The Demise of Mens Swimming in the US

Well.... for one thing USS is an entirely different flavor of the sport than Collegiate swimming. I have never seen a USS team with the intensity of support and team unity like that of a collegiate team at NCAAs. It's just not the same thing. Yes great swimmers come from both areas, but colleges probably won't make the shift to support local teams in their name. Too much ego at stake in the athletic dept. John, part of the reason for my suggestion -- speculation, really -- is to suggest that just because things have been done a certain way in the past, it doesn't mean it has to always be that way. And that there is no God-given "right" to have men's swimming represented at the collegiate level. USA Swimming certainly has no reason to just expect that taxes meant for public education, donation from alums and tuition from non-swimming students should support their efforts to field competitive national swim teams. And I agree totally that college swimming is a different beast. I had a blast at college dual meets, conference champs and NCAAs. And it can be easily argued that NCAA D1 championships are the most competitive meet in the world, with the possible exception of US Olympic Trials. But there is no fundamental reason that such things -- mostly having to do with team unity/identity, etc -- couldn't be done at the club level. At least at that point they would be supported by the participants themselves, those are deriving benefit from the activities, rather than many others who have little or no interest. Again, this is just "thinking aloud outside the box" kind of stuff, rather than a serious suggestion at this point. Anna, I certainly agree with you about NBA/NFL. It seems to me that the NBA is the worse offender in this regard, clearly regarding college basketball as a de facto NBA minor league system. It seems to me that the NFL has much more justification for insisting on a minimum age (20? I can't remember), and at least MLB takes responsibility of developing its own players. The college football players I have dealt with here have all been motivated students, though sometimes a few get in over their heads (which is more a fault of lowering admission standards for them and not any lack of work ethic on their part). I have dealt with very very few male basketball players, which is telling in and of itself (ie, they avoid chemistry classes). Wasn't I pleasantly surprised to hear about a player at Belmont who was planning on med school! (As if I needed a reason to cheer for them to beat Duke.) I honestly can't recall a single instance of one in my 15 years here. I've had plenty female basketball players in my classes, though, and they perform just fine. Hmmm! Granted, the U of Richmond is not exactly a hotbed of future NFL/NBA/MLB players, though we've definitely had some who have gone on to each of those leagues.

Well.... for one thing USS is an entirely different flavor of the sport than Collegiate swimming. I have never seen a USS team with the intensity of support and team unity like that of a collegiate team at NCAAs. It's just not the same thing. Yes great swimmers come from both areas, but colleges probably won't make the shift to support local teams in their name. Too much ego at stake in the athletic dept. John, part of the reason for my suggestion -- speculation, really -- is to suggest that just because things have been done a certain way in the past, it doesn't mean it has to always be that way. And that there is no God-given "right" to have men's swimming represented at the collegiate level. USA Swimming certainly has no reason to just expect that taxes meant for public education, donation from alums and tuition from non-swimming students should support their efforts to field competitive national swim teams. And I agree totally that college swimming is a different beast. I had a blast at college dual meets, conference champs and NCAAs. And it can be easily argued that NCAA D1 championships are the most competitive meet in the world, with the possible exception of US Olympic Trials. But there is no fundamental reason that such things -- mostly having to do with team unity/identity, etc -- couldn't be done at the club level. At least at that point they would be supported by the participants themselves, those are deriving benefit from the activities, rather than many others who have little or no interest. Again, this is just "thinking aloud outside the box" kind of stuff, rather than a serious suggestion at this point. Anna, I certainly agree with you about NBA/NFL. It seems to me that the NBA is the worse offender in this regard, clearly regarding college basketball as a de facto NBA minor league system. It seems to me that the NFL has much more justification for insisting on a minimum age (20? I can't remember), and at least MLB takes responsibility of developing its own players. The college football players I have dealt with here have all been motivated students, though sometimes a few get in over their heads (which is more a fault of lowering admission standards for them and not any lack of work ethic on their part). I have dealt with very very few male basketball players, which is telling in and of itself (ie, they avoid chemistry classes). Wasn't I pleasantly surprised to hear about a player at Belmont who was planning on med school! (As if I needed a reason to cheer for them to beat Duke.) I honestly can't recall a single instance of one in my 15 years here. I've had plenty female basketball players in my classes, though, and they perform just fine. Hmmm! Granted, the U of Richmond is not exactly a hotbed of future NFL/NBA/MLB players, though we've definitely had some who have gone on to each of those leagues.