Recruiting

ummm...I think there's one point that should be made about the Holmes Lumberjax club of 1988. According to the story, Rogers Holmes wanted to build a pool in Jacksonville. Apparently, his plan was to create the mega-team, win the World Championship, and use the team's success as a vehicle to convince others that they deserved the pool. I'm not saying it's right or wrong -- but apparently, they have raised a lot of money for the pool and have taught a lot of kids how to swim. To read the story from SWIM Magazine, go to: www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/.../200411-01swim_art.asp ~sb Originally posted by Frank Thompson Mr Goodsmith: Rob does not have a good idea and before he gets on this thread to tell me its perfectly legal by USMS and FINA Rules he would be correct. I am going to tell you about some past practices done around 1988 and will leave names out to protect the guilty or innocent depending on your point of view. Back in 1988 or so there was a team set up for purpose of building a USMS National Team. They would recruit the best swimmers available and today would be considered an elite super team. In fact they recruited from all over the country and accomplished there mission which was win team titles and break National/World Records for both individual and relay swims. The team basically was put together for the 1988 FINA World Swimming Championships in Brisbane Australia but did stay together for some USMS National Champonship Meets which they won. The team was succesful for about 5 or 6 years and started to die off after that. The person in charge of the team is very well respected in Swimming for his contributions and accomplshments and I won't deny that excellence. In fact this person is inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame and has been on the cover of Swim Magazine. As one of the leaders of USMS and a member of the board of directors at the time I never, ever, heard anything from the leadership supporting this and how it contributes to the overall good and objectives of USMS. I know many people that joined this team and they had there own reasons. I had two of my teamates join because of the financial incentives that the team provided. If you joined the team you were responsible to raise 50% of the money to go to Australia. Because these two swimmers did not have the money to afford a trip to Australia they thought it was a good opportunity to swim in a World Championship meet and see that part of the world in there old age. These two swimmers have passed away over 10 years ago. They both happened to be All American in the 70 and 75 age groups. Some people did not have a problem with this because of the age and financial condition of the swimmers. They did not hide the fact they were doing this because they were taking donations from swimmers to fund this activity. I have made friends of swimmers from other countries thru the years at International meets and it didn't matter where they were from be it Australia, Europe, or South America they would always bring this up as a reason to dislike USMS and what it stands for. Names like Superior, Imperialist, Controlling, and Decisive Power are just some of the names that were being tossed at USMS. In fact some of my international friends throught there was a conspiracy by USMS to support these actions. I assured them that this was not the case and the evidence that was provided was the other swimmers that swam for there regular USMS affiliation. Now I read a lot of the posts recently and say Michael Heather's one makes sense to me to get on a team if the current one does not have representation at a National Meet. I know he swam for Mission Viejo and his wife actually did the records for the meet so I don't have a problem with that. Its the INTENT that matters. People in the last few days have provided evidence of INTENT of ethics regarding this issue. It does not take a rhodes scholar to figure the different INTENTS of what clubs and swimmers are doing. Ok I am done. I am ready for the onslaught of striking attacks against this.

ummm...I think there's one point that should be made about the Holmes Lumberjax club of 1988. According to the story, Rogers Holmes wanted to build a pool in Jacksonville. Apparently, his plan was to create the mega-team, win the World Championship, and use the team's success as a vehicle to convince others that they deserved the pool. I'm not saying it's right or wrong -- but apparently, they have raised a lot of money for the pool and have taught a lot of kids how to swim. To read the story from SWIM Magazine, go to: www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/.../200411-01swim_art.asp ~sb Originally posted by Frank Thompson Mr Goodsmith: Rob does not have a good idea and before he gets on this thread to tell me its perfectly legal by USMS and FINA Rules he would be correct. I am going to tell you about some past practices done around 1988 and will leave names out to protect the guilty or innocent depending on your point of view. Back in 1988 or so there was a team set up for purpose of building a USMS National Team. They would recruit the best swimmers available and today would be considered an elite super team. In fact they recruited from all over the country and accomplished there mission which was win team titles and break National/World Records for both individual and relay swims. The team basically was put together for the 1988 FINA World Swimming Championships in Brisbane Australia but did stay together for some USMS National Champonship Meets which they won. The team was succesful for about 5 or 6 years and started to die off after that. The person in charge of the team is very well respected in Swimming for his contributions and accomplshments and I won't deny that excellence. In fact this person is inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame and has been on the cover of Swim Magazine. As one of the leaders of USMS and a member of the board of directors at the time I never, ever, heard anything from the leadership supporting this and how it contributes to the overall good and objectives of USMS. I know many people that joined this team and they had there own reasons. I had two of my teamates join because of the financial incentives that the team provided. If you joined the team you were responsible to raise 50% of the money to go to Australia. Because these two swimmers did not have the money to afford a trip to Australia they thought it was a good opportunity to swim in a World Championship meet and see that part of the world in there old age. These two swimmers have passed away over 10 years ago. They both happened to be All American in the 70 and 75 age groups. Some people did not have a problem with this because of the age and financial condition of the swimmers. They did not hide the fact they were doing this because they were taking donations from swimmers to fund this activity. I have made friends of swimmers from other countries thru the years at International meets and it didn't matter where they were from be it Australia, Europe, or South America they would always bring this up as a reason to dislike USMS and what it stands for. Names like Superior, Imperialist, Controlling, and Decisive Power are just some of the names that were being tossed at USMS. In fact some of my international friends throught there was a conspiracy by USMS to support these actions. I assured them that this was not the case and the evidence that was provided was the other swimmers that swam for there regular USMS affiliation. Now I read a lot of the posts recently and say Michael Heather's one makes sense to me to get on a team if the current one does not have representation at a National Meet. I know he swam for Mission Viejo and his wife actually did the records for the meet so I don't have a problem with that. Its the INTENT that matters. People in the last few days have provided evidence of INTENT of ethics regarding this issue. It does not take a rhodes scholar to figure the different INTENTS of what clubs and swimmers are doing. Ok I am done. I am ready for the onslaught of striking attacks against this.