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
Former Member
I'm reposting here what I posted on the Duel in the Pool thread. It seems more appropriate on this new thread.
I hope the more optimistic folks, like Ande, are correct. I'm sure there are a number of very talented youngsters out there. I'm encouraged by the young U.S. women already having success and also by guys like Weber-Gale, Wildman-Tobriner, Grevers, etc. who are just on the verge of breaking through internationally.
What I'm most concerned about is the level of participation, esp. among boys, in the 8 & unders, 9 &10, 11&12 age groups at regional meets. I'm not sure how it compares to 5 or even 10 years ago, but I know it's much less than when I was a young swimmer. I wonder how much this has to do with the parents' perceptions about future opportunities for their boys. Other sports offer greater opportunity to make big money professionally or earn college scholarships.
We all know the great benefits of swimming participation, but maybe we don't do the greatest job relating those benefits to non-swimming parents.
Former Member
Your concerns are warranted.
We need to "sell" the sport better nationally to a younger crowd. Swimming is a VERY hard sport to train for and that can disuade young people these days.
John Smith
Former Member
Originally posted by TheGoodSmith
Your concerns are warranted.
We need to "sell" the sport better nationally to a younger crowd. Swimming is a VERY hard sport to train for and that can disuade young people these days.
John Smith It is difficult to train for and the monetary rewards are miniscule when compared to the big three of MLB, NFL, and NBA. You can count the swimmers who make big money on two hands whereas nearly every pro player in the big three makes well into a six digit salary, often times seven. What is USS going to say? Hey kid, come swim on one of our teams and you might get a shot at the Olympics. All the while the kid has visions of playing in the NBA and driving a new F430 Spider.
Former Member
In galesburg duringthe winter, the Y sets aside pool time for age groupers that interfers with my practice. They practie three nights at the Y & two at the high school. Since allof the swimmers pay either membership tothe Y or a nonmember rate the Y makes a lot of money. Our local newspaper has terrible coverage of swimming. There was no article until conference, even though our guys were undefeated. The girls high school didn't do as well and I don't think they got any coverage.
In Urbana, I've tried to swim at the pool at the high school three times duringthe school year. All times I called ahead to see if it was open for adult laps & was told yes. I got there & there weren't any lap lanes open. all age groups.
Also, I get two different e-mail newsletters for Australia. They cover swimming so much more completely. It is amazing,mates. The difference between how Worldswere coverd comred to how it was covered by sport specific newletters here was very different. I think that inAustralia, coaches play a much bigger role inmaitaining there local teamsbecaseu their income is dependent on getting kids in their pools which they generally own. Unlike here where many clubs rent a pool. How many clubs here inthe states actually own their own pool? In Australia, (I think) South Africa and New Zealand, the coach owns the pool. There might be five or six other coaches hired by the head. They have a financial stake in the team being successful.
Inthe newsletter form Western Australia, ther is an article about how specific WA team members did at worlds. the article was very quaint. I don't know how many people get the newsletter here in the states. I really enjoy reading it. Also, the other newletter talksabut the organizationof swimming in Australia. They really pay attention tothe sport. through their organization, swimming hasbecome the most popluar sport intheir contry, beating out Aussie rules & tennis. It is something!
Former Member
Agreed.
Swimming sucks in terms of financial rewards compared to other sports. All the more reason to implement heavy duty marketing tactics and recruit even harder.
John Smith
Former Member
It seems to me that one problem is the few chances to showcase great swimmers. Traditionally, the best athletes only try to swim their best two, maybe three, times per year. Many of those events aren't very exciting, either. Over the years, U.S. National Championships have rarely been picked up by any network for TV coverage. Somehow, we've got to get a consistent swimming presence on TV!!!
As Craig suggested on the other thread, perhaps the World Cup circuit could be a partial remedy. These are shorter, more exciting meets than we typically have. There is international competition with points standings and cash rewards. Unfortunately, there's not a great deal of participation by U.S. swimmers because of conflicts with the NCAA season. But, there is potential for post-grad athletes.
Also, maybe the kind of head-to-head, mano a mano matchups Gary Hall tries to promote (and that Biondi, Jager, Spitz et al did a number of years ago) could be helpful. It doesn't seem as though this format has gained much momentum so far.
What do you think?
I agree with McAdams but my experience may not be indicative of the country as a whole - probably not since I still think grits will be named the national food of the US any day now.
But, here in sunny Charlotte, there are gigantic swim teams in every neighborhood with a pool and every neighborhood has a pool. In our team's division it was normal to have 200+ kids at summer league meets and plenty of those kids are also year round swimmers at one of the many aquatic centers nearby.
I grew up in a small town that had 8 summer league teams and 2-3 year round teams so I don't see this as any departure from 30 years ago but it seems swimming is still strong, in parts of the South anyway. And, with all the yankees (gull80) moving down here (gull80) and learning that a parka is only worn once or twice a year and you can swim in months other than August, the teams are thriving even more.
McAdams has been hitting the truth serum today, he is correct.
Such a tiny percent of participants in any sport make any money doing it that it's silly to say the pull of money attracts more or less kids to any sport.
Take a look at your most prominent college basketball and football programs. Even on those, it is rare for more than a couple (football) or one (basketball) to go pro. We can all name the 2 or 3 programs that seed the NLF or NBA with talent year in and year out. The other 99.9% of programs and athletes are preparing themselves for life with a good education.
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.
Yes, but it does not seem that the other sports(besides hockey and gymnastics)) pass the costs of that maintenance on as much. Perhaps because the fields and such are utilized by a lot of people and the cost gets spread out more.
Girls in the past have not had as many offerings as boys, so therefore more girls than boys, that might change and I see a lot of girls drop out around age 12 when they can do other things, and as their bodies change.
