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
Originally posted by Paul Smith
My "Evil Twin" is very good at identifying controversial and in this case appropriate themes to get peoples attention....as is the case with this post.
Problem is he, along with most others responding have been good at only pointing out the obviouse problems.....not the much hardr solutions!
I will first and foremost challenge anyone reading this thread to share with the group how many phone calls, emails, letters, etc. they have personally sent to the local media asking them to step up coverage of our sport?!
Next, how about some specific point by point plans on how we should market our sport?
Last but not least.....forget about golf...look at the X games and how volleyball adapted their rules to make their sport "tv friendly".
Actually our swim club(our because I am on the team's board) has made a concentrated effort to get good relationships with the media. This summer we had meet results and blurbs about our local swimmers in the paper every week. We had quite a few pictures and 3 times our swimmers were featured athletes of the week. We keep the media push on, because if we don't they will forget us, because in a Big 10 town, coverage goes to football and basketball.
I think that swim clubs need to give good value for the money spent and the team will grow and kids will come to it. One of the major obstacles our team has is pool space and how expensive it is. The u of I wants to charge us 50 per hour for practice time, other places are cheaper, but the practice times are not practical for kids. Practicing until 10pm on a school night, many from small town that they have to drive to afterwards. It is not a good situation for attracting swimmers. If I manage to talk a prospective parent past the money part(it is worth it, blah, blah, blah), the fact that their 9 year old will be practicing until 9pm at night usually turns them right off. And the fact that the 9 year old probably should attend practice at least 3 times a week, maybe more, and mom and dad are constantly on the road driving to practice.
So to make swimming more attractive, something has to be done about pool time availabilty, and cost of the sport. Parents prefer a sport that is close, that the child can get themselves to by bike. Kids prefer a sport that has their friends from school in, and that allows them to sleep in in the summer. Unless some of these things change, you will be fighting an uphill battle.
Still there is always those little fishes out there that are having a grand time in summer rec(a place I always recommend newbie parents to start their kids out at). If they have a positive experience in a win/win atmosphere like that, then they are more likely to continue.
Originally posted by Paul Smith
My "Evil Twin" is very good at identifying controversial and in this case appropriate themes to get peoples attention....as is the case with this post.
Problem is he, along with most others responding have been good at only pointing out the obviouse problems.....not the much hardr solutions!
I will first and foremost challenge anyone reading this thread to share with the group how many phone calls, emails, letters, etc. they have personally sent to the local media asking them to step up coverage of our sport?!
Next, how about some specific point by point plans on how we should market our sport?
Last but not least.....forget about golf...look at the X games and how volleyball adapted their rules to make their sport "tv friendly".
Actually our swim club(our because I am on the team's board) has made a concentrated effort to get good relationships with the media. This summer we had meet results and blurbs about our local swimmers in the paper every week. We had quite a few pictures and 3 times our swimmers were featured athletes of the week. We keep the media push on, because if we don't they will forget us, because in a Big 10 town, coverage goes to football and basketball.
I think that swim clubs need to give good value for the money spent and the team will grow and kids will come to it. One of the major obstacles our team has is pool space and how expensive it is. The u of I wants to charge us 50 per hour for practice time, other places are cheaper, but the practice times are not practical for kids. Practicing until 10pm on a school night, many from small town that they have to drive to afterwards. It is not a good situation for attracting swimmers. If I manage to talk a prospective parent past the money part(it is worth it, blah, blah, blah), the fact that their 9 year old will be practicing until 9pm at night usually turns them right off. And the fact that the 9 year old probably should attend practice at least 3 times a week, maybe more, and mom and dad are constantly on the road driving to practice.
So to make swimming more attractive, something has to be done about pool time availabilty, and cost of the sport. Parents prefer a sport that is close, that the child can get themselves to by bike. Kids prefer a sport that has their friends from school in, and that allows them to sleep in in the summer. Unless some of these things change, you will be fighting an uphill battle.
Still there is always those little fishes out there that are having a grand time in summer rec(a place I always recommend newbie parents to start their kids out at). If they have a positive experience in a win/win atmosphere like that, then they are more likely to continue.
