Masters Swimming Canada is a Canadian organization that supports and promotes

Masters Swimming Masters swimming is a special class of competitive swimming (sport), swimming for swimmers 25 years and older. Premasters is normally included as well, from 18 years old (Canada, United States and Australia) or 20 years old (Europe). In Canada ...

nationally, in cooperation with provincial bodies and clubs. Masters Swimming is a club-based organization that maintains a list of all Masters clubs in the country, and oversees structured

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

programs for adults which include competitions in pools or open water. The word "Masters" in Masters Swimming refers to age and not skill level. In Canada, swimmers must be 18 years of age to register as a Masters Swimmer. The slogan of Masters Swimming Canada is "Fun and Friendship, Health and Wellness, Participation and Achievement". Masters Swimming Canada is registered as a federally incorporated non-profit corporation and is governed by an elected board of directors. Registered Masters clubs are the voting members of the corporation. The board of directors acts as a policy-governance board with an executive director responsible for ongoing operations. It is a member of Swimming Natation Canada Inc., the national governing body for swimming in Canada.

History

Canada's first Masters Swimming club was established in 1971 by Hud Stewart, a professor at

Osgoode Hall Law School Osgoode Hall Law School, commonly shortened to Osgoode, is the law school of York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The law school is home to the Law Commission of Ontario, the Journal of Law and Social Policy, and the ''Osgoode Hall La ...

and a Canadian track and field Olympian who had become interested in adult fitness. Stewart and his friend Al Waites had entered the second US Masters National Championship in

Amarillo Amarillo ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for "yellow") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat, seat of Potter County, Texas, Potter County. It is the List of cities in Texas by population, 14th-most populous city in Texas and th ...

on May 7 and May 8, 1971, alongside 106 US swimmers. On his return to Toronto, Stewart established Canada's first Masters Club, "The

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

Masters", swimming at Hart House and consisting primarily of university staff, as well as some older students who were not on the University swim teams.

Programs

Competition

Masters Swimming Canada oversees competition programs for Masters Swimming, including short and long course pool competition as well as open water events, maintaining a calendar of all sanctioned competitions, a database of competitive results, the national rankings, and the Canadian national Masters records. The organization also, through Swimming Canada, maintains the Canadian Masters Swimming Rule Book, which governs all Masters swimming competitions in Canada. Masters Swimming Canada organizes the annual Canadian Masters Swimming Championships. A bidding process is conducted each year for the selection of a local organizing committee.

Million Metre Challenge

Th
Million Metre Challenge
is a Masters Swimming Canada program that allows swimmers to track their training by recording the number of metres swum in each workout online. As swimmers reach various milestone distances they receive recognition and awards. The program also has components involving total metres swum by clubs and virtual swims where individual and club metres achieved are plotted on maps. Swimmers can log distances by strokes, kicking, and drills, or by total metres, and can record further specifics or notes. Like so much of master swimming in Canada, th
history of tracking workouts
has it roots in Ontario. A summary of that history is published on the Masters Swimming Ontario website.

References

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Sources

*Whitehall, Beth; (formerly Executive Secretary of Masters Swimming Canada), Notes

External links

Masters Swimming Canada
Swim Swimming organizations Swimming in Canada Masters swimming