Paul Smith has started another thread which has migrated to what USMS might do to attract and keep more members. I thought, after trying unsuccessfully to find a thread on the subject, that I would hit the nail on the head.
There was a recent membership poll on the issues, which I participated in, but I thought it might not have emphasized strongly enough my own personal reasons:
I AM A MEMBER OF USMS SOLELY BECAUSE IT PROVIDES A MECHANISM FOR COMPETITION.
There are other 'benefits' that accrue from your USMS membership but most of them are of no interest to me. Insurance is one that is often mentioned, but in my experience, this is not such an important factor.
Excluding city and county recreation centers and private athletic clubs, here is a list of all the teams I have trained with and their membership requirements:
Laramie Masters Swim Club: trained at the high school; USMS membership required.
University of Wyoming Masters Swim Group: trained at the University; USMS membership not required.
Ford Aquatics: trained at the University of Arizona; USMS membership required.
Northern Arizona Masters: trained at Northern Arizona University; USMS membership not required.
Snow Mountain Masters: trained at Snow Mountain Ranch YMCA; USMS membership not required.
University of Denver Masters: trained at DU; USMS membership not required.
So, of the six teams I have trained with only two have required USMS membership. Most of my training is solo at clubs and recreation centers, so the insurance problem is not an issue.
Also, now that I'm over 50, there are other competition avenues open to me (read Senior Games...) so I could continue to compete even if there were no USMS (In fairness, here, I should stress that USMS has worked VERY HARD to bring these games up to their standards of competition. I went to some of the earlier versions of these that were just a joke. I believe that we seniors owe a great debt to Scott Rabalais and others for carrying this out.)
What's your reason?
And I don't believe a Master swim meet can ever equal the draw of a triathlon for the reasons stated.
But is could and should try....one of the things being discussed here in Arizona is working with the triathlons and open water swims to obtain "sanctions" from AZ masters....and try and add swimming competitor only waves to the events.
If we did things like this...and add events like Denver has at the Mile High Mile and Double Mile it may get more cross pollination...I've also said that every nationals and regionals should have an open water event or two tied to it (where possible)....When Hawaii did this a few years back even us sprinters signed up!
I joined USMS finally in 2001 to swim a meet, after about 5 years of training with a team. I then stayed in the organization so I could whoop gull annually and enjoy free coffee.
For those who enjoy the meets in this sport there is an important update over on the "Nationals" thread....once again we will go into another 2 years of the status quo with regard to the team scoring issues.
I joined(in 1974) to compete. I like USMS being successful because that means they can put on meets. If that means we need to make ourselves attractive to a wider base,great,just make sure we still have Zones and Nats:banana::banana::banana:.
Once I turned 19, I joined because it was required by my club to practice with them (insurance). At the time, they didn't allow 18 year olds to register/compete :dedhorse::frustrated::argue::censor: so I spent my first year swimming with them kind of on the down low, but since I was a member of the facility, I was technically already covered. The following spring, I swam my first USMS meet, but didn't do another meet for another almost two years.
Now, I join mostly per the team requirement and for meets. Like President Rob, I occasionally travel, and USMS membership has likewise opened the door to swim with a few other teams. The opportunity for networking is huge, especially in my region, and I have a great many friends I have met through USMS connections. If it weren't for USMS, I'd've not met my special friend.
I joined after lurking here and printing workouts to use when I was swimming on my own prior to joining my local team a couple years ago. To me, it was much like my support for public radio.
There are other 'benefits' that accrue from your USMS membership but most of them are of no interest to me. Insurance is one that is often mentioned, but in my experience, this is not such an important factor.
Actually, even if you join USMS just for the competition, insurance is a very important factor. To take over a pool or beach facility for a competition, the people putting on the competition have to show the facility management that the event will have liability insurance. Sanctioning, whether through USMS or USS or USAT or whatever, provides the insurance without which the organized competition could not occur.
In any event, I think that USMS statistics suggest that most USMS members do not join in order to compete. Taking my team as an example, most members of my team don't go to USMS-sanctioned swim meets or OW races (or if they do they go so seldom that I have to believe that competition for them is secondary). Instead, they are USMS members because our club requires USMS membership and they want to work out with our club. And circling back, our club requires USMS membership because we rent a facility that requires us to have our own liability insurance, and USMS provides that insurance. If we did not obtain insurance through USMS, we would have to obtain it through some other provider or we would not be able to have an organized workout group that employs a coach and controls use of a portion or all of the facility during the time we are using it.
That reason (organized workouts) is also probably my main reason for being a USMS member, even though I do compete.
I agree with Dr. Dickson--but I would update the logo.
I really don't know why anyone would want to join if they don't want to compete. And I don't believe a Master swim meet can ever equal the draw of a triathlon for the reasons stated.
BTW, I think the organization should consider utilizing their membership to create a database for studying health issues in older athletes.
