Fellow TWIM Champions,
In my last email, I promised to tell you about why there is a Japanese flag in my home office window. This is my daily reminder of a goal I have set to keep me motivated to continue to do my workout each morning.
Do you have specific swimming goals to help keep you motivated? There are many goal-setting strategies that one might employ, and I want to tell you about one of mine.
I always have a Future Major Swimming Event that I am training for. I find that having a goal set, to swim in a Major Event, really keeps me focused on what I need to be doing to get ready for the event, get to the event, and then actually perform at the event.
It is necessary to set a series of sub-goals which build upon each other to help get a swimmer ready to go and succeed. These sub-goals will include one’s daily workout, but also things such as what competitions one will do to practice for, and perhaps qualify for the major event. There might be other sub-goals, such as an ideal body weight for competition, or cross-training in another sport to build strength and endurance.
USMS has some excellent Major Events every year (well, except for 2020, right?). The great thing about these is that they are open to ALL U.S. Masters swimmers! You may swim up to three races without meeting the National Qualifying Times. If you have never swum in a Major Event before, this is a great way to discover what one of these is like – FUN!
Here are the currently scheduled USMS National Championship meets:
USMS 2021
USMS 2022
Please check out the USMS web site to find out more about these.
I am currently targeting several non-USMS-sponsored events, and I’d like to invite each of you to join me to swim at one or more of these.
Washington State Senior Games
The WSSGs are an annual event (canceled in 2020). This year they will be held from July 6 – August 9. What makes one a “Senior”? You must be age 50 or above.
The swimming competition will be held on Sunday, July 25th. If you enjoy running or track events, those are on Saturday, July 24th. Both are typically held in the Olympia area. The full WSSGs cover at least 20 sports. Please follow this link to their Website for more information Washington State Senior Games.
Huntsman World Senior Games
This is a World Senior Games held annually (also cancelled in 2020) in St. George, Utah. The full Games (30+ sports) will be held October 4-16, 2021. The swimming competition is October 6-8, with pre-competition practice days on October 4-5. Check out the Website at Huntsman World Senior Games.
The competition is set up into 5-year age brackets starting at age 50.
National Senior Games
These Senior Games (age 50 and up) are normally held every other year, on the odd-numbered years. The 2021 Games have been postponed due to the pandemic, and are now scheduled to be held in May of 2022. This time around, the NSGs will be held in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
The full Games will be May 10-23, with the Swimming competition scheduled for May13-16. There is a practice day on May 12. Please check this link for more about the NSGs:
Swimming – National Senior Games Association (nsga.com)
Qualifications for the NSGs: First, second, or third place in any State Senior Games, The Huntsman Games, Veterans Games, or Canada Games, or meet the published event qualifying time for your age group (5-year age brackets starting at age 50).
World Masters Games
The World Masters Games, scheduled to be held in the Kansai region of Japan in May of 2021 have been deferred until 2022 (the Pandemic strikes yet again!). The Games will take place May 13-29, 2022 featuring a total of 35 sports and 59 events. The Swimming events are for ages 25 and up, in 5-year increments. The Swimming events are scheduled May 24-29.
This is the “Major” that I have been working toward that has the Japanese flag displayed in my office. It has been there since January of 2020, and has served as a daily reminder to me, through these pandemic times, to do whatever I need to do to stay in shape for the WMGs. Please view the WMG Website at this link:
Swimming(Swimming) | World Masters Games 2021 Kansai (wmg2021.jp)
It is unfortunate that both the NSGs and the WMGs have both been rescheduled to May of 2022, but the swim schedules are not in conflict. I am giving serious consideration to doing both. Would anyone like to join me?
A Few More Major Events
Here are two more Major Events, which I am not personally targeting at this time, but maybe some of you would like to give one of these a try. I found information for both of these on the USMS Website under ‘Events’.
Note: The PanAm Masters Championships are scheduled for July 21-28, 2022
In closing, I invite each of you to take the step of choosing a Future Major Swimming Event as a goal to help propel yourself (and TWIM!) into the coming swim season.
Please feel free to ask me (or any other TWIM colleague who has done this before) if you need help or advice in how to set sub-goals to enable you to achieve your swimming desires.
We are swimming together even when we are apart. It is the TWIM way!
Thanks for being a part of the dream!
