U.S. Masters Swimming "offers a way to stay race-day fit" without pressuring its members to compete, and the group "reassures prospective members that only 25% of its swimmers do compete," according to Kevin Helliker of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. U.S. Masters Swimming Exec Dir Rob Butcher said that that strategy "helps explain why Masters Swimming membership grew about 50%" in the 10 years ended in '14, to "more than 62,000." He added, "We want people to swim for health and fitness." Helliker notes what makes Masters Swimming "attractive to growing numbers of veteran endurance athletes and fitness fanatics is the rigor of its training sessions, which mix fast-paced intervals of freestyle, butterfly, breast stroke and backstroke with drills such as kick-boarding." The workouts "resemble a college swim-team practice," yet the "low-impact nature of swimming gives the sport a minimal rate of injury." A widespread misperception is that Masters Swimming "is the exclusive province of former elite college swimmers and anyone incapable of performing all four strokes -- along with flip turns -- need not apply." Masters groups in the U.S. "number more than 1,500, and Masters swimmers range in age from 18 to older than 100." Membership in the national organization "costs $39 a year" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 8/4).
