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."
Between 2000 and 2004, the Curl-Burke Masters Swimming team languished. It was home to between seven and 26 swimmers during that five-year span. At the time, Marcinkowski thought it was flatly ridiculous that his masters group in swimming, a true sport for life, could not attract more athletes in the swim-crazy Greater Washington region.
Yet he understood the club’s reputation for imperious and unwelcoming athletes.
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.
Who really cares? I don't know why this needs to be discussed. Enlighten me if I am wrong please.
Much a do about nothing.
Why it was mentioned in the article is unfortunate.
John Smith
Perhaps I am going way to far out on a limb here, but the very name by which we all go "Master's swimming" has a certain elitist ring to it. I know a lot of non-swimmers assume you need to be "masterful" in your swimming abilities, or otherwise an ex-elite swimmer to compete (kinda like The Masters in the PGA).
"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 thought it was interesting that Curl was able to grow so much in a short amount of time. However, I doubt it has much to do with the lack of elitism. Maybe the lack of elitism from the new coach allowed them to combine with the local triathlete training group whereas the prior coach wasn't as open minded. Many masters groups in Colorado are comprised of mostly triathletes and fitness swimmers, not USMS swim competitors. Open door policies are the rule, not the exception so I don't understand how Curl's lack of elitism really helped them produce results better than the many other teams that do the same thing. I would guess that Curl has to be doing something else very well and it would be interesting to know what other factors have contributed to their growth.
You never know how these articles get written, but you would think that Rob Butcher would be a bit more careful in how he is quoted. Some of the people I have seen take the most time, provide the most encouragement, and have the most patience with beginners and triathletes in the pool and outside the pool are some of the "elites" in our sport. We see it every day in this forum. I think the "elitism" angle to this article is silly especially coming from USMS leadership. The real angle seems to be partnering with other training groups and possibly some other things that failed to even get mentioned.
Tim
Tone is easily misinterpreted in writing.
Maybe. But it was abundantly clear that they were pimping their IronMan triathletes and serious swimmers. I didn't get any "all levels welcome".
Again. I'm just giving my impression, which was confirmed in the article. The coach said that they had that reputation in the area. Given what I saw on the website 5 years ago, it doesn't surprise me.
With the exception of one club, I've never had any coach discourage me from dropping in during my travels. Most have been very welcoming.
I've never had a problem when traveling either. That's why it just struck me the way it was worded.
The only problem I've had w/ drop-in was when I had a shoulder injury and the doc said I should only swim 2x/month. I had stopped swimming entirely a few months b4 so I stopped paying dues during the injury. When I approached my local club about it, they refused b/c they have a zero tolerance for drop-ins. Not even for injuries.
I was stunned.
So I found another team w/ a nice coach (Brian Stack) and swam w/ them. I supported the team w/ about $3,000 in dues over 5 years.
