It's been cool for me over the last few years seeing and competing against a number of guys from both my age group and collegiate days. However, when I think back to my college team, in particular, I'm struck by how many guys are NOT back swimming and competing in Masters. I realize this is probably the wrong audience to ask (since we're back in the pool), but, since for me swimming & competing go hand in hand and I love swimming, I'm still puzzled why more people don't come back to the sport and to racing?
Many of the twenty and thirty somethings (former AG, HS and college swimmers) I have spoken to about getting involved in USMS claim to be burned out and generally just not interested in swimming on a routine basis.
If you look at the age distribution for people at nationals, it reaches a minimum in the 30s before roaring back in the 40s. Not all that surprising, this is probably the time when people are most busy establishing careers and family.
I do notice that the 40s seems to be a time when quite a few former HS/college swimmers rediscover the sport. I never really stopped doing swim *workouts* in my 30s (though there were some years when I didn't go very often), but I had little interest in competition during that time. I started taking masters meets a little more seriously after hitting 40.
Many of the twenty and thirty somethings (former AG, HS and college swimmers) I have spoken to about getting involved in USMS claim to be burned out and generally just not interested in swimming on a routine basis.
If you look at the age distribution for people at nationals, it reaches a minimum in the 30s before roaring back in the 40s. Not all that surprising, this is probably the time when people are most busy establishing careers and family.
I do notice that the 40s seems to be a time when quite a few former HS/college swimmers rediscover the sport. I never really stopped doing swim *workouts* in my 30s (though there were some years when I didn't go very often), but I had little interest in competition during that time. I started taking masters meets a little more seriously after hitting 40.
