The State of Master Swimming.

I continue to be befuddled by the whiney whiners who gripe about $40 membership. If you don't want to pay it, don't pay it. Runner's World is a magazine that has a subscription cost. It is a standalone entity. I get it and it is a cute magazine, but it has three stories every month (how not to poo on yourself during a marathon, shoe reviews, and race day dressing/clothing strategies). I am a member of USAT. It costs about the same as USMS. Triathlons cost minimum of three your average swim meet, often times much more than that. You get a magazine with that, which is of marginal value. I do enjoy reading their one inch of space monthly devoted to swimming which proclaims 10 X 100 @ 2:30 is the only thing you need to do for triathlon swim training. Good road races don't require any sort of membership but they are also much more expensive than your average swim meet. I'm not talking about the Turkey Trot but real sanctioned races.Geek -- it's refreshing to see your posts again. I'm with you. My wife's a runner and we each end up competing in about the same number of events. Even when I factor in my USMS membership, my total outlays for swimming are far less expensive than hers for running. One rock & roll half marathon for her and I've bought myself my annual USMS membership plus two USMS meets here in Arizona. USMS is a steal. If anything, I'd say we need to raise the rates and test the price elasticity; I'd bet a $50 rate wouldn't impact membership, but that the extra $500,000 in revenue (assuming current rate is $40 and 50K members) could probably be used to add more value to the membership. I do like the suggestion (Wookie, I think) to change it to Adult versus Masters.

I continue to be befuddled by the whiney whiners who gripe about $40 membership. If you don't want to pay it, don't pay it. Runner's World is a magazine that has a subscription cost. It is a standalone entity. I get it and it is a cute magazine, but it has three stories every month (how not to poo on yourself during a marathon, shoe reviews, and race day dressing/clothing strategies). I am a member of USAT. It costs about the same as USMS. Triathlons cost minimum of three your average swim meet, often times much more than that. You get a magazine with that, which is of marginal value. I do enjoy reading their one inch of space monthly devoted to swimming which proclaims 10 X 100 @ 2:30 is the only thing you need to do for triathlon swim training. Good road races don't require any sort of membership but they are also much more expensive than your average swim meet. I'm not talking about the Turkey Trot but real sanctioned races.Geek -- it's refreshing to see your posts again. I'm with you. My wife's a runner and we each end up competing in about the same number of events. Even when I factor in my USMS membership, my total outlays for swimming are far less expensive than hers for running. One rock & roll half marathon for her and I've bought myself my annual USMS membership plus two USMS meets here in Arizona. USMS is a steal. If anything, I'd say we need to raise the rates and test the price elasticity; I'd bet a $50 rate wouldn't impact membership, but that the extra $500,000 in revenue (assuming current rate is $40 and 50K members) could probably be used to add more value to the membership. I do like the suggestion (Wookie, I think) to change it to Adult versus Masters.