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
Geek,
There is no difference between us paying foreign athletes without citizenship rare scholarship dollars to swim in the US and other foreign athletes selling their abilities to random countries like Qatar.
It's all crap. As far as I am concerned foreigners can train in the US on their own dime all they want. Handing out money to them to induce them to come is merely insult to injury.
If I were King, the NCAA would look a lot different.
John Smith
Geek,
There is no difference between us paying foreign athletes without citizenship rare scholarship dollars to swim in the US and other foreign athletes selling their abilities to random countries like Qatar.
It's all crap. As far as I am concerned foreigners can train in the US on their own dime all they want. Handing out money to them to induce them to come is merely insult to injury.
If I were King, the NCAA would look a lot different.
John Smith