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
Originally posted by some_girl
Pool_monkey, if you think people are poor because they won't work, I'd look at _The Working Poor: Invisible in America_ and _Nickel and Dimed_. Laziness isn't the problem.
some_girl: I'll look at the book. Thanks. But we used to give gifts to some of the poor of our community and one year we gave to a family with a young man in his twenties, who didn't work because he didn't want to. He was satisfied with the amount of aid he received from the government, plus what we suspected to be some not so legal side activities, but we were very upset that we were giving food and Christmas presents to this family, because this man did not want to work and provide for his family. Years ago, I worked with people who didn't care if they got fired, so they could get back on unemployment. And a number of people keep their hours down, so they get additional benefits from the government. I cannot condone the activities of these people that take advantage of the system.
To me some foreign swimmers fall into this same category. It is unacceptable for a person to have their way paid for by their country and receive scholarships from our institutions. To those that are paying their own way, they should have access to some swimming scholarships.
My history is fuzy, but I believe the founding fathers were against taxation without representation and big government, not necessary taxes themselves, but I could be wrong.
Originally posted by some_girl
Pool_monkey, if you think people are poor because they won't work, I'd look at _The Working Poor: Invisible in America_ and _Nickel and Dimed_. Laziness isn't the problem.
some_girl: I'll look at the book. Thanks. But we used to give gifts to some of the poor of our community and one year we gave to a family with a young man in his twenties, who didn't work because he didn't want to. He was satisfied with the amount of aid he received from the government, plus what we suspected to be some not so legal side activities, but we were very upset that we were giving food and Christmas presents to this family, because this man did not want to work and provide for his family. Years ago, I worked with people who didn't care if they got fired, so they could get back on unemployment. And a number of people keep their hours down, so they get additional benefits from the government. I cannot condone the activities of these people that take advantage of the system.
To me some foreign swimmers fall into this same category. It is unacceptable for a person to have their way paid for by their country and receive scholarships from our institutions. To those that are paying their own way, they should have access to some swimming scholarships.
My history is fuzy, but I believe the founding fathers were against taxation without representation and big government, not necessary taxes themselves, but I could be wrong.
