Although most USMS swimmers have previous competitive swimming experience, this does not always translate into national rankings. The majority of participants in the 1998 USMS Short Course Championship were not currently ranked among the top ten in any event at the time of the competition. Of those that competed in Indianapolis, less than half were ranked in the top ten for any event during the past year (1997). The older swimmers were much more likely to be ranked among the top 10 primarily due to the smaller draws in their age divisions. Specifically, 77% of swimmers over age 64 were ranked in the top 10 in 1997. Your chances of being top 10 improve dramatically the older you get. Among all survey respondents, 55% were ranked among the top ten in an event at some time in the past five years.

Participants were asked to classify themselves by type of event, as sprinters, middle distance or long distance swimmers. The majority of swimmers classified themselves as sprinters (41.2%). A third (33.5%) of participants regarded themselves as middle distance swimmers and approximately a quarter (23.5%) categorized themselves as distance swimmers. The percentages of sprinters and middle distance swimmers were reversed among participants over age 64 (32% and 41% respectively). The percentages in other age groups were remarkably similar to the overall averages.

Just as previous swimming experience and individual event classifications varied among age groups and individuals, training habits were also highly diverse. Among the Masters swimmers, 80% trained at least 9 months per year with over 57% training year round. Overall, Masters swimmers trained an average of 10.5 months per year. The swimmers over age 64 appeared to be the most dedicated averaging just over 11 months of training per year. Women did have a slight edge in training tenacity with a slightly higher months per year average, 10.9 overall for women versus 10.2 for men (p<0.05).

Although there were minor seasonal variations in training volume, Masters swimmers appeared to be fairly constant with their training schedules. Masters swimmers averaged 4 days of training per week both summer and winter. This was quite uniform across all age groups. Training yardage varied between 2,000 and 3,500 yards per session with very little difference between the sexes. There was also very little difference in summer versus winter yardage within age groups. Yardage tended to decrease as swimmers aged, however, only the oldest age group (over 64) put in significantly fewer yards than other age groups (p<0.05). Average training yardage by age group and sex is presented in Figure 3.