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.
Parents
Former Member
Maybe it would be useful to start by figuring out the intended purpose of athletic scholarships and then figure out if giving them to foreign students makes sense.
If athletic scholarships are meant to attract top notch athletes to contribute to the school's athletic program then giving them to foreign students makes perfect sense.
If you believe that athletic scholarships are purely a charity and that the relationship between school and athlete is all one way with the student getting all the benefits and the school receiving nothing in return, and you also believe that charity is for "your own" first then athletic scholarships should only be awarded to "your own". Probably state schools should only give them to people from that state according to the tax arguments. Of course, you have to wonder why you would have athletic scholarships at all, it would probably make more sense to put the money into academic scholarships.
Maybe it would be useful to start by figuring out the intended purpose of athletic scholarships and then figure out if giving them to foreign students makes sense.
If athletic scholarships are meant to attract top notch athletes to contribute to the school's athletic program then giving them to foreign students makes perfect sense.
If you believe that athletic scholarships are purely a charity and that the relationship between school and athlete is all one way with the student getting all the benefits and the school receiving nothing in return, and you also believe that charity is for "your own" first then athletic scholarships should only be awarded to "your own". Probably state schools should only give them to people from that state according to the tax arguments. Of course, you have to wonder why you would have athletic scholarships at all, it would probably make more sense to put the money into academic scholarships.
