So I have been swimming with a masters team since august and have since then paid my usms membership fee at the end of October to be able to swim in a meet we recently had. I haven't recieved my usms card in the mail yet. In two weeks and am going back home from school for a month but need to swim in a structured program and am gonna find the masters team at home and wanted to know if I could still swim with them without my membership card, is there a way to prove my membership without it?
Former Member
Paul & Peg...that is how my current USS card is set up...laminated with a luggage tag holder and its hanging on my swim bag sitting here on the floor in front of me so not sure why I'm "special".
Paul,
are you sure you really have a membership in USA Swimming? It hasn't been called USS for quite a few years now. Who are you sending your money to big fella? Maybe you should have Laura look over your shoulder at renewal time...
http://www.usms.org/reg/
You can look up your current ('08) membership here, but if you're going to be swimming in '09, you may as well renew for '09 and have that card handy (it is technically good from 11/1/08-12/31/09).
With the renewal, you'll get a PDF file you can print from any computer and printer, and will be able to generate the same file online any time in the future should you need to.
No dodge was meant. You are worried about brand visibility, that isn't really what I'm talking about.
Why didn't it work? It "worked" just fine, we just felt it wasn't worth the hassle. I can go into more detail if you like.
One of the things I like a lot about the online system is that it doesn't require anything to be mailed. I can always download the card if I want it. Going to a system where everyone is mailed something seems a step backward, not progress towards the future. I have enough trinkets around the house, I don't need more.
I've been a member of USAS for two years and don't have a luggage tag. Why would I want one? I have NEVER been asked to produce my USAS membership card to enter a meet (I've been in four over the last 2 years) since it is all done electronically through my club team, and presumably they check my membership against the national database.
I wish that USMS didn't require physical proof of membership to enter a meet -- that will probably come at some point -- but they ask for a copy of the card with the entry form. That is perhaps so that they can enter the USMS membership ID into the Meet Manager file ahead of time...and a luggage tag doesn't help with that. As a Top Ten recorder for my LMSC, I definitely appreciate it when they get the number right; showing your card at the meet check-in seems more error-prone to me.
As far as brand visibility, like Geek I have a sticker on my car. Good enough for me. I think Rob Butcher is working on "brand packaging" and I think he will do a great job. It is beyond my pay grade (since I work for free).
But doing it by giving my Registrar more work, and charging me more money, is something I'll fight against.
Chris...I'm curious how many companies you've run, worked for, particpated in building, ran PR and/or marketing for...same for Roddin, Peg and anyone else who seems to think I trivilaize volunteers from USMS and don't "appreciate" what work has/is being done?
Seriouslly...not trying to belittle folks here but USMS is a business...although many don't want to see it as such and like the status quo. Bottom line is you have to step aside from the dfensive posturing that so many take here when anything is questioned about building a brand/buisness.
First and foremost is brand recognition....and I challenge anyone reading this to show me how USMS excels at this? My gosh high school grads, college grads, most anyone you might ask from a competitive background knows virtually nothing about how exceptional our comptetitive side is.
OK....so were a "fitness" based organization...go take a poll of every water aerobics class, physical therapist, nutrtional expert, personal trainer on what they know about USMS and I'll bet anyone $100 that 99% have no idea what USMS stands for let alone what it offers.
So where do you start? We have no money so newspaper/magazine ads are out of the question. We have no ROI (return on investment) for the fitness swimmer or the ex-competitive swimmer other than a few meets and the USMS magazine...so why pay to join?
Which brings me back to brands like godaddy.com, under armour, etc. Brands that started at the grass roots with logo based/ground level, no-cost PR. Bumper stickers, license plate holders, luggage tags, t-shirts for top 10 and fitness challenges, www.usms.org banners/logos in every possible place that people might see the web link and go home and check it out.
Which leads us to viral marketing, our website, etc. Lot's of work to be done to say the least. Do you know that Facebook doesn't even have a USMS home page? Not sure about MySpace but guessing the same...were dead wood.
I love swimming...and I'm a buisnessman and very competitive...I want this organtization to be highly successful but to be honest I'm tired and fed up with being one of the only voices out here asking hard questions and trying to fight the fight and getting told to go "volunteer" and/or quit bitching.
Go take a poll of every water aerobics class, physical therapist, nutrtional expert, personal trainer on what they know about USMS and I'll bet anyone $100 that 99% have no idea what USMS stands for let alone what it offers.
Gotta agree with this. Virtually no one I've ever run into on a casual basis or in one of the above fields has any clue what "masters swimming" is. Unless they're a masters athlete themselves, and probably a triathlete, forget it.
A suggestion to the powers at be within USMS...how about following USS's lead and doing a lamented luggage tag version of these?
Hmm, if people are lamenting the USS tags, then maybe it's not such a good idea? Now if you really want some pop, you can laminate the cards and hang them from your bag. That's really cool. :angel:
A suggestion to the powers at be within USMS...how about following USS's lead and doing a lamented luggage tag version of these?
No, I think USMS has it right...I am completely uninterested in this and don't feel like paying for others to do it via a blanket fee hike (we're already getting those anyway).
It isn't hard to do, laminate your own card. :)
Our LMSC used to do laminations on request (and charged for it) but it was a royal pain in the butt for the Registrar. When we went to the online system it was hard to implement so we droopped it, and I say good riddance.
What would be better, IMO, is that USMS registration can be verified as entries come in, or on-site at the meet. That would eliminate the need to have to print out the USMS card and send them in with the entries.
Heck, I would prefer online entries for all meets and automatic checking of membership. I have never had to prove USAT membership at one of their events. Combine that with real-time results for every single meet, while we are at it.
Chris, I agree with you. I can spend the $1.00 to laminate my own card but I would love to see the same thing, on-line entries for all meets. It's 2008 folks. The technology is there.
swim25:
Did you register by check or did you register online? If you registered online, did you remember if you checked the box to request a hardcopy by mail?
Regardless of any of your answers, if you contact your Registrar you can find out how to get your card.
Or better yet, you may print your own registration card using this link:
www.clubassistant.com/.../usms_member_card_request.cfm
I've been a lifetime member of USA Swimming for years and years, and I don't have a laminated version of my USA Swimming card. The only thing I have that might be close is the hard plastic (credit card style) card as a lifetime member. But the annual cards are just paper.
-Rick
