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.
Ehoch, A well stated argument from a person directly impacted by our little conversations!
“All the so-called arguments about foreign swimmers taking scholarships away and so on are really off-base and very narrowminded.” These are real arguments and foreign swimmers ARE taking away athletic scholarships from US swimmers. As for narrow minded, okay you got me there… I’m as narrow minded about addressing the topic of swimming scholarships as you are about not addressing it.
“The scholarship is a trade: nothing more and nothing less” Maybe to you your scholarship was just money. However for me my swimming scholarship was a source of great pride in accomplishing one of my goals. It is also a source of great pride and a financial relief in seeing my son awarded his swimming scholarship.
“I am obligating myself to train 10x per week for 2 1/2 hours” Don’t let the NCAA find out about this, 25 hours of in water training is in violation of NCAA rules.
Do foreign swimmers bring up the level of competition within the NCAA? Absolutely, I don’t think anyone is arguing this point. Bousquet’s 50 Free at NCAA’s was the swim of the meet this year (last year’s 50 by Fred wasn’t bad either) and would have hated to see him prohibited because of his citizenship.
And if you don’t mind my asking; how old were you when you came to the USA? As you know most foreign swimmers do not go directly from high school to college, allowing them to get in an additional year or 3 of full time training. This provides these foreign athletes an advantage over US kids who typically go directly to college from high school. I assume this is why the NCAA instituted Rule 14.2.3.2 for swimming and tennis.
Ehoch, A well stated argument from a person directly impacted by our little conversations!
“All the so-called arguments about foreign swimmers taking scholarships away and so on are really off-base and very narrowminded.” These are real arguments and foreign swimmers ARE taking away athletic scholarships from US swimmers. As for narrow minded, okay you got me there… I’m as narrow minded about addressing the topic of swimming scholarships as you are about not addressing it.
“The scholarship is a trade: nothing more and nothing less” Maybe to you your scholarship was just money. However for me my swimming scholarship was a source of great pride in accomplishing one of my goals. It is also a source of great pride and a financial relief in seeing my son awarded his swimming scholarship.
“I am obligating myself to train 10x per week for 2 1/2 hours” Don’t let the NCAA find out about this, 25 hours of in water training is in violation of NCAA rules.
Do foreign swimmers bring up the level of competition within the NCAA? Absolutely, I don’t think anyone is arguing this point. Bousquet’s 50 Free at NCAA’s was the swim of the meet this year (last year’s 50 by Fred wasn’t bad either) and would have hated to see him prohibited because of his citizenship.
And if you don’t mind my asking; how old were you when you came to the USA? As you know most foreign swimmers do not go directly from high school to college, allowing them to get in an additional year or 3 of full time training. This provides these foreign athletes an advantage over US kids who typically go directly to college from high school. I assume this is why the NCAA instituted Rule 14.2.3.2 for swimming and tennis.
