requirements for masters swimming

MexNet Raider said:

My question is if I can join a masters swimming even though my abilities to swim are not that good,
should I go ahead or should just learn more before joining a masters swimming group

I've never been turned away, but one group was segregated according to speed.

Donal Fagan AIA Donal@DonalO'Fagan.com (Anglicise the name to reply by e-mail)

The requirements to join most masters programs are two-fold:

(1) You are aged 18 or older
(2) You want to join the program

That's it! Masters swimmers come in all shapes and sizes and all speeds and abilities. The masters
team I swim with has workout lanes doing sets on 1:05 and 1:10 pace per 100, and also has lanes
doing sets on
3:05 and 1:10 pace per 50, and also has lanes doing sets on 1:05 and
4:10 page per 25.

Note that most masters programs will point out that they are not designed as swimming lessons. Most
coached masters groups will have a coach working on skills and techniques. But if you're still
learning some strokes, you may want to setup some swimming lessons as well. (We have some swimmers
who are doing private swimming lessons for other swimmers on the team.)

-Rick

MexNet Raider said:

Hi guys, I was wondering what requirements you need to enter to masters swimming.

Quoted message said:

I learned to swim a year ago, I can swim now freestyle and backstroke but I still need to learn
more skills in order to be a more complete swimmer (breastroke and butterfly). Besides polishing
my technique that is not bad but is not that good either.

Quoted message said:

My question is if I can join a masters swimming even though my abilities to swim are not that
good, should I go ahead or should just learn more before joinning a masters swimming group

Quoted message said:

I just wanna improve my technique and have a complete workout swimming, as a new swimmer I really
like to go on the pool and exercise

Quoted message said:

thanks guys

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| Rick Osterberg [email hidden] |
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I think you need to distinguish between Masters swim meets, and "masters" practices at clubs. The
latter may not really be officially connected with the international Masters organization.

In Japan "Masters" means that you're a member of the national affiliate of the intenational Masters
organization, which is the Japan Masters Association here. All this group does is organize
competitions. They require that you join via a team, usually a swim or health club or some other
team that needs to have a minimum number of members. Then you can sign up for competitions. There
are minimum times for some meets for the longer distances, 200 m or longer, mainly because they need
to make sure the schedule doesn't fall behind. Otherwise anyone can participate. In-the-water starts
and the old English backstroke are legal.

For swimming clubs and practices, "Masters" has no official meaning here. The team may have members
who have joined the JMA, but the club's private practices are not officially sanctioned by the JMA.
Clubs can name a particular scheduled practice "Masters Low" or "Masters High," as at my club, but
it's just a name. So whatever requirements there are to participate are completely up to the club.
As a matter of fact, I am not up to the level where I can swim in my club's "Masters" practices--I
swim in the lower level squads--but I participate in JMA Masters competitions all the time (often
coming in last place).

"MexNet Raider" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Hi guys, I was wondering what requirements you need to enter to masters swimming.

Chris said:

I think you need to distinguish between Masters swim meets, and "masters" practices at clubs. The
latter may not really be officially connected with the international Masters organization.

In Japan "Masters" means that you're a member of the national affiliate of the intenational
Masters organization, which is the Japan Masters Association here. All this group does is organize
competitions. They require that you join via a team, usually a swim or health club or some other
team that needs to have a minimum number of members. Then you can sign up for competitions. There
are minimum times for some meets for the longer distances, 200 m or longer, mainly because they
need to make sure the schedule doesn't fall behind. Otherwise anyone can participate. In-the-water
starts and the old English backstroke are legal.

For swimming clubs and practices, "Masters" has no official meaning here. The team may have
members who have joined the JMA, but the club's private practices are not officially sanctioned by
the JMA. Clubs can name a particular scheduled practice "Masters Low" or "Masters High," as at my
club, but it's just a name. So whatever requirements there are to participate are completely up to
the club. As a matter of fact, I am not up to the level where I can swim in my club's "Masters"
practices--I swim in the lower level squads--but I participate in JMA Masters competitions all the
time (often coming in last place).

Japan sounds like a special case. In most cases (in the US, Oz, and norway at least) joining a
Masters swim club means joining the national Masters swimming organization, but the decision to
participate in swim meets or just to train is entirely up to the individual. Quite a lot of members
join just for the training and fellowship.

martin

--
Martin Smith email: [email hidden] Vollsveien 9 tel. : +47 6783 1188
P.O. Box 482 mob. : +47 932 48 303 1327 Lysaker, Norway

Martin W. Smith said:

Japan sounds like a special case. In most cases (in the US, Oz, and norway at least) joining a
Masters swim club means joining the national Masters swimming organization, but the decision to
participate in swim meets or just to train is entirely up to the individual. Quite a lot of
members join just for the training and fellowship.

When you say "joining a Masters swim club" do you mean joining a virtual "club without a pool" that
then rents time at a swimming facility for practices? For example, joining a Masters club that rents
lanes at the YMCA a few times a week?

In Japan, the swimming facilities themselves (including the few YMCAs here) tend to be the
organizers of the swimming practices. They tend to be organized on the health club model, with
monthly fees to use the facilities. Most of the swimmers are not interested in competition, so they
wouldn't pay the extra 2,000 yen fee to join the JMA.

I don't know how many members there are in the JMA, but the largest meet (the Japan Masters in July
at the Tatsumi facility) attracts about 7-8,000 competitors over 4 days.

Chris said:

Martin W. Smith said:

Japan sounds like a special case. In most cases (in the US, Oz, and norway at least) joining a
Masters swim club means joining the national Masters swimming organization, but the decision to
participate in swim meets or just to train is entirely up to the individual. Quite a lot of
members join just for the training and fellowship.

When you say "joining a Masters swim club" do you mean joining a virtual "club without a pool"
that then rents time at a swimming facility for practices? For example, joining a Masters club
that rents lanes at the YMCA a few times a week?

Yes, most masters clubs are like that, or the institution (YMCA, tennis club, park district, etc)
hires a coach to run both kids and masters teams.

Quoted message said:

In Japan, the swimming facilities themselves (including the few YMCAs here) tend to be the
organizers of the swimming practices. They tend to be organized on the health club model, with
monthly fees to use the facilities. Most of the swimmers are not interested in competition, so
they wouldn't pay the extra 2,000 yen fee to join the JMA.

In the US, for example, I think most clubs require joining the national affiliate for
insurance purposes.

Quoted message said:

I don't know how many members there are in the JMA, but the largest meet (the Japan Masters in
July at the Tatsumi facility) attracts about 7-8,000 competitors over 4 days.

--
Martin Smith email: [email hidden] Vollsveien 9 tel. : +47 6783 1188
P.O. Box 482 mob. : +47 932 48 303 1327 Lysaker, Norway