I think I'm going to have to disagree a bit with my Longhorn teamates Mr. Commings and The Raz on this subject. It's not good to rely on someone coming out of the woodwork in years to come or simply counting on cycles of ebb and flow over years in the sport.
I have been to many age group meets with my kids the last 4 years. In Georgia, Colorado.... and my home the Great state of Ohio, and enrollment of young boys (ages 8-14) is down further than at any time I can remember in the sport. Gone are the days when I grew up and boys ALWAYS outnumber girls in the sport, and its not merely because more girls are swimming now. It's because boys are interested in other sports..... many of which are easier training sports in my opinion.
This is NOT good for the future of men's swimming. I have a bad feeling the next Michael Phelps will be lured into Soccer or some other sport over the coming years... if not already. Swimming.... particularly the governing body USS.... does NOT do an adequate job marketing the sport to the general public during non Olympic years. We ride too heavily on the success of our Olympic performances in hopes of expanding enrollment, and then every 4 years it dies out quickly. With the added cuts of men's swimming programs in the NCAA Div. I level the growth and continued success of US mens swimming in my opinion is in jeopardy over the next 8-12 years. Michael Phelps is a lucky find for the US. I strongly suggest you take a look at some heat sheets for age group meets in your area. You will likely find that there are about 1/2 to 2/3rds the number of boys heats compared to girls heats in the younger age groups. It's shocking. You're looking at the future of our Olympic team in these reduced heats. You can't rely on a Rowdy Gaines to come into the sport late (like age 13) and dominate especially when the numbers are down so much.
USS needs to find money for a larger national campaign with TV time. Why is it I have NEVER been contacted by USS swimming to donate money?! Why is there NO marketing campaign to solicit funds from ex US swimmers from the past 40 years ?!
In my opinion, this is an all out war against soccer and the evil Big 3 sports. For example...... Australia is hurtin' if you take away their 2 big guns Hacket and Thorpe, there is virtually no one in the pipeline that will take over. The US is in a similar but lessor position. It was truly embarassing that the US had absolutely NO ONE in the 100 free at the Olympics. Let me say it again....
IT WAS TRULY EMBARASSING THAT THE US HAD ABSOLUTELY NO ONE IN THE 100 FREE IN THE FINALS AT THE OLYMPICS !
We should OWN that event ! The 100 free IS United States Swimming. It is our history! Our 400m free relay should NEVER lose at the Olympics or World Games as it is a reflection of depth and speed in our programs.
Face it, our volume of great sprinters are pretty bad right now and thats a reflection of basic athleticism and talent by taking (stealing) "athletes" from other sports with raw speed. Gary Hall saved his butt and the US in the 50 free at Greece, but let's face it, he's an archeology find and not a reflection of up an coming talent. We're relying on someone that probably peaked 2 Olympics ago in the sprints.
The picture is not good for the growth of US men's swimming, and we definitely need to do something about it.
John Smith
Parents
Former Member
Originally posted by knelson
Actually I've always thought swimming was one of the cheaper sports. It certainly isn't gear intensive like a lot of other sports.
I think one of swimming's problems is that it isn't a team sport. I think this is much more a factor than that there isn't money in it at the elite levels. I doubt most parents initially get there kids involved in a specific sport based on how much money the kid could end up making in it!
I think USA Swimming should concentrate on how much fun it is to be part of a team. The sport will always be highly individual, but kids can have a lot of fun with their teammates.
Swimming in Illinois has always been relatively expensive because lessons & pool time along wiht being a member makes it very expensive compared to other sports. Here in galesburg, to participate in soccer, peewee football and baseball, you don't have to pay any membership dues to the Y. During the summer age group is only about 4 weeks of 3 practices a day and it costs over $70. then you have ot get to meets.
Here swimming is rather poplular. Our high school boys is the only sport that hasn't had a losing record for over five years. Unfortunately, most of the guys who swim are sons of doctors & lawyers. It used to be a very community oriented sport. But the high school coach started a summer team at the country clud and that really changed. The public rec team isn't as good as the other. In a town of 33,000 peoplewe have wo age group summer teams.
I really think that the only way swimming is going to gain any real national attention is for it to be on tv. Remeber Wide World of
Sports. It showed recorded swim meets very frequently. In a school promotion & society class I took, I learned that swimming used to be one of the most broadcasted college sports inthe early 60s. That has really changed becasue NCAA's ability to market football & basketball packages to networks.
Originally posted by knelson
Actually I've always thought swimming was one of the cheaper sports. It certainly isn't gear intensive like a lot of other sports.
I think one of swimming's problems is that it isn't a team sport. I think this is much more a factor than that there isn't money in it at the elite levels. I doubt most parents initially get there kids involved in a specific sport based on how much money the kid could end up making in it!
I think USA Swimming should concentrate on how much fun it is to be part of a team. The sport will always be highly individual, but kids can have a lot of fun with their teammates.
Swimming in Illinois has always been relatively expensive because lessons & pool time along wiht being a member makes it very expensive compared to other sports. Here in galesburg, to participate in soccer, peewee football and baseball, you don't have to pay any membership dues to the Y. During the summer age group is only about 4 weeks of 3 practices a day and it costs over $70. then you have ot get to meets.
Here swimming is rather poplular. Our high school boys is the only sport that hasn't had a losing record for over five years. Unfortunately, most of the guys who swim are sons of doctors & lawyers. It used to be a very community oriented sport. But the high school coach started a summer team at the country clud and that really changed. The public rec team isn't as good as the other. In a town of 33,000 peoplewe have wo age group summer teams.
I really think that the only way swimming is going to gain any real national attention is for it to be on tv. Remeber Wide World of
Sports. It showed recorded swim meets very frequently. In a school promotion & society class I took, I learned that swimming used to be one of the most broadcasted college sports inthe early 60s. That has really changed becasue NCAA's ability to market football & basketball packages to networks.
