Yet...... another comment on "elitism" in masters swimming. This ongoing battle of two imaginary groups....... the selfish former elite swimmers and the non elite counter parts.
Yes..... The Evil Smith and I have taken great pleasure throughout the last decade trying to secretly split USMS into these two groups. Our efforts to perpetuate this divide and fuel our intolerance for "learners" is now being undermined..... :-)
One Big Happy Family: Marcinkowski’s Masters
reachforthewall.com/.../
"Butcher, Zerkle and others say numbers have soared because Marcinkowski has tried to strip the elitism from masters swimming, often thought to be populated with former competitive stars who have little tolerance for learners."
I was in DC btw X-mas and New Years in 2004 or 2005 and wanted to work out. I stayed about 10 minutes from Curl Burke's pool, so I figured I could work out there no problem. I went to website to check up on drop-in swims, and was immediately turned off.
They essentially discouraged drop-ins b/c they were a serious club w/ serious swimmers and the coach needed to be appraised of the exact workout(s) you were going to attend at least one week in advance and your level and your times and...
Overall it just seemed like somebody needed to just chill the **** out over there.
They shouldn't have been surprised by their pathetic numbers.
Kinda bummed they've got their numbers up. I got beat in the 200 *** at Indi by a C-B swimmer. If he hadn't been there, I would have dropped the 400 IM and gone for the number 1, but nooooooo.
I can't speak to this Club's policies but can say now that I'm spending a significant amount of time on "the other side" getting the Mesa team up and running there may be more to it than what the website would leave you to believe.
Again...I don't know the details of Curl-Burke but one major issue in masters is the liability we as coaches/teams incure when someone "drops in". If CB is using the USMS insurance exclusively then they have a pre set format that must be followed to make sure a visitor is covered and it usually is much easier if that is completed before you arive on deck when the coach is trying to get a workout up and running. In case your curious her is how one team does and does it very well: www.indyswimfit.com/.../30daywaiver.pdf
We have taken a slightly different approach at MAC...we are a USMS insured club but we have also taken out a secondary "3rd party" policy that pretty much covers the gaps in the USMS coverage (you will never know till you are sued, however our 3rd party waiver has already been successful in court in another state). For example we can have kids under 18 train with us...something we wanted to do because we are working with the age group team to do a 1-2x a month "family" workout. I know USMS is working on improving its coverage and incorporating some basic certifications for coaches, all of which is a good thing.
I brought up the concerns I had with liability on an earlier thread and have since gotten even more freaked out to see how little attention is paid to the issue not just by clubs/coaches but also athletes. So I would ask anyone who is interested in visiting a team to not just rush to judgement when you see some simple requirments in place...call or email the coach for a better explanation.
I was in DC btw X-mas and New Years in 2004 or 2005 and wanted to work out. I stayed about 10 minutes from Curl Burke's pool, so I figured I could work out there no problem. I went to website to check up on drop-in swims, and was immediately turned off.
They essentially discouraged drop-ins b/c they were a serious club w/ serious swimmers and the coach needed to be appraised of the exact workout(s) you were going to attend at least one week in advance and your level and your times and...
Overall it just seemed like somebody needed to just chill the **** out over there.
They shouldn't have been surprised by their pathetic numbers.
Kinda bummed they've got their numbers up. I got beat in the 200 *** at Indi by a C-B swimmer. If he hadn't been there, I would have dropped the 400 IM and gone for the number 1, but nooooooo.
I can't speak to this Club's policies but can say now that I'm spending a significant amount of time on "the other side" getting the Mesa team up and running there may be more to it than what the website would leave you to believe.
Again...I don't know the details of Curl-Burke but one major issue in masters is the liability we as coaches/teams incure when someone "drops in". If CB is using the USMS insurance exclusively then they have a pre set format that must be followed to make sure a visitor is covered and it usually is much easier if that is completed before you arive on deck when the coach is trying to get a workout up and running. In case your curious her is how one team does and does it very well: www.indyswimfit.com/.../30daywaiver.pdf
We have taken a slightly different approach at MAC...we are a USMS insured club but we have also taken out a secondary "3rd party" policy that pretty much covers the gaps in the USMS coverage (you will never know till you are sued, however our 3rd party waiver has already been successful in court in another state). For example we can have kids under 18 train with us...something we wanted to do because we are working with the age group team to do a 1-2x a month "family" workout. I know USMS is working on improving its coverage and incorporating some basic certifications for coaches, all of which is a good thing.
I brought up the concerns I had with liability on an earlier thread and have since gotten even more freaked out to see how little attention is paid to the issue not just by clubs/coaches but also athletes. So I would ask anyone who is interested in visiting a team to not just rush to judgement when you see some simple requirments in place...call or email the coach for a better explanation.
