The Demise of Mens Swimming in the US

Why should our educational system bear even part of the burden of training this country's future Olympians? Better question: Why should our educational system bear even part of the burden of training this country's future overpaid NBA and NFL stars?

I hate the focus on college scholarships. I realize that some parents need financial assistance to send their kids to college because tuition is now outrageous outside of in-state schools. But it's this focus on scholarships that creates loco parents who push, push, push. College is not just about sports, although participating in college sports can be very rewarding. Kids who truly love our niche sport will stick with it. If they don't love it, they won't be able to survive the grueling workout schedule. Personally, I see my daughter picking up a field hockey and lacrosse stick right quick. Myself, I went to a school that didn't give athletic scholarships and swam anyway. Fort, tuition is outrageous for in state schools as well. You are better off buying into a 529 than thinking your kid can get a scholarship and spending dollars on a sport or musical instrument. My DD will probably last longer as a recreational swimmer because she enjoys the exercise, and friends. Interestingly, whatever college she goes to will probably have a women's swim team if she wanted to walk onto it. Not true of boys. It is a GOOD thing that women have opportunities they did not have when I was in HS, very good. It is NOT a good thing that if you are not a football or basketball player, you will not get very much money, male or female. Outside of the extremely talented athletes, most minor sport athletes will not get full scholarship. With the price of tuition, books, and board, any bit sure helps. Now if I was dissed, I don't know it yet, because I am catching up.

Probably the part of my brain that is saturated with basketball at present. . OMG, UCONN just busted my bracket.

Here is another question: swimming and school are largely separated until college. Why should they suddenly be joined? Why can't college students still swim for USS teams? It is less convenient, granted, but there are many many good sports out there that are not common varsity sports. Why should our educational system bear even part of the burden of training this country's future Olympians? Chris, club swimming is terribly expensive. College is terribly expensive. My experience is most college kids simply cannot afford to club swim. We are a college town, and have inquiries from kids,especially boys since there is no men's team, but the cost of age group swimming is prohibitive. 115 a month, plus joining fees, plus USA fees, usually are too much for the college kid struggling with college expenses. State schools are costing 20k for room and board, and that does not include books.

I went to a lecture at my kids' school a couple weeks ago here in Honolulu. There were two lecturers. One was the school's water polo coach with oodles of state titles under his belt. The other was the UCLA tennis coach who flew out here to Honolulu for this lecture because his kids went to this school. Both of these well respected coaches stated that the number one reason boys drop out of sports - and they said that 70% of boys that are in organized sports quit by the time they are 13 - but the #1 reason is that sports are no longer fun for the kids. And they said that the number one reason - far and away - that sports are no longer fun is that kids are forced at too young of an age to work hard at sports rather than to play and have fun until they are mature enough to tolerate the hard work. They made it clear, that in their opinion, video games were not the problem. They said that PARENTs make kids not have fun in sports by placing too much pressure on them to get better. To win. Fun isn't part of the equation for parents from the boys' vantage - and we all know it should be. Couple a driven parent forcing a kid to improve (and probably failing) with the monotony and discomfort of a 5,000 meter set at 0530 on a Tuesday morning before school when you are 13 years old, and all your non-swimming friends are still in bed, and it is no wonder that boys would rather play water polo or throw the shot put than swim.

Geek, You are pretty crotchety today. Face it your figures don't jive with the article Paul posted. It's difficult to tell what's going on with your numbers and the article numbers. That's all I was asking. Secondly, if you would take the time to read my past post, I clearly stated that "CONTRARY to Title IX" we need something that actually works for both sexes in the sport of swimming and isn't a selfish realignment of money to EITHER sex. Of course AD and football are partly to blame. But then again they have ALWAYS been partly to blame. The trigger was Title IX in the end and you know it. The pot of athletic revenue in a school is finite. title IX was a great idea in its conception that was implemented very poorly and allowed ADs to crush men's secondary sports in order to meet its requirements. Its plain and simple. Title IX is part of the problem in mens secondary sports. No one said it was the entire problem. Lastly, simply showing concern for boys enrollment does not imply neglect or revenge on girls. This is a pathetic attempt to show sexism. It's classic alarmist women haters mentality and only serves to sideline the real discussion which is the number of participants for the sexes and how to keep them relatively equal and growing. The fact that you can look at the Junior Nationals entries I've posted and show NO concern or offer no viable answers to the phenomenon at all is what is alarming. John Smith

It is my OPINION that many colleges with smaller swim teams would have done away with both men's and women's swim teams had Title IX not pressed them to keep a women's team. Swimming simply does not generate revenue, which seems to drive so many athletic departments these days. Again, this is only my opinion. I'm not well-versed on this whole debate, but can offer one anecdote. The University of Montana (not a huge school) got rid of its men's swimming program in the late 1970s. That may have predated the whole Title IX business. Our age group team swam in that pool, and for several years it was still decorated with large banners and various signs from other universities in the conference. There may be other factors at work. Universities had plenty of money in the 60s and early 70s, were adding buildings and academic programs like crazy, hiring a lot of young faculty, etc. Then the funding started drying up.

For something I rarely ride, I sure do spend a lot of money on the dang thing. Geek: As I recall, there were two subjects to the original post -- wife and tri-bike. If for no other reason than the sake of clarity, you may want to point out to which of those two you were referring in the above sentence.

God I miss the old VO2 Max days.

Face it your figures don't jive with the article Paul posted. It's difficult to tell what's going on with your numbers and the article numbers. That's all I was asking. The article makes mention of "last summer in Sydney" so the lower growth cited was for a shorter period, growth has continued since then resulting in the higher growth Geek cites. Let's face it, drawing from a population at least double that of any other developed nation, the USA is sitting pretty with respect to continued domination of international swimming.