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'm not sure where it comes from, but there is a widespread notion that you have to be "really fast" to swim Masters. Newbies and ex-swimmers both think this, though the newbies do not actually know what "really fast" means. A few times each year I get asked by random people if I'm a professional swimmer. I'm not saying that to brag - I'm nowhere near the level where I could ever get paid to swim, but the newbies have probably never seen an elite swimmer in person, so they don't know.
I'm not sure where it comes from, but there is a widespread notion that you have to be "really fast" to swim Masters. Newbies and ex-swimmers both think this, though the newbies do not actually know what "really fast" means. A few times each year I get asked by random people if I'm a professional swimmer. I'm not saying that to brag - I'm nowhere near the level where I could ever get paid to swim, but the newbies have probably never seen an elite swimmer in person, so they don't know.
