It's time for the NCAA to switch to LCM; a Manifesto

If the thread title said SCM instead of LCM then I'd be on board. There really aren't that many LCM pools out there, but there are quite a few 40-yard pools with movable bulkheads and diving wells. For a not-crazy cost, those pools could be reconfigured for SCM.

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. :bow: :applaud: :applaud: Nice statement. If only college swimming was in LCM, my swimming career might have been so much different. If you are good at walls, then you get attention from college coaches. Otherwise, you are just a walkon(forget scholarships) at a DI school or have to go to DII or DIII. So many LCM swimmers are just discriminated by "yards-only" college swimming. :)

Are we talking all NCAA meets, including dual meets, or just the championship meet? I like the excitement of short course swimming and would rather see the NCAA meet continue in that format. Going to SCM would be fine, though. I don't think the US teams have been hurt by the NCAA using SCY, it just causes some swimmers to be NCAA stars who don't see the same success when swimming LCM. You mentioned that very few NCAA athletes make the Olympic team, but obviously this is just athletes who are currently NCAA swimmers. Other than Phelps is there a member of the US men's team who did not compete in the NCAA? To me the disappearance of college swimmers on the Olympic team is all about the rise of professionalism and has nothing to do with the NCAA swimming SCY. How many members of the USA Olympic basketball team are current NCAA players?

At this point every major DI program has an LCM facility.Where did this statistic come from? I can think of a number of what I would consider “major” D1 teams that do not have a 50 Meter pool. 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. I believe a significant majority of DII and DIII teams do NOT have 50 Meter pools. Again where are you getting your statistics? “Biting the bullet” and moving to LCM will mean that a lot of programs will go the way of Clemson Swimming. But come to think of it, forcing colleges to shut down their varsity programs could move young swimmers into college club swimming and Masters Swimming. And it would free up a lot of fired college coaches to become Masters coaches. And all of those 25Y/M pools could become available for Masters clubs. College swimming’s death knell could be Masters boon.

(Except the idiotic placement of the backstroke flags at 5y instead of 5m, but that's a separate peeve...) I like the 5y distance just fine thank you. :D I always get to a meter pool and if I'm in backstroke, or an IM event it almost an OOPS as I'm entering the turn. I almost have to remember to take an extra stroke, and just look out for the wall at that point.

I believe a significant majority of DII and DIII teams do NOT have 50 Meter pools. Again where are you getting your statistics? “Biting the bullet” and moving to LCM will mean that a lot of programs will go the way of Clemson Swimming. And it will effectively make the top programs even stronger. Do we really need that? Heck, Kenyon won 31 straight men's DIII titles. It's an impressive achievement, but do we really need to make programs like Kenyon even stronger at the expense of the schools with more modest facilities?

WTF. How is swimming not racing? What do you think goes on in swimming races? I would like to see actual swimming, not underwater kicking exhibitions. Thankfully, underwater kicking is swimming as defined by the rules. I agree that there is more racing in short course. I hardly see anyone in long course.

I love LCM over SCY,but I think it is impractical at this time.What might be more practical would be to make Div I Championships a LCM meet in Olympic years or maybe every other year.It would give college more of a LCM focus and give swimmers an opportunity to set WRs.

I love LCM over SCY,but I think it is impractical at this time.What might be more practical would be to make Div I Championships a LCM meet in Olympic years or maybe every other year.It would give college more of a LCM focus and give swimmers an opportunity to set WRs. I think that they have NCAA Div.1 champs in SCM in 2004(not know about 2008?) and few WRs were broken at that meet.

What might be more practical would be to make Div I Championships a LCM meet in Olympic years or maybe every other year. I think this would be a good step, maybe even having LCM championships EVERY year. It would give colleges an incentive to build LCM pools if they don't have them, without requiring it. Speaking more generally to the concept of SCY as the "Galapagos of swimming formats"...yes it is true, but it isn't as if the rest of the world doesn't have a short course season: it just happens to be in SCM instead of SCY, and there really isn't that much difference between the two. (Except the idiotic placement of the backstroke flags at 5y instead of 5m, but that's a separate peeve...) Thankfully, underwater kicking is swimming as defined by the rules. You could just end that sentence after the word "swimming" and still be correct. The people who resent underwater kicking are the ones who aren't good at it or can't be bothered to work on developing it; cry me a river.