The State of Master Swimming.

I tried to make an analogy using two clubs to convey my point about you trying to compare the two organizations (USA-S/USMS). If you understand why you can't merge two clubs, hopefully you can understand you can't merge the two organizations because they are also two fully separate entities. Jeff - Not looking for a complete merger... let the two organizations continue to grow and evolve. I just think that the two could offer a reciprocal arrangement on their registration fees and participants databases. So, for example, I register for USMS as my primary source of entertainment at full fee, but for an additional (not full price fee) I can add USAS to my registration. USAS gets another swimmer to promote and market their programs & clinics to without as much advertising/acquisition cost. Also, down the road, the two organizations may find it beneficial to utilize similar background check organizations, suppliers, etc to increase their buying power. They also have a larger names list to increase their benefit to potential sponsors, advertisers and the like. Matt

One good source of participants would be triathletes...more open water events. Also, like triathlon which charges 5 dollars for yearly youth (?under 18) memberships, maybe a 5 dollar "transitional" license for 19-29 age groups to give former competitive swimmers reason to stick around. I agree 40 dollars is not much for what we get (unless you are broke like I was until about age 29).

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.

You saying "get in the pool, you're fat!" doesn't work for you? I tried that the other day - :argue: - wait a minute, I have to replace the bandage on my lip... Yea, but .... according to my doctor, swimming makes you even fatter. I should consider a more 'athletic' sport. :censor:

Any activity, including swimming, when combined with less caloric intake will reduce weight in most (but not all) cases. I think it's the second step that people, and some doctors, forget to fold into the equation. Yes, there's definately that, and my doctor thinks that swimming = noodling, and dillydallying. I had to explain, no, these are atletic workouts, with your heart rate in aerobic and anaerobic ranges for the best part of the hour etc... Then they finally go''' "oooh"... and the next comment is... in our experience swimming causes most people to gain weight. *headdesk* *sigh* *I give up* Not that I care to get a doctors approval. I just get dismayed at the ignorance. I mean, I can see how if you're in a water for a while, and your body temperature is lowered by a bit, the body can respond by wanting to have more food... but that can be compensated for easily, by warming up later... liong hot shower, jacuzzi, warm nap and what not. But noooo... "Swimming will cause you to gain weight"... these statements make the hair on the back of my neck stand. Anyway... back to why I brough this up... I wonder if USMS on the national level couldn't be of assistance in debunking some of these myths.... Don't have any ideas to offer about how that could be done at this time, maybe something will come to me later.

Yea, but .... according to my doctor, swimming makes you even fatter. I should consider a more 'athletic' sport. :censor: Any activity, including swimming, when combined with less caloric intake will reduce weight in most (but not all) cases. I think it's the second step that people, and some doctors, forget to fold into the equation.

I would be willing to write up in detail the business model and business plan for this if the USMS if they are interested? Some people have been trying to get stuff like that going for a few years now. Welcome to the club.

Sure, it sounds good in theory - if you could guarantee big numbers of paying swimmers you can indeed solve the pool availability problem. Are you suggesting that offering a free USMS membership (avg annual cost of $40) will bring out people in droves to pay ~$600 to $1200+ (or whatever) annually to swim on a team and therefore keep pools open and build new ones? Probably won't. For most people we 'exit interview' that stop swimming (and neglect their USMS membership eventually), nowdays the biggest problem is the monthly fee for swimming. In this area, it van vary from $20-$50 per month. Once they are not swimming with a club, most people don't renew their USMS membership. Making the little $40 dollar a year fee go away isn't going to solve the monthly cost of swimming, which is a pretty common barrier, especially as of last couple of years, for those who are dropping out. Even being unemployed at the moment, whether USMS annual membership is $40 or $60 or free isn't much of an issue. It's a YEARLY fee. I, and I think most people can figure out how to save or find $50-$60 over the course of a year for things I really want, even with no job.

Yea, but .... according to my doctor, swimming makes you even fatter. I should consider a more 'athletic' sport. :censor: As a doctor I can say that most doctors are woefully ignorant about nutrition and energy metabolism.Also most people are ignorant as to what constitutes swimming(vs floating around,noodling,playing Marco Polo etc.)

But noooo... "Swimming will cause you to gain weight"... these statements make the hair on the back of my neck stand. Anyway... back to why I brough this up... I wonder if USMS on the national level couldn't be of assistance in debunking some of these myths.... Don't have any ideas to offer about how that could be done at this time, maybe something will come to me later. Swimming causes me to gain weight. I would be (and have been) better off running.