Below are the number of entrants for each event at the Junior Nationals for 2008. What do these figures mean for men's swimming long term? The number of boys in the sport trails girls quite siginficantly in many events. In relays where a team tends to show its depth, boys are out numbered by girls nearly 2:1
If things continue or get worse we've got problems ahead of us in 2 Olympics.
It's a good thing collegiate budgets aren't cutting mens swimming these days.... :-)
ncsassociation.homestead.com/PsychFINAL.htm
.............Women Men
1650/1000... 78.. 75
Med. Relay... 97.. 51
100 free... 264.. 140
100 ***... 179.. 102
200 back... 173.. 111
200 fly... 149.. 91
800 fr rly... 81.. 43
50 fly... 170.. 106
50 ***... 151.. 82
200 free... 252.. 159
400 IM... 183.. 106
400 free rly... 84.. 45
100 back... 194.. 152
500 free... 188.. 112
200 ***... 152.. 82
100 fly... 242.. 161
200 fr rly... 84.. 45
50 back... 135.. 115
200 IM... 268.. 169
50 free... 282.. 153
800/1500 fr... 98.. 67
400 med rly... 105.. 54
Illinois has some really good swimmers coming out of it. However, the whole state is struggling with pool issues. Building new ones is a big issue.
Agreed. Somewhere recently I read that Los Angeles and New York each have two public long course pools. Sydney, Australia has 20 (or was it 40?). Swimming there is very much a part of the culture. Here it truly is a niche sport. If the US only had 20 million people like Australia does we'd be toast at major international competitions.
Ah, here's the reference:
Summer in Sydney
When we still lived in Scotia, NY (about 20 miles west of Albany) we tried to get the school district to build a pool as part of a major renovation of the high school/middle school complex which included lots of updating of the sports facilities. They were having none of that. Our girls team practiced at the local YMCA. There was, at the time, one boy who swam. (Needless to say, the school didn't have a boys team.) I think they let him swim at girls meets so he could get qualifying times for postseason meets. All three of my boys swam outdoors during the summer at Ridgewood Swim Club but not during the indoor season. OTOH, Karly Brooks started swimming at Ridgewood and now swims for the University of Georgia. Besides being extraordinarily talented, Karly had lots of outlets for her swimming interest. I can understand that it wasn't cool for boys to swim.
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Illinois has some really good swimmers coming out of it. However, the whole state is struggling with pool issues. Building new ones is a big issue.
Agreed. Somewhere recently I read that Los Angeles and New York each have two public long course pools. Sydney, Australia has 20 (or was it 40?). Swimming there is very much a part of the culture. Here it truly is a niche sport. If the US only had 20 million people like Australia does we'd be toast at major international competitions.
Ah, here's the reference:
Summer in Sydney
When we still lived in Scotia, NY (about 20 miles west of Albany) we tried to get the school district to build a pool as part of a major renovation of the high school/middle school complex which included lots of updating of the sports facilities. They were having none of that. Our girls team practiced at the local YMCA. There was, at the time, one boy who swam. (Needless to say, the school didn't have a boys team.) I think they let him swim at girls meets so he could get qualifying times for postseason meets. All three of my boys swam outdoors during the summer at Ridgewood Swim Club but not during the indoor season. OTOH, Karly Brooks started swimming at Ridgewood and now swims for the University of Georgia. Besides being extraordinarily talented, Karly had lots of outlets for her swimming interest. I can understand that it wasn't cool for boys to swim.
Skip
