40's) or hardly training and not competing (now), I've always considered my basic registration each year as necessary as breathing. The insurance aspect is of course important, but the basic belonging to a larger community of swimmers motivates me. Now, I am a Canadian and do not belong to USMS, but right from the get go I have been impressed by your organisation and the tremendous volunteer efforts of those who work in the background and this has continued to progress and improve over the years.
Nothing is broken, nobody is excluded, the debate is healthy. One observation though: the challenges are different in each region of your country, whether lack of facilities, distances to meets, overcrowding, resistance by local bureaucrats etc., your regional bodies should be addressing the concerns that are burning in your area (perhaps with backing or expertise from the national body). Otherwise 'one size fits all' proposals can be terribly devisive as reading back through some of threads from the past will show.
All Paul really wants is a free case of wine for each world record he sets.
Just a note from a sort-of-outsider: I've been a card-carrying Masters swimmer for over twenty years and whether I've been competing like a whirling dervish (my late 30's), training consistently but not competing much (40's) or hardly training and not competing (now), I've always considered my basic registration each year as necessary as breathing. The insurance aspect is of course important, but the basic belonging to a larger community of swimmers motivates me. Now, I am a Canadian and do not belong to USMS, but right from the get go I have been impressed by your organisation and the tremendous volunteer efforts of those who work in the background and this has continued to progress and improve over the years.
Nothing is broken, nobody is excluded, the debate is healthy. One observation though: the challenges are different in each region of your country, whether lack of facilities, distances to meets, overcrowding, resistance by local bureaucrats etc., your regional bodies should be addressing the concerns that are burning in your area (perhaps with backing or expertise from the national body). Otherwise 'one size fits all' proposals can be terribly devisive as reading back through some of threads from the past will show.
All Paul really wants is a free case of wine for each world record he sets.
