The interest for the masters swimming competitions in 2010 – the managerial perspective. A case study: Timi oara

Masters swimmers are adults that systematically practise this sportive activity as amateurs in an organized environment. They have very different sportive abilities and their interest for practising swimming is linked to the benefits of this type of activity. In relation to the public perception existing in Romania, both in the mainstream public and in the specialists’ circle, the competitive dimension is the most visible as opposed to the other forms of masters swimming: fitness swimming, recreational swimming, therapeutic swimming etc. The Timi oara Masters Swimming Club, which came into being in 2007, is the first club dedicated to masters swimming in our country. Its primary objective is to promote the practice of swimming by adults. The club’s image and, implicitly, its marketing and, respectively, its financial management are influenced to a significant extent by the results achieved in masters swimming competitions. In this sense, statistics show that in 2010, compared to the precedent year, all the measurement indicators of the club’s participation in competitions have decreased. The present paper focuses on the development of this amateur sportive movement by optimizing the organizational management in the sportive environment. The purpose of this paper is to identify the causes that have determined the decreasing tendencies of the Timi oara club members’ participation and, respectively, of the results achieved in masters swimming competitions in 2010 as opposed to 2009.