Bill Volckening, May 27, 2005 (updated Apr 10, 2009)

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Bill Volckening was the recipient of the U.S. Masters Fitness Award in 2000, presented annually to someone who has contributed to the promotion of swimming for fitness.  Bill received the award for the tremendous job he did in promoting and directing the February Fitness Challenge. His creativity was key in getting a record number of participants. The Challenge was considered to be an exemplary event, promoting fitness and participation by swimmers of every ability level.

He received the Fitness Award again in 2002. Bill spent a great deal of time advancing the Fitness Section of the USMS web site. Information on topics such as getting started as a swimmer, pool etiquette, using a pace clock, pace charts, and diagrams of circle swimming all proved to be interesting material for all swimmers. In addition, the introduction of varied monthly articles, has expanded the scope of this section of the web site.

Bill Volckening joined United States Masters Swimming (USMS) in 1989, and began serving as USMS Editor ten years later. Since first becoming involved with USMS, Volckening has actively participated in all types of Masters swimming events, and has written hundreds of articles for SWIM, Swimming World, Swimming Technique, Triathlete Magazine, Splash Magazine, the USMS and USA Swimming web sites, swiminfo.com, and dozens of local newsletters. Interestingly, during his school years, nobody ever expected him to continue swimming or become a prolific journalist. _ "I goofed around a lot in high school," says Volckening. "Writing was always a big struggle. I daydreamed all the time and didn't pay attention to my English teachers." He demonstrated the same diligence when it came to swimming. "I was a sprinter," he adds. "I felt that being a sprinter entitled me to cut practice a lot."

He did excel in one area during high school --- visual arts, receiving regional and national awards in the Scholastic Arts Competition. During his two years as editor of the school literary magazine, he dramatically transformed it into an award-winning publication. Although he had a natural flare for photography, drawing, painting, and publications, he didn't really know how to write a proper essay until he took a creative writing class during his freshman year at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). "I'm probably one of the few people who learned to write in art school," he laughs.

He studied photography and visual communications through college, and received his BFA from the School of Visual Arts, New York (1988), and MA from the New York University School of Education, Health, Nursing, and Arts Professions in February 1991. But before he got his Masters degree, he had already joined Masters swimming. His first meet was two years earlier, when he was 23. He swam in his first USMS Nationals in Chapel Hill, NC (1992). The same year, he swam in the long course nationals and the FINA Masters World Championships in Indianapolis. There, he won four medals, including a gold anchoring the men's 120+ 200 meter freestyle relay.

Although he spent a few years as a photography lab technician after college, he found Masters swimming was pulling at his heartstrings. So, he emerged from the darkroom in 1993, and joined the aquatics staff at his high school alma mater, the Peddie School of Hightstown, NJ. There, he started Peddie's first Masters program in 1994. By 1995, the Peddie Masters had grown to 100 registered members, which accounted for an amazing 75% of the growth in the New Jersey LMSC registration that year.

"I was on the phone with Dot Donnelly a lot," says Volckening, who voraciously read everything he could find about Masters swimming. "Later,I would be on the phone with Tracy Grilli a lot." Around the same time, he taught himself how to use a computer, dabbled in desktop publishing, and wrote the first of many features for SWIM Magazine (The A.B.C.'s of Abs, Great Abdominal Strengthening Exercises, May/June 1995).

In 1998, he moved to Oregon for a different job coaching Masters swimmers. A year later, he won the USMS Newsletter of the Year Award for producing and editing his local team's monthly newsletter. It was the first full-color electronic newsletter to receive this award. During the following years, he would also receive the Oregon Masters Swimming Special Service Award (2000), the USMS Fitness Award (2000 and 2002), the Dorothy Donnelly USMS Service Award (2001), and the inaugural US Water Fitness Association Dr. Phillip Whitten Pioneer Award for Journalism (2005).

As a volunteer, Volckening has served USMS as an active member of the Coaches Committee, Communications Committee, Fitness Committee, History and Archives Committee, Long Distance Committee, and the Endowment Fund Board of Governors. On the side, he designed covers for several USMS Rule Books, the new USMS National Championship Patch, the Long Distance National Championship patch, the Long Distance Postal series patch, and the new Long Distance National Championship medals.

Among his noteworthy Masters swimming achievements, Volckening was a USMS national champion in 1998 (men's 100+ 200 LC meter medley relay), and 1999 (men's 30-34 1500 LC meter freestyle). In 2003, he became the first person to participate in all 12 USMS national championship events in the same year (both pool nationals, all five long distance postal championships, and all five long distance open water championships). That year, he was also the USMS Long Distance All Star for the men's 35-39 age group.

Even though he has a pocket full of accolades, his single most important honor was presented at his first USAS convention in 1999, when President Nancy Ridout announced his appointment as USMS Editor of SWIM Magazine. Soon after the convention, he replaced Susan Ludwig. For the next five years, he worked tirelessly as a liaison between USMS and Sports Publications, and worked closely on many projects with SWIM Magazine Editor in Chief Phil Whitten.

"We have seen a lot of change in the national publication since I first started," says Volckening. "USMS Editor was originally a volunteer position and USMS was allotted 13 pages in the magazine." Within three years, the job became a paid position, and USMS had a new contract with SWIM Magazine. The new contract called for USMS to have complete editorial control over the magazine. "It was still a joint effort between USMS and SWIM," says Volckening, "but we (USMS) could fill as many pages as we wanted. We also helped determine who would be on the cover each issue."

The most significant change took place at the 2004 USAS Convention in Dallas, when USMS decided to enter into a new publishing partnership with Douglas Murphy Communications, thereby concluding its 12-year partnership with Sports Publications and SWIM Magazine.

"There was a lot of confusion about the transition," says Volckening, "but eventually things settled down." As National Publication Coordinator, he continued to work with USMS during the transition. During the three months following the 2004 USAS Convention, he worked with Sports Publications (SWIM Magazine) and Douglas Murphy Communications (SWIMMER) simultaneously. "We were doing the final issue of SWIM (January/February, 2005) and the launch issue of SWIMMER magazine (March/April 2005). It was a lot of work!"