Foreign swimmers training in the U.S.

Former Member
Former Member
There has been a lot of discussion since Athens about foreign swimmers training in the United States. Most of them attend U.S. Universities, receive athletic scholarships, and compete at NCAA's. Some notable examples include Duje Draganja (Cal), Fred Bousquet and Kirsty Coventry (Auburn), Markus Rogan (Stanford), and the South African sprinters (Arizona). Some train in the U.S., but don't compete for a university (Inge de Bruijn). All of these athletes benefit from U.S. coaching, from training with U.S. swimmers, and in some cases, from financial support provided by U.S. entities (athletic scholarships). They all turn around and then win medals for other countries. A couple questions: 1) What do you think about this arrangement generally? 2) Is it of benefit or detriment to U.S. swimming to have these foreign athletes training and competing here? 3) Should we be giving athletic scholarships, which are a scarce resource in swimming, to foreign athletes who will represent their own countries internationally instead of U.S.-born swimmers who will represent us internationally? I'm sure there are other issues, but these come directly to mind.
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  • Former Member
    Former Member
    Here are a few of my random thoughts: 1. International students improve the diversity of college communities and the greater the interaction between students of different cultural, socio-economic, religious, and so forth backgrounds the better the college experience. This in turn pays off in a benefit to society and (hopefully) improved cross cultural understanding. 2. Eliminate all athletic scholarships. Make all scholarships available based on academic potential and need, making the driving ambition providing access to a college education to someone who otherwise might not have that access . . . not on winning NCAA chanpionships. 3. As a corollary of the above, let all student athletes be just that, student athletes just like they are in Div III who play for love of the game. Aside from my above set forth pipe dreams, I see no harm in giving athletic scholarships to international students, if we're going to give them for sports, then give them to the best/fastest/strongest. As I said above, international students enhance the college community and the college experience for all by exposing students to different cultures. On the other hand, restricting scholarships based on national origin strikes me as a very negative value, smacking of xenophobia. And Title iX has done an awful lot of good, but that's another discussion. I guess that's more than my 2 cents . . . . carl
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  • Former Member
    Former Member
    Here are a few of my random thoughts: 1. International students improve the diversity of college communities and the greater the interaction between students of different cultural, socio-economic, religious, and so forth backgrounds the better the college experience. This in turn pays off in a benefit to society and (hopefully) improved cross cultural understanding. 2. Eliminate all athletic scholarships. Make all scholarships available based on academic potential and need, making the driving ambition providing access to a college education to someone who otherwise might not have that access . . . not on winning NCAA chanpionships. 3. As a corollary of the above, let all student athletes be just that, student athletes just like they are in Div III who play for love of the game. Aside from my above set forth pipe dreams, I see no harm in giving athletic scholarships to international students, if we're going to give them for sports, then give them to the best/fastest/strongest. As I said above, international students enhance the college community and the college experience for all by exposing students to different cultures. On the other hand, restricting scholarships based on national origin strikes me as a very negative value, smacking of xenophobia. And Title iX has done an awful lot of good, but that's another discussion. I guess that's more than my 2 cents . . . . carl
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