The State of Master Swimming.

No doubt. And they pay for the subscription, too. I think I pay something like $25 for 3 years of Runner's World magazine. Certainly not unreasonable. Yes, I do get the occasional catalog from Road Runner Sports, and a couple of others, and they go directly into my recycling bin. If there is any governing body for distance running, I've never heard of it, nor ever been asked to provide a copy of any registration to race, nor paid a one-day fee. Simply sign up for a race online and you're registered. I think there's some organization that runs track meets for adults, but I'm not interested in short races. Believe it or not, I think Wookie has a good idea. This is something I hear all the time, using the word, "master," implies that everyone is a master or expert at swimming, when in reality there are swimmers of all levels and abilities.

I think I pay something like $25 for 3 years of Runner's World magazine. Certainly not unreasonable. (I just checked: $15 for one year, $24 for two, for monthly issues.) What is "reasonable?" It depends on what you are getting and its value to you. I think the current USMS annual fee -- which is almost identical to that of USAT, by the way (they don't even pay their Registrars! Or send people to Convention! What in the world do they do with all that money?) -- is pretty reasonable. But that's just me; I would certainly never spend even $5 for 5 years of Runner's World. Let's put aside the issue of replacing 75% of revenue (which I think requires a lot more than hand-waving and statements about pursuing more sponsors or charging more for events). There is a parallel in college admissions. Any university can increase its "selectivity" by simply encouraging more admissions but still admitting the same number of students. (I recently had dinner with the president of Bennington College and she told me it is trivial to increase admissions if that's what you want to do.) Increasing selectivity makes you look a little more impressive and desirable to prospective students and improves your ranking in US News & World Report...even though you have done nothing substantial to improve the education of your students. USMS would like to increase its membership and increase its retention rate (I think something like 30-35% of members do not renew their membership right now). We could "fix" both problems by giving away memberships. Swimmers would say, "why not?" and join or renew. Problem solved, right? IMO, increased membership and retention rates are not adequate goals in and of themselves. There are probably more phone books out there than copies of "War and Peace," but that doesn't mean it is a superior book. I think the underlying goal should be to increase the value of USMS membership so much that, for a great many adult swimmers, $40/year is indeed a trivial amount to pay for what you get. Bottom line: I just don't see how giving away membership would improve what USMS offers. And -- bringing in the revenue issue again -- I think there is a high probability that the quality of what we offer would actually decline.

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.

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 do like the suggestion (Wookie, I think) to change it to Adult versus Masters. We could advertise late at night on TV. Hire a model, put her in a bikini (or him in a skimpy Euro-trash suit): "Come join me in the adult swimming lane and I'll teach you how to move fast in the water. I promise we'll hit all the HR training zones." We could even set up a 1-900 number to accept membership applications.:bolt:

We could advertise late at night on TV. Hire a model, put her in a bikini (or him in a skimpy Euro-trash suit): "Come join me in the adult swimming lane and I'll teach you how to move fast in the water. I promise we'll hit all the HR training zones." We could even set up a 1-900 number to accept membership applications.:bolt: There's folks out there that would have no qualms spending 40 bucks just to see what they'd get, if they could find their phone.

Should USMS consider changing from "Masters" to "Adult" swimming? People often get the idea that they have to be a former competitive swimmer at some high level to join usms when they hear "master"

I think our website will get even more viewers if we change the entrance screen to say, "click here for adult content" The front page can have a picture of Jimbo and Geek in their briefs together.

The front page can have a picture of Jimbo and Geek in their briefs together. Please let someone else be in charge of advertising.

If there is any governing body for distance running, I've never heard of it, nor ever been asked to provide a copy of any registration to race, nor paid a one-day fee. Simply sign up for a race online and you're registered. I think there's some organization that runs track meets for adults, but I'm not interested in short races. An organization sort of like USMS does exist for road running: the Road Runners Club of America. If you were a member of an organized running club with regular coached workouts and insurance your club would probably be an RRCA club. BTW, I ran for years before it dawned on me to join a club. I had a friend who ran with a club and she kept encouraging me to come to a workout with her. But I thought everybody in the running club had to be fast, or had to be an alum from an NCAA D1 track or cross country program like my friend was, and no matter how much she told me otherwise I did not believe her. Sound familiar? And it doesn't even have "Master" in the name. As to organized competitions, I think part of the difference in price structures is how the events procure insurance. When you sign up for a running race that doesn't require you to be a member of any sanctioning organization to participate, you pay your share of the cost of insurance coverage for the race through your entry fee. When you sign up for an event that gets insurance coverage through a sanctioning body like USMS, and for which every participant has to be a member of the sanctioning organization for the insurance to cover the event, you pay at least some of your share of the insurance cost through your membership rather than through your event entry fee. I assume that road running events rely more on event-by-event registrations for insurance because comparatively few road runners belong to running clubs. I bet track meets are different, because for both track meets and swim meets I bet a much higher percentage of people who attend meets are members of clubs.