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
maybe girl cuts are easier than boy cuts
girls mature faster
I'd be curious to see the numbers of boys in USSwimming vs girls
don't fret
I think we'll be fine 2 or 3 olympics from now
we know that there are many more college swimming scholarships for women than men
besides all that
don't you wish you were as good at golf for your age as you are in swimming,
we squandered our youth in the wrong sport.
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
Wow, John, thanks for posting that. Looks like we have a future with men's distance swimming...
It would be interesting to see the gap between the standard and the fastest time for both the boys and the girls. I wonder if the women's time standards offer a greater window of opportunity than the mens, or if that many girls are just that fast.
What about the folks who made the cut and can't attend? I wonder how many folks are taking the spring off from swimming, or just have other spring sports they'd rather do... Since these are Juniors, could be some folks who need to take time off to get ramped up for High School.
Yeah, really.
I don't see it. I see some hot sh*t 13 year old boys in PV that show no signs of quitting -- Cyrus Hashemi, Matthew Gibson, Jack Congor, Philip Hu, etc.
And, really, girls have many different sports to choose from too. I still haven't recovered from the lengthy drama over swimming vs. travel soccer vs. lacrosse vs. softball. Sheesh. It ain't 1970 anymore.
I said many not all. There are some GREAT boy swimmers here also. I am just noticing the trends that there are more females then men. I have nothing against that (not a pervert), I just see the better athletes for the most part leave swimming now more than ever. TV, video games maybe. I think it is the X-Games phenomenon, and the major sports getting more and more hype from the media. I know basketball and football were popular in the 70's. But if you look at the TV hype today of those sports and compare to three decades ago, I think you will see a difference.
I have to tell you 30+ years later that that wasn't very good sportsmanship. You were one fast kid.
Now, when John talks trash to his competitors he runs the SEVERE risk of missing the start of his own heat.
I was actually responding to Evil Title IX Hater, not you Sam. (Although I love his ALS status!) I see many great male athletes in swimming that could definitely do other sports. In fact, I see a trend toward much buffer teenage males rather than just the stereotypical long lanky ones. And they all seem to be imitating the new loping freestyle trend.
But I will give you that swimming is perhaps not as "cool" as other sports. And it takes a unique individual who can tolerate the pain. Plus, the number of workouts they have some kids doing at a young age is enough to make anyone run screaming. My kid, who is a social butterfly and loves her teammates, still complains that swimming takes so much time she has "no life." (This is wrong.)
Maybe it all comes down to boys liking video games more than girls. If so, how do you get the boys away from them?
Sorry for being so testy. Should have known it was Mr. Smith and not me...
I couldn't agree more about the workouts and time. I don't know what the answer is. You have to put in so much time and effort in this sport, and socially it is very challenging not to mention academically.
How do yo make it more fun? You have to put in the time to develop VO2 Max at an early age (did I just go there Geek?). Then there are some draconian coaches that take the fun away and train everyone as if they are distance swimmers as some sort of badge of honor among other coaches to tell everyone how much they beat their kids up in workouts. Ruins so many talented kids it is unfortunate.
P.S. As a father of 1 girl and 2 boys, I am torn. I love the fact that boys are more interested in video games than my daughter. Just don't want MY boys to be the same way! :doh:
So true. On my kids swim team there are lots of boys, but they start dropping in junior high. By the time they reach hight school, the club team almost seems like an all girls team. There is so much pressure on kids to choose a sport early and do it all year that it makes it hard to keep kids in multiple sports. My personal opinion as to why the girls choose swimming and the boys don't...
Over time the girls become incredibly tight with each other, the team becomes the peer group, their close friends. To stop swimming would cut them off from their peer group. This doesn't happen in the same way with boys; they show up to practice, swim, and goof around in the showers, but they don't develop the same friendship bonds as the girls. So when it comes time to picking a sport to stick with, they pick a sport that's more fun.
I don't think that highschool swim season would have a disproportionate drain on men vs. women. I would think that they both would be affected relatively equally. Now, here in Denver, the mens high school season is very late and ends in May. If there are many states like Colorado, this could account for some of the drain..... but probably not all of it.
John Smith
