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.
Originally posted by Phil Arcuni
That is why I suggested that swimming scholarships take away, for most people, fron the activities that would lead to a better career.
I don't think this is accurate at all. Swimmers are notorious for being overachieving students. If someone can be a top swimmer, they obviously have great time management skills given the crazy practice hours. All that leads to a successful career.
I could have heard this wrong but I think that scholarship athletes have a higher grad rate than non scholarship students. So, I'm not exactly what activities scholarships take away from that lead to better careers. I suppose if I had a scholarship I would have spent less time, um, in bars, in college.
Originally posted by Phil Arcuni
That is why I suggested that swimming scholarships take away, for most people, fron the activities that would lead to a better career.
I don't think this is accurate at all. Swimmers are notorious for being overachieving students. If someone can be a top swimmer, they obviously have great time management skills given the crazy practice hours. All that leads to a successful career.
I could have heard this wrong but I think that scholarship athletes have a higher grad rate than non scholarship students. So, I'm not exactly what activities scholarships take away from that lead to better careers. I suppose if I had a scholarship I would have spent less time, um, in bars, in college.
