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."
Parents
Former Member
My experiences are...
* Our pool is set up long course April through August when training for long-course meets. September through March the bulkhead is in to train for short-course meets and to make life easier since we share with high school teams that only swim short-course. It also provides more lanespace short-course and it's easier to manage a group with diverse skill levels...
We don't have long course/short course seasons in Canada. The population is too small and spread out, so there are both 25m and 50m meets from early November through June. I can see where 25m would be better for different skill levels, I was just hoping they'd have some 50m workout times. I guess I'll just have to gently insist on going ahead of the two swimmers who are slower and have to stop more.
My experiences are...
* Our pool is set up long course April through August when training for long-course meets. September through March the bulkhead is in to train for short-course meets and to make life easier since we share with high school teams that only swim short-course. It also provides more lanespace short-course and it's easier to manage a group with diverse skill levels...
We don't have long course/short course seasons in Canada. The population is too small and spread out, so there are both 25m and 50m meets from early November through June. I can see where 25m would be better for different skill levels, I was just hoping they'd have some 50m workout times. I guess I'll just have to gently insist on going ahead of the two swimmers who are slower and have to stop more.
