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.
So, just so I get it, obtaining a free education, including housing, food, books, etc and being allowed to do what you love is really just like being a prisoner of war. I actually have family members who were in a war, not a war as you describe as going to college for free, but a real war where there are guns and death, and I can assure you that college life is a touch easier, in their opinions. I also train with a bunch of former D-1 college swimmer at big time universities. I've never heard them complain about their college experience. Matter of fact, they seem to think their "prison sentence" was actually fun. They wear their college training as a badge of honor, not some war wound.
Your encouragement to high school athletes by describing a coveted D-1 sports scholarship as being the victim of a war crime sure is motivating, well done sir!
And, for further clarity, the suicidal demise of American higher education, universally regarded as the best in the world end-to-end, is due to us giving a few dozen or hundred top tier international athletes scholarships.
Who woulda thunk it - college life is like being in a Vietnamese prison camp and American colleges are committing suicide by having an international and diverse student body.
So, just so I get it, obtaining a free education, including housing, food, books, etc and being allowed to do what you love is really just like being a prisoner of war. I actually have family members who were in a war, not a war as you describe as going to college for free, but a real war where there are guns and death, and I can assure you that college life is a touch easier, in their opinions. I also train with a bunch of former D-1 college swimmer at big time universities. I've never heard them complain about their college experience. Matter of fact, they seem to think their "prison sentence" was actually fun. They wear their college training as a badge of honor, not some war wound.
Your encouragement to high school athletes by describing a coveted D-1 sports scholarship as being the victim of a war crime sure is motivating, well done sir!
And, for further clarity, the suicidal demise of American higher education, universally regarded as the best in the world end-to-end, is due to us giving a few dozen or hundred top tier international athletes scholarships.
Who woulda thunk it - college life is like being in a Vietnamese prison camp and American colleges are committing suicide by having an international and diverse student body.
