From a new blog by the former editor of the SWIMMER Magazine:
As of August, 2010, U.S. Masters Swimming had lost an estimated 80,000 individuals over the last six years including almost 35,000 over the last two years.
To read the full post, please go to Square World.
Thank you for posting a link to this blog. U.S. Masters Swimming needs to be accountable, and members as well as potential members need to be informed about what really goes on behind the scenes. Triathletes should be particularly wary of this organization. The leadership of U.S. Masters swimming wants to prey on the triathlete community as a potential source of new members and more revenue. However, USMS isn’t particularly interested in offering services geared toward triathletes. Frankly, they’d rather convert triathletes to swimmers and have the cycling and running function as dryland. Non-triathlete members of USMS routinely mock triathletes. If you take a spin through the USMS discussion forums on any given day, you’ll find many derogatory remarks about triathletes. I have a strong feeling that triathletes who registered for USMS and didn’t re-register the following year represent a large sector of the non-renewing members.
Bill Volckening
Portland, Oregon
Thanks Bill. I just found your blog yesterday (via SCAQ blog) and liked it a lot! I didn’t really know anything about the politics at USMS… I am looking forward to your future posts!