I'm always interested in hearing about the USMS demographics, but I couldn't find any information on USMS and college swimming. I was wondering roughly what percentage of US Masters swimmers swam in college and at what level. I also wanted to hear from you where you went, when, and what you loved / hated most about college swimming.
Swam for three years in college (Harvard, D1). My shoulders blew up after my freshman year. I had dropped a lot of time freshman year (200 free went from 1:43 to 1:38). Sophomore and junior years were a struggle because I could not train nearly enough to get the results I wanted (due to shoulder issues). I decided to hang it up at the end of my junior year, and became a full-time team manager.
We did have a high attrition rate in my class. We had 13 swimmers as freshmen, 9 as sophomores, 3 as juniors, and 2 as seniors. (The 2 seniors does not include me as manager.)
One thing I did enjoy tremendously about my collegiate swimming experience was that none of us were tied to a swimming scholarship. No strings. We were all there because we wanted to be. Perhaps that contributed to the attrition. People found other things to do that interested them as much or more than swimming. One in my class dropped swimming, and ended up on the USA Kayak National Team, and barely missed an Olympic spot.
Another thing that I enjoyed about being part of an athletic team was that I immediately had a group of "automatic" friends on day 1 of my freshman year. At a time when everyone was trying to fit in and make friends, I already had a group that I was a part of. (Of course, fitting in and finding your place on a team as a freshman has its challenges as well!)
I enjoyed training, but the training schedule was a struggle at times. As a distance swimmer, I think I had 10 workouts a week most of the time. One year, our NCAA-mandated off-day was Tuesday. So we had both Saturday and Sunday morning workouts. That was, well, socially limiting.
-Rick
Swam for three years in college (Harvard, D1). My shoulders blew up after my freshman year. I had dropped a lot of time freshman year (200 free went from 1:43 to 1:38). Sophomore and junior years were a struggle because I could not train nearly enough to get the results I wanted (due to shoulder issues). I decided to hang it up at the end of my junior year, and became a full-time team manager.
We did have a high attrition rate in my class. We had 13 swimmers as freshmen, 9 as sophomores, 3 as juniors, and 2 as seniors. (The 2 seniors does not include me as manager.)
One thing I did enjoy tremendously about my collegiate swimming experience was that none of us were tied to a swimming scholarship. No strings. We were all there because we wanted to be. Perhaps that contributed to the attrition. People found other things to do that interested them as much or more than swimming. One in my class dropped swimming, and ended up on the USA Kayak National Team, and barely missed an Olympic spot.
Another thing that I enjoyed about being part of an athletic team was that I immediately had a group of "automatic" friends on day 1 of my freshman year. At a time when everyone was trying to fit in and make friends, I already had a group that I was a part of. (Of course, fitting in and finding your place on a team as a freshman has its challenges as well!)
I enjoyed training, but the training schedule was a struggle at times. As a distance swimmer, I think I had 10 workouts a week most of the time. One year, our NCAA-mandated off-day was Tuesday. So we had both Saturday and Sunday morning workouts. That was, well, socially limiting.
-Rick
