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 Dennis Tesch
What a great thread.... I think we need to develop and provide tools to our age group coaches and aquatic directors on how to promote and educate all the young kids that are taking swim lessons right now. That is were our base is.... I don't know about other LSC or states, but in Utah it seems that we have forgotten how to funnel our swim lesson programs into our swim teams. I don't know a single parent who doesn't want the their kid to learn how to swim. Everyone puts their children into swim lessons, but that is were is usually stops. There is no information on what being apart of swim team is about or what it can do for you. In almost every other sport, your introduction to that sport is being apart of the team. You start off being apart of a league and you compete from day one. With swimming you start off with lessons and then it ends, there is no experience of being on team. You don't even get to determine if you like it or not.
I am sure, from talking with fellow coaches, that the most successful program know how to do this. We should learn from them. I would bet that 90% off all the teams across our great country struggle with how to market and promote their swim team with the lesson program in their community.
Our team was missing the boat(or at least our sponsoring agencies who have the lessons) on this. Now that the Y has sole responsibility for our team, they have taken to heart advancing the swim lesson kids to swim team. Last winter, pre-team had 5 little kids, now it has 12 and they are pushing the higher lesson kids to it more and more, gotta build that base.
Originally posted by Dennis Tesch
What a great thread.... I think we need to develop and provide tools to our age group coaches and aquatic directors on how to promote and educate all the young kids that are taking swim lessons right now. That is were our base is.... I don't know about other LSC or states, but in Utah it seems that we have forgotten how to funnel our swim lesson programs into our swim teams. I don't know a single parent who doesn't want the their kid to learn how to swim. Everyone puts their children into swim lessons, but that is were is usually stops. There is no information on what being apart of swim team is about or what it can do for you. In almost every other sport, your introduction to that sport is being apart of the team. You start off being apart of a league and you compete from day one. With swimming you start off with lessons and then it ends, there is no experience of being on team. You don't even get to determine if you like it or not.
I am sure, from talking with fellow coaches, that the most successful program know how to do this. We should learn from them. I would bet that 90% off all the teams across our great country struggle with how to market and promote their swim team with the lesson program in their community.
Our team was missing the boat(or at least our sponsoring agencies who have the lessons) on this. Now that the Y has sole responsibility for our team, they have taken to heart advancing the swim lesson kids to swim team. Last winter, pre-team had 5 little kids, now it has 12 and they are pushing the higher lesson kids to it more and more, gotta build that base.
