The State of Master Swimming.

So how did you all get into Masters swimming? About 10-15 or more years ago, when USA Tri got more friendly towards beginners and non elite athletes... Eventually I discovered I have a congenital blood disorder that limits my cardio output (or whatever it's called) and makes me suck at running, and my expensive bikes kept getting stolen, and I was actually pretty decent at distance swimming... so after about three years of solo lap swimming, I finally found USMS and local clubs. Not being a former college or highschool swimmer who knows a bit about USAS, and has heard of masters before, For the longest time I thought I had to get a lot better before I could swim in "Masters". Things have improved some since then, but IMO, USMS is still doing a pretty good job at hiding from general public, and relying on former school (elementary, highschool and college swimmers) to decide they want to get back into swimming.... which is a limited pool (pun unintentional) of people to draw from.

So how did you all get into Masters swimming? About 10-15 or more years ago, when USA Tri got more friendly towards beginners and non elite athletes... Eventually I discovered I have a congenital blood disorder that limits my cardio output (or whatever it's called) and makes me suck at running, and my expensive bikes kept getting stolen, and I was actually pretty decent at distance swimming... so after about three years of solo lap swimming, I finally found USMS and local clubs. Not being a former college or highschool swimmer who knows a bit about USAS, and has heard of masters before, For the longest time I thought I had to get a lot better before I could swim in "Masters". Things have improved some since then, but IMO, USMS is still doing a pretty good job at hiding from general public, and relying on former school (elementary, highschool and college swimmers) to decide they want to get back into swimming.... which is a limited pool (pun unintentional) of people to draw from.