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
OK, so it seems that the positive attributes of diversity in a college student body isn't gettting much traction here, so let's try another approach . . .
If I'm a college swim coach, my goal is to win conference and win NCAAs. That type of success will provide me with greater job security, improved income, will help draw faster athletes to a winning program and will help attract alumni dollars, which will, in turn, help the program.
Soooo . . . . who am I going to give my scholarships to? The fastest swimmers and I don't give a rip where they're from. I'll take an NCAA championship breaststroker from the Ukraine over the guy/girl from Mission Viejo that will finish 8th. Because s/he swims for my U.S. based college s/he will be the National Collegiate Athletic Association champion. There are no citizenship requirements/restrictions to participate in NCAA sports.
When s/he particiapates in international meets where team association is determined by citizenship, s/he will represent the Ukraine. The fact that s/he trains and gets an athletic scholarship and good old "United States College" doesn't matter a whit because the goal of teams, whether college, club, or country based, is to win and to have the best and fastest athletes.
Now if the goal of United States collegiate swimming was to be a farm/development team for the U.S. National team, then people who would want to deny athletic scholarships to non-citizens might have a point . . . but that is NOT the goal of collegiate swimming is it?
I'm just sayin' . . .
carl
OK, so it seems that the positive attributes of diversity in a college student body isn't gettting much traction here, so let's try another approach . . .
If I'm a college swim coach, my goal is to win conference and win NCAAs. That type of success will provide me with greater job security, improved income, will help draw faster athletes to a winning program and will help attract alumni dollars, which will, in turn, help the program.
Soooo . . . . who am I going to give my scholarships to? The fastest swimmers and I don't give a rip where they're from. I'll take an NCAA championship breaststroker from the Ukraine over the guy/girl from Mission Viejo that will finish 8th. Because s/he swims for my U.S. based college s/he will be the National Collegiate Athletic Association champion. There are no citizenship requirements/restrictions to participate in NCAA sports.
When s/he particiapates in international meets where team association is determined by citizenship, s/he will represent the Ukraine. The fact that s/he trains and gets an athletic scholarship and good old "United States College" doesn't matter a whit because the goal of teams, whether college, club, or country based, is to win and to have the best and fastest athletes.
Now if the goal of United States collegiate swimming was to be a farm/development team for the U.S. National team, then people who would want to deny athletic scholarships to non-citizens might have a point . . . but that is NOT the goal of collegiate swimming is it?
I'm just sayin' . . .
carl
