--- In fordathleticswimtriathlon@yahoogroups.com, jasonweida
<no_reply@...> wrote:
>
> Hi all,
> Anyone with experience in masters swimming here in the Detroit area
> care to lend me some advice? I'd like to get involved in masters
> swimming. I'm trying to figure out exactly what I need to do in
order
> to participate in a few masters swim meets. The websites I've
visited
> have confused me. What's the minimum I need to do in order to be
> eligible to swim in masters meets? Just a USMS membership? I'd
love
> to join a training group like FAST too, but it seems I would need to
> join a second gym in order to swim regularly. I'm already a member
at
> the Farmington Hills YMCA and swim/run there on my lunch breaks to
> train for XTERRA tri's, so I'd like to avoid joining a second gym.
I
> live in the Plymouth/Canton area and had my eye on the LALA group,
but
> it's around $50/session. All this isn't much on it's own, but the
> sports budget is already pretty strained trying to keep up with
> clothing, equipment, race entry fees, etc. I don't want to join a
> bunch of unnecessary clubs just to swim a few meets, but maybe
that's
> how it works...
>
> Thanks in advance for your help!
>
> weida
>

You need to be a member of USMS, which I think costs $30 per year, to
swim in some masters meets. But, there are some masters meets in the
area where you do not need to be a USMS member to swim in the meet.
If you look at this list at this link:
http://www.michiganmasters.com/Meet_Sched.htm

you will see some meets listed as recognized and others as
sanctioned. I think the ones listed as recognized do not require
USMS membership, but the ones listed as sanctioned do. So, you don't
really need USMS membership if you just one to swim a couple meets a
year.

Becoming a USMS member simply involves filling out the paperwork at
this link: http://www.michiganmasters.com/Registration/2008.reg.pdf

and sending in the check. You can probably do it online as this
link:
https://www.clubassistant.com/club/usms.cfm

All of the swim meets have entry fees, but they are fairly modest,
especially compared with marathon or longer triathlons.

There is supposed to be a masters group that has practices at the
Farmington Hills YMCA, and the only requirements are YMCA and USMS
membership, but its practice times are not convenient for my life so
I've never been at the YMCA when they are supposed to be practicing.
Jenny and Noah, who are both FAST members, would probably be your
best source of information about that group.

I have heard there are a number of triathletes swim at the YMCA
before work if you are looking for someone to swim with. I sometimes
see other reasonably competent swimmers when I swim at the Y, but all
I really need is a lane where no one else will get in my way so I
have not tried to match my swims with anything except avoiding the
kids swim team practices.