1984
1984 History of Master Swimming
Hamilton Anderson
, Chairman
This is our 15th year of Master Swimming; 28th National Master Meet, 15th Short Course and 13th Long Course. Mildred Anderson and yours truly have been competed in all the National Meets, starting May 2, 1970, when the program first started under Ransom J. Arthur and John Spannuth, Meet Director for the first two AAU sanctioned meets held in Amarillo, Texas. Everyone was required to hold an AAU card and present a health certificate. The meets started each day at 12:00 noon, quite different from starting at 8:00 a.m. as this year. I overheard a number of swimmers objecting to starting this early, as it meant waking up earlier and hurrying .
This is the pattern of the younger age-group swimming, too early for adults. I need to remind you the program was aimed at 40 and over adults, as an incentive to keep them physically fit.
The National Officers, Chairman, and all who have given their time and talent performed their duties well for the program.
The seven zones were continued this year and with the cutsy names rather than A B C D E F and G. Our United States rotation system for bidding for the National Meets now will be three zones, East, West, and Central.
Eligibility of a participant will be determined by his age on the LAST day of the meets.
About 132 U. S. Master swimmers competed in the Third International Master Swimming Championships held in Christchurch, New Zealand. The name WORLD was changed because of a conflict with FINA. This meet was held in late April, 1984. Our U. S. swimmers made a fine showing. Graham Johnston set three new World records. Gail Roper was one of the outstanding women's swimmers. For complete results refer to SWIM MASTER, June 1984, Volume VIII Number 5.
Their 1270 contestants in the Short Course Nationals held in Industry Hills, California under Meet Director Tina Martin and staff. The weather was beautiful, excellent dinner and dancing. The concession was the best yet. One complaint, no packets, and heat sheets were not ready until the day of the meet, rather than the day before. The meet was conducted very well.
Ray Richardson was presented the Ransom J. Arthur award by National President, Michael Laux , for contributing greatly to Master swimming the past year. Ray has been an asset to the program since 1972, when he swam in San Mateo and Bloomington, Indiana. 1972 was the year age divisions were changed from 25+, 35+ and 45+ to five year age divisions, except for relays. Registration is now October rather than January.
The National Masters long Course Swimming Meet was held under Meet Director, Hill Carew and staff in Raleigh, North Carolina. 840 contestants about 100 foreign swimmers. The meet was well planned and ran very efficiently. Beautiful gold and silver medals a were awarded to 1st and 2nd; plus medals with ribbons through 8th place.
Rain the end of the first day delayed the 400 Meter Freestyle event. The 400 Meter Freestyle was more popular than the 1500 Meter Freestyle in this meet. There seemed to be too many relays. The weather was beautiful for the rest of the meet meet.
The hospitality room was very popular at both meets. Meets were staffed with a first aid tent and an ambulance standing by. Fortunately there were no casualties. There was plenty of free beer at the L. C. after each day's competition for those who wished to drink. The dinner was held outside; barbecue chicken or beef, followed by a dance inside.
Many swimmers enter either about S. C. or L. C.; therefore many were not at both meets. I noted that the New Zealand meet drew many from the L. C. There are many new faces and names. I do wonder about many early swimmer's, who are not at the meets. Perhaps they only enter local meets.
The Regional, Zone, State, and local meets are growing in number. The Zone meets are giving many swimmers the opportunity to swim, who are unable to go to Nationals. The Newsletters are becoming more popular with schedules and data about the swimmers.
1985 SC May 10-13 Milwaukee, Wisconsin LC Aug 17-20 Providence, Rhode Island
NATIONAL CONVENTION SITES
1970 San Francisco, California (AAU) 1971 Kansas City 1972 Lake Placid, New York 1973 West Yellowstone, Montana only 6 delegates 1974 Washington D.C. 1975 New Orleans, Louisiana 1976 Phoenix, Arizona 1977 Columbus, Ohio 1978 San Antonio, Texas 1979 Las Vegas, Nevada 1980 Snow Bird, Utah (USMS) 1981 Snow Bird, Utah (USMS) 1982 Memphis, Tennessee (USMS) 1983 Cincinnati, Ohio (USMS) 1984 Indianapolis, Indiana (USMS) 1985 Phoenix, Arizona (USMS)
