It's time for the NCAA to switch to LCM; a Manifesto
Former Member
I believe that the US team has been hurt by the NCAA continuing to stick with the SCY format. I believe that the fact that fewer and fewer college athletes are making the team is partially because college athletes are trained to race SCY (of course there are several other reasons for the shift as well). Here's a summary of why I think sticking with SCY is silly:
1. LCM requires specific training and experience to race optimally. Starts and turns are somewhat deemphasized, pacing and rhythm are made even more important. You often see relatively inexperienced US swimmers crushing walls but then losing time between the flags (Tom Shields springs to mind). I believe this is partially a result of focusing on short course. Most NCAA teams train long course on occasion, but it needs to be the focus.
2. I believe that part of the reluctance to go LCM is that the NCAA feels it may discriminate against programs without their own LCM facility. This shouldn't be a concern any more. At this point every major DI program has an LCM facility (or several LCM facilities). Many (the majority?) of quality DII and DIII programs have LCM facilities. The NCAA should stop worrying about upsetting a minority of members, bite the bullet and say they're going LCM.
3. SCY is the Galapagos of swimming formats: it was developed in a vacuum and exists only in the US. LCM is the world standard. SCY to LCM time conversions are very suspect. The excitement of NCAA championships would be much enhanced if the times were comparable to other times around the world. This would improve the prestige of the conference and the meet and improve the centrality of the NCAA in the world swimming landscape. It would also remove one of the (smaller) concerns that foreign talent may have for training in the US. IMO, the US needs to swim and train with the best at all times to ensure it stays competitive. Moving to LCM will enhance their ability to do so.
All of these points are debatable. I'd be interested to see what other people think.
Parents
Former Member
Not arguing against the point that LCM training could help in terms of an Olympic-directed concept, but wanted to point you to analysis done by Jeff Commings shortly after the end of the final night of Trials:
www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/.../31113.asp
The men's team is the only one with a lack of younger talent from the collegiate scene - not the women.
The professionalization of the sport, which has supported male athletes more than female athletes (like almost all other sports other than perhaps beach volleyball), likely is the reasoning behind less college swimmers making it on the men's side.
Basically, compared to previous teams, where post-grads usually only stuck around for a year or two more to make a team, now you have post-grads going through 2, and sometimes 3, Olympic cycles after their college career. The only way you get to stick around though, is if you are already Olympic caliber.
So, most of those spots that used to be voided when people graduated and retired from the Olympic part of the sport after college, are no longer voided. So, the collegiate swimmers then have to battle the veterans that are already there, instead of just each other for spots.
Does that make sense?
Not arguing against the point that LCM training could help in terms of an Olympic-directed concept, but wanted to point you to analysis done by Jeff Commings shortly after the end of the final night of Trials:
www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/.../31113.asp
The men's team is the only one with a lack of younger talent from the collegiate scene - not the women.
The professionalization of the sport, which has supported male athletes more than female athletes (like almost all other sports other than perhaps beach volleyball), likely is the reasoning behind less college swimmers making it on the men's side.
Basically, compared to previous teams, where post-grads usually only stuck around for a year or two more to make a team, now you have post-grads going through 2, and sometimes 3, Olympic cycles after their college career. The only way you get to stick around though, is if you are already Olympic caliber.
So, most of those spots that used to be voided when people graduated and retired from the Olympic part of the sport after college, are no longer voided. So, the collegiate swimmers then have to battle the veterans that are already there, instead of just each other for spots.
Does that make sense?
