Both of my main characters – Sean Colbeth and Vasily Korsokovach – are former Olympic Swimmers who have since transitioned to the world of Masters Swimming. Fairly early in the beta reading process for Blindsided, I discovered that most people were unaware of this particular arm of competitive swimming; far more know about the sister group, USA Swimming, which is generally featured rather prominently during Olympic Trials here in the States and is the overall governing body for the sport.
It took me a bit to come up with a simple way to describe the differences between these two groups; for me, it boils down to what the swimmer’s focus on the sport happens to be. For those interested in competing on the world stage in events like the Olympics, sticking with a swim team affiliated with USA Swimming is the way to go; for others who are somewhat more interested in the workout benefits of swimming, but not as likely to want to go to the marquee events offered by USA Swimming, they tend to gravitate to a Masters-affiliated team.
That’s not to say there aren’t elite-level swim meets for Masters Swimming; on the contrary, they have a very similar structure with regional and national meets that recognize the best of the best. And on occasion, some of those elite competitors have continued on to the Olympics, though it is far rarer; those in the Masters circle tend to have day jobs and swim on the side, making it rather hard to consistently dedicate the insane amount of time in the pool needed to be competitive at that level.
We’ve not seen either Sean or Vasily at one of those meets (yet), though the fact that they are still competing is woven into the fabric of their characters. Fortunately, I’ve gifted them with a career that allows them to spend a significant amount of time in the water, even if, for you as the reader, most of it happens off stage (as it were). I also freely admit I am living vicariously through them, since I definitely don’t have that sort of time to dedicate to swimming these days…