On the topic (admittedly somewhat loosely) of marketing USMS, every month or so I get a Kiefer or Kastaway catalog filled with pictures of pretty teen/20-something swimmers of both sexes. Maybe it was due in part to the endorphins, but I couldn't help but notice at Federal Way how many really good looking, athletic, sexy swimmers we have in our ranks for whom their twenties are a distant memory. Ande said something similar about the scene at the LCM Nationals. Call me a narcissist, but I am inspired seeing men and women my age and older who are obviously very fit and who have the bodies of folks 20 years younger. (I note that Goodsmith agrees that it's not how fast you are, it's how good you look. Although his mantra may change if Evilsmith gets prize money on the line).
So where are the pictures of 30, 40, 50, etc, somethings in our sponsors' advertising materials? How many parents of age groupers might take a look and say "I want to look like that" -- or maybe it's just "I'd like to see him/her in a fastskin at a meet", but who cares why as long as it gets them thinking about USMS?
Parents
Former Member
The first open water race I did was Big Shoulders, a few years ago. I was in the 45 and older group. As we were getting ready to hit the water, I noticed how many men and women were very fit and young looking. Half of them didn't look like they belonged in the group, because they looked so young. All I could think at that moment was "I want to be one of them". And ever since then I've tried my hardest to be!
JIM
The first open water race I did was Big Shoulders, a few years ago. I was in the 45 and older group. As we were getting ready to hit the water, I noticed how many men and women were very fit and young looking. Half of them didn't look like they belonged in the group, because they looked so young. All I could think at that moment was "I want to be one of them". And ever since then I've tried my hardest to be!
JIM
