Is the economic downturn affecting your club in any way, such as a decrease in participation, (or even increase if swimming is seen as a cheap pastime, like movie-going and rentals?) Is your club doing anything as a result, or is it preparing for a bad economy in any way? Any drop or increase in meet participation attributed to it?
My team typically sees a big increase in swimmers after the new year, and after the Spring semester starts (we swim on campus). While we've had a couple of days with higher numbers, I haven't seen the normal steady increase this year. In fact there have been days when I've had my own lane, which is extremely unusual. Around the holidays there were days when we had less than 10 swimmers (I had never seen that before).
Several swimmers took 2-3 months off at the end of last year, early this year. One guy had recently bought a new home, they are having trouble selling their old one. Since he and his wife work near each other, by not swimming in the morning, he not only saved the swimming fees, but also some commuting costs.
I'm curious about the statement on AZ meets. I took a look at the Polar Bear meet results, and they looked rather skimpy. For my age group, there were several events with no entries, many had just 1-2. When I lived in Tucson and swam with the U of A team, about 50% or more of the team swam in meets, when they were in town. Heck, I've seen higher participation from the U of A team with Phoenix meets.
Meet participation from my current team has been steadily declining over the past few years. Back when we hosted USMS Nationals, my team had a consistent 20%+ who competed in meets, now it is closer to 5%.
My team typically sees a big increase in swimmers after the new year, and after the Spring semester starts (we swim on campus). While we've had a couple of days with higher numbers, I haven't seen the normal steady increase this year. In fact there have been days when I've had my own lane, which is extremely unusual. Around the holidays there were days when we had less than 10 swimmers (I had never seen that before).
Several swimmers took 2-3 months off at the end of last year, early this year. One guy had recently bought a new home, they are having trouble selling their old one. Since he and his wife work near each other, by not swimming in the morning, he not only saved the swimming fees, but also some commuting costs.
I'm curious about the statement on AZ meets. I took a look at the Polar Bear meet results, and they looked rather skimpy. For my age group, there were several events with no entries, many had just 1-2. When I lived in Tucson and swam with the U of A team, about 50% or more of the team swam in meets, when they were in town. Heck, I've seen higher participation from the U of A team with Phoenix meets.
Meet participation from my current team has been steadily declining over the past few years. Back when we hosted USMS Nationals, my team had a consistent 20%+ who competed in meets, now it is closer to 5%.
