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?
It also seems to me that there are a (sizeable?) number of "hidden" masters swimmers who are very fast. They train fairly regularly but rarely compete.
Every once in awhile they'll come out of the woodwork for a big meet near them, swim some very fast times, and then disappear.
Or they might swim in meets every five years after they age up, get a few national/world records, and then go back into hibernation.
I think very famous swimmers like Mary T or Tracy Caulkins face an added barrier: if they entered a meet, they would swim under (real or imagined) fairly large expectations, even in a masters meet. Who would want that? Maybe better to participate in a sport where they are relatively unknown.
It also seems to me that there are a (sizeable?) number of "hidden" masters swimmers who are very fast. They train fairly regularly but rarely compete.
Every once in awhile they'll come out of the woodwork for a big meet near them, swim some very fast times, and then disappear.
Or they might swim in meets every five years after they age up, get a few national/world records, and then go back into hibernation.
I think very famous swimmers like Mary T or Tracy Caulkins face an added barrier: if they entered a meet, they would swim under (real or imagined) fairly large expectations, even in a masters meet. Who would want that? Maybe better to participate in a sport where they are relatively unknown.
