I am looking for some opinions of x college swimmers, age groupers, etc. First I want to "put my cards on the table". I am the parent of a college swimmer. My swimmer is going to be a senior next year, looking at lettering for her fourth year, on a team which belongs to the Sun Belt Conference. When she went to her current college of choice, it was not to be the best (she wouldnt be) but to strive to improve (which she has) and contribute to, and be a part of, a team. (that she has). Always in the past the SBC, when holding their end of season conference championship. Allows for non-pointing swimmers. A non pointer, can swim up to the regular limit of events, but is simply an exhibition swimmer, no matter how they do, they can not come back for the evening finals. But times are official, and they are seeded properly.
My swimmers first year, she was an exhib. swimmer...at first she was devestated, but then went to conf., swam her events. in I believe all of them, out swam a scorer on her team..had personal bests in two events, made her goals, had a heck of a good time, got pumped for the next year. Soph year. competed as a scorer, swam well, (swam the 200 fly at altitude, as a last minute change, after training for sprints the whole year>>lol)really enjoyed Denver. This last season conference was much faster, coach recruited as he should, she was back to exhibition. but guess what, had a really good time, was part of the team, times were REALLY fast, swam pretty well...got pumped really big on Sat. night for the Senior presentations.. Didnt even really mind when the SBC skipped any Academic awards (she was Academic all conference, 4.0 on a 4.0 scale) as next year her turn to be a Senior...4 long years of hard work, she would get her time.
Yesterday she calls, seems they (Coaches, AD's or whoever..the SBC) voted to no longer allow any exhibition swims at Conference. I did not say anything when they (SBC) removed the "student" from "student athlete", but now they want to remove the "athlete" ...go only with ATHLETE... no senior awards nite for her and many others on hers and others team, but now I am a little warm under the collar.. My question..why would they do this? They never added heets for exhib. granted a few teams only brought their scorers to the meet, but that was each teams option. Maybe it is because one of the coaches is a former Olympian, several are former Senior National qualifiers...they were never in the "competing for the thrill of the sport.besides only the fast swimmers count.
Shame on you SBC! I guess since it is swimming, not basketball, or football...no one is going to mind... Well I do. Next year, I guess your can just mail her her Academic award, instead of just handing it to her in the hall way like you did this year.
I have asked the SBC, back in March, they have chosen to not respond.
It's probably the athletic directors who made the policy shift, and most of it probably has to do with money. The conference may not be paying for those exhibition swimmers to go to the meet... but the school is. It costs extra hotel rooms, extra meals, extra plane tickets perhaps, etc. So yeah, it's money.
There's also likely an argument about the meet being too large. If you have extra swimmers there during prelims, then it means that the warmup lanes are more crowded. That impacts the ability of the elite swimmers in the conference to properly prepare for their races.
-Rick
It's probably the athletic directors who made the policy shift, and most of it probably has to do with money. The conference may not be paying for those exhibition swimmers to go to the meet... but the school is. It costs extra hotel rooms, extra meals, extra plane tickets perhaps, etc. So yeah, it's money.
There's also likely an argument about the meet being too large. If you have extra swimmers there during prelims, then it means that the warmup lanes are more crowded. That impacts the ability of the elite swimmers in the conference to properly prepare for their races.
-Rick
