I've been part of the USMS organization for over 10 years. Yet every year when I get my USMS renewal materials, I always contemplate not renewing.
My team is also one that doesn't require USMS membership, we have our own separate insurance. I haven't competed in a meet since I don't know when (when USMS SCY Nationals was here in AZ). Sure, the magazine comes, and once in a while I'll skim through it (I enjoyed reading the article when Fort was in it). Yes, I do get access to these forums, but my team has been moving towards forums on its website, and now seems to be taking the Facebook direction.
There's many reasons why I don't compete in swim meets. One reason is I'm nowhere near competitive. At USMS nationals, after one of my heats, someone told me that I was one of the reasons the meet was taking so long. But I really would rather be doing other things with my time and money (such as a vacation to Europe). If I want to test how fast I'm swimming, why not just ask my coach to time me? I'm certainly not about to shell out hundreds of dollars for a fancy suit that I'll wear a handful of times. We hardly have anyone on my team who competes, so I really don't see much of a point.
I see swimming as a way to relieve stress. Worrying about things like meets, buying the best suit, etc simply create stress.
I've been part of the USMS organization for over 10 years. Yet every year when I get my USMS renewal materials, I always contemplate not renewing.
My team is also one that doesn't require USMS membership, we have our own separate insurance. I haven't competed in a meet since I don't know when (when USMS SCY Nationals was here in AZ). Sure, the magazine comes, and once in a while I'll skim through it (I enjoyed reading the article when Fort was in it). Yes, I do get access to these forums, but my team has been moving towards forums on its website, and now seems to be taking the Facebook direction.
There's many reasons why I don't compete in swim meets. One reason is I'm nowhere near competitive. At USMS nationals, after one of my heats, someone told me that I was one of the reasons the meet was taking so long. But I really would rather be doing other things with my time and money (such as a vacation to Europe). If I want to test how fast I'm swimming, why not just ask my coach to time me? I'm certainly not about to shell out hundreds of dollars for a fancy suit that I'll wear a handful of times. We hardly have anyone on my team who competes, so I really don't see much of a point.
I see swimming as a way to relieve stress. Worrying about things like meets, buying the best suit, etc simply create stress.
