Team Information


Who Are We?

Masters Swimming is a national program for swimmers ages 18 and over. The primary focus of Masters swimming is competition for the sake of competition, and swimming for the sake of swimming. Anyone who is able to comfortably complete at least 200 yards of continuous freestyle is encouraged to try out.

Our team, the UIUC Masters, which is the local Masters team run through the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is no different from any other Masters team, except that we are run through a university, so the vast majority of our swimmers are college students and staff. To be a member on our team, you need to be a member of the Division of Campus Recreation (DCR). UIUC students and faculty are DCR members and others can become members by visiting the front office at the physical activities complex (IMPE). Our swimmers have a wide variety of athletic and competitive backgrounds, ranging from now-graduated college Division I swimmers, to ex-high school swimmers to triatheletes training for the Ironman, to swimmers who have never raced competitvely before.

What Do We Do?

We swim. Our team has eight dedicated lanes where the athletes can swim with fellow swimmers of similar skill and speed. There are two dedicated coaches who write workouts geared towards training the swimmers for competition, while also taking into account the varying backgrounds of everyone. So, if a new member has little or no competitive swimming experience, they will be given workouts that focus on the fundamentals of competitive swimming, such as working on flip-turns, developing stroke technique, etc, while the more experienced swimmers are given workouts that train physical systems and prepare them for racing.

The Master's short course season is primarily during the spring semester so we do most of our competition during that period. Typically, we try to swim two meets during this time: Central Illinois Masters at Illinois Weslyan, and Illinois Masters Championships at Northwestern University. We also have some swimmers participate in the National Championships (in Indianapolis for 2004). In addition, during the fall semester, we try to have a time trial during late November or early December. This gives the swimmers a taste of competition and gets them ready to compete during the spring.

When and Where?

We have 5 practices per week at the IMPE indoor pool during the fall and spring semesters. The first day of practice for the Fall 2004 session is September 6th.

Day Time
Monday - Thursday5:30pm - 7:00pm
Saturday11:00am - 1:00pm

Cost?

To join our team, the cost is $100 for each regular school semester. If you would like to compete, there is an additional $34 fee to join USMS.



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