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.
Oh no, here comes the whining again. Just when I thought it was safe to sell all my Kleenex stock I see wer'e gonna cry about this some more so I better hold onto that stock a while longer.
I had the opportunity to speak to an Auburn swimmer this past weekend. First, she was incredibly polite and well spoken. Second, she was an American. I asked her how many foreigners were on her team and she said 4 out of 26. I asked her if this was a problem and she laughed out loud. It's a non issue to her. Maybe she likes to train and compete against the best.
For the record, the NCAA is full of American born athletes who are both well over and under what we consider the standard college aged years (17-22 or so). It's not a foreign thing. Chris Weinke and Ed Cota are two that immediately come to mind, in addition to a football player at CU Boulder, who I can't remember.
Oh no, here comes the whining again. Just when I thought it was safe to sell all my Kleenex stock I see wer'e gonna cry about this some more so I better hold onto that stock a while longer.
I had the opportunity to speak to an Auburn swimmer this past weekend. First, she was incredibly polite and well spoken. Second, she was an American. I asked her how many foreigners were on her team and she said 4 out of 26. I asked her if this was a problem and she laughed out loud. It's a non issue to her. Maybe she likes to train and compete against the best.
For the record, the NCAA is full of American born athletes who are both well over and under what we consider the standard college aged years (17-22 or so). It's not a foreign thing. Chris Weinke and Ed Cota are two that immediately come to mind, in addition to a football player at CU Boulder, who I can't remember.
