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
After hundreds of posts on this, I felt the need to pipe in for what it's worth.
The simple solution is that if a university athletic program wants foreign athletes, fine. Pay for their education by using alumni money, if the past students/athletes want their funds used to promote the athletic programs with foreign athletes, private money, not public NCAA Title 9 limited funds should be used which would deny American athletes the privelege of attending their Universities that have been supported by their families tax dollars as long as they have been alive.
These arguments about the not so fortunate foreign athlete does not sit with me. Most (not all) of them are supported by their government to live and train wherever they see fit. So if no alumni money available, then let their governments pay for them to attend our schools so our American athletes are not denied the opportunity to train, get a degree and develop into not only better swimmers (or whatever sport) but also degreed well rounded contributors to society.
As far as this debate going into minimum wage discussions, if you understood the basic issues of supply and demand, you would understand why the minimum wage hasn't and never has worked. Whenever you put a floor or ceiling on the supply demand curve, you destroy the basic economic model. Not a political statement, just economics 101.
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Former Member
After hundreds of posts on this, I felt the need to pipe in for what it's worth.
The simple solution is that if a university athletic program wants foreign athletes, fine. Pay for their education by using alumni money, if the past students/athletes want their funds used to promote the athletic programs with foreign athletes, private money, not public NCAA Title 9 limited funds should be used which would deny American athletes the privelege of attending their Universities that have been supported by their families tax dollars as long as they have been alive.
These arguments about the not so fortunate foreign athlete does not sit with me. Most (not all) of them are supported by their government to live and train wherever they see fit. So if no alumni money available, then let their governments pay for them to attend our schools so our American athletes are not denied the opportunity to train, get a degree and develop into not only better swimmers (or whatever sport) but also degreed well rounded contributors to society.
As far as this debate going into minimum wage discussions, if you understood the basic issues of supply and demand, you would understand why the minimum wage hasn't and never has worked. Whenever you put a floor or ceiling on the supply demand curve, you destroy the basic economic model. Not a political statement, just economics 101.
