I have written this idea to Swimming World and USA Swimmer and now I want to share it with my Forum Friends to see if I can garner any support. I just read the report in the ASCA magazine on how the implementation of Title IX has hurt men's swimming. As a supporter of womens sports I think Title IX has done much more good than harm. As a fan of college swimming I think the NCAA has done more harm than good. I was searching for a solution that would get swimming out of being at the mercy of the NCAA.The solution seems to be to start a scholarship fund for swimmers to be administered by USA Swimming. Criteria would be set up,both athletic and academic,for deserving swimmers to earn college scholarships to the college of their choice. The swimmer would be free to swim for the college if they had a team if desired or for the appropriate club if they don't. If they earn a swimming scholarship from the college the extra funds could be recycled back into the program.In the interest of fairness the scholarships would go to an equal number of men and women. This program would not be a way to get around Title IX but to get around the NCAA. Yes,it would take a massive fund raising effort,but I think most swimmers,parents,Masters,and corporate sponsors would be interested in donating(I would.) It would give swimming great publicity and would be a great recruiting tool. What do Y'all think?
Parents
Former Member
I say that if we keep 'em barefoot and pregnant all this hoo-haw about women's sports will go away. After all, don't they realize that if they do stuff like running, their uterus could fall out and drag in the dirt? Sports also makes women more masculine and then they become lesbians and start practicing witchcraft and then ... pffft.... there goes democracy and civilization.
Honestly...
It is unfortunate that some men's programs get cut "due to title IX", but in reality there has always been a finite pool of money for sports and historically the men have absorbed this pool. The emergence of women's interest in sport now cuts into the finite pool and something has to give. I'm sorry, but it's only right that if a women wants to lose her uterus...errr... do sports, she should have the same right/opportunity as a guy to do so, sorry for the collateral damage.
Here's another idea to perhaps save some of the "lesser" sports: Have the colleges that are interested, "divvy" up the sports. In other words, stop trying to have any one college be all sports to all people and just keep the sports that have a good chance of survivng at a college. I realize that this is done that way now, but it is currently an organic process and sloppy. Rather, have the colleges meet and try to promote an equitable dissemination of the sports, both economically and geographically, among them with the idea that this will concentrate the talent, keep interest up where there will be funding and stabilize the situation for each sport, even if it means an initial contraction in overall number of programs. Each college would rank their sports into three tiers. For most colleges, tier 1 would be the "usual suspects": Football, basketball. Tier 2 is a strong program that the college, for whatever reason really wants to keep. e.g: track, soccer, etc. Tier three are "red-headed stepchildren" of most schools: e.g. lacrosse, rowing, etc. Assume that they colleges will keep tiers 1 & 2 and a few tier 3 sports, then try to find a best fit for seeing that each of the tier three sports have "adequate" coverage on a national basis by getting them 'adopted" by the colleges.
Second proposal: Have the orphan sports move down to Division II and III schools in a manner similar to the above. This has 2 possible benefits: it keeps the sports viable and it gives a college with, say, a focus on swimming, a concentrated pool of applicants to draw from. I understand that many of the smaller colleges are competing hard for students, but with a fewer number of schools doing a sport, this will allow the colleges to specifically target a group who will, by definition, be interested in them.
In reality, I've never understood the focus of colleges on sports. I thought it was supposed to be an academic experience. I went to Penn State for graduate school and the focus on football always struck me as very odd, even though I will give huge props to the football program for their emphasis on making the football players be regular students as well. We, as a society, have strange priorities.
-LBJ
I say that if we keep 'em barefoot and pregnant all this hoo-haw about women's sports will go away. After all, don't they realize that if they do stuff like running, their uterus could fall out and drag in the dirt? Sports also makes women more masculine and then they become lesbians and start practicing witchcraft and then ... pffft.... there goes democracy and civilization.
Honestly...
It is unfortunate that some men's programs get cut "due to title IX", but in reality there has always been a finite pool of money for sports and historically the men have absorbed this pool. The emergence of women's interest in sport now cuts into the finite pool and something has to give. I'm sorry, but it's only right that if a women wants to lose her uterus...errr... do sports, she should have the same right/opportunity as a guy to do so, sorry for the collateral damage.
Here's another idea to perhaps save some of the "lesser" sports: Have the colleges that are interested, "divvy" up the sports. In other words, stop trying to have any one college be all sports to all people and just keep the sports that have a good chance of survivng at a college. I realize that this is done that way now, but it is currently an organic process and sloppy. Rather, have the colleges meet and try to promote an equitable dissemination of the sports, both economically and geographically, among them with the idea that this will concentrate the talent, keep interest up where there will be funding and stabilize the situation for each sport, even if it means an initial contraction in overall number of programs. Each college would rank their sports into three tiers. For most colleges, tier 1 would be the "usual suspects": Football, basketball. Tier 2 is a strong program that the college, for whatever reason really wants to keep. e.g: track, soccer, etc. Tier three are "red-headed stepchildren" of most schools: e.g. lacrosse, rowing, etc. Assume that they colleges will keep tiers 1 & 2 and a few tier 3 sports, then try to find a best fit for seeing that each of the tier three sports have "adequate" coverage on a national basis by getting them 'adopted" by the colleges.
Second proposal: Have the orphan sports move down to Division II and III schools in a manner similar to the above. This has 2 possible benefits: it keeps the sports viable and it gives a college with, say, a focus on swimming, a concentrated pool of applicants to draw from. I understand that many of the smaller colleges are competing hard for students, but with a fewer number of schools doing a sport, this will allow the colleges to specifically target a group who will, by definition, be interested in them.
In reality, I've never understood the focus of colleges on sports. I thought it was supposed to be an academic experience. I went to Penn State for graduate school and the focus on football always struck me as very odd, even though I will give huge props to the football program for their emphasis on making the football players be regular students as well. We, as a society, have strange priorities.
-LBJ
