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.
Parents
  • Might I suggest if you are no longer enjoying spending your precious free time swimming and consider it warlike toroture activity, maybe you should find a more pleasurable way to spend your time. Might I suggest protecting our beloved public institutions from their suicidal tendencies. I will tell all the youth on our swim team that swimming is no fun! It is worse than war, it should be terrible! After all, sports is all about not enjoying oneself. Kellen Winslow, Jr referred to college football as war once also and was universally lampooned. He then signed a multi-million dollar contract, what a war wound! Then, he bought a motorcycle, not a good idea in retrospect.
Reply
  • Might I suggest if you are no longer enjoying spending your precious free time swimming and consider it warlike toroture activity, maybe you should find a more pleasurable way to spend your time. Might I suggest protecting our beloved public institutions from their suicidal tendencies. I will tell all the youth on our swim team that swimming is no fun! It is worse than war, it should be terrible! After all, sports is all about not enjoying oneself. Kellen Winslow, Jr referred to college football as war once also and was universally lampooned. He then signed a multi-million dollar contract, what a war wound! Then, he bought a motorcycle, not a good idea in retrospect.
Children
No Data