Over 18?

J I tried to get help for up and coming swimmers in 1958. It always fell on deaf ears. My proposal was that we have paid coaches and paid for pool times so the cost for parents would be minimal. I later made it possible for the government to pay a traveling swim adviser. The swim adviser was working with several clubs. This swim adviser himself ended the programme, he was caught in a raid where a Marijuana distributor was weighing out his sales stash and he was fired.

The money doesn't have to come from the government. A business approach with shares invested in brand recognition. I wonder what the odds of Dara Torres winning the Olympic trials were? 100 to 1? That sounds like a good return on an investment. Jonathan I tried to get help for up and coming swimmers in 1958. It always fell on deaf ears. My proposal was that we have paid coaches and paid for pool times so the cost for parents would be minimal. I later made it possible for the government to pay a traveling swim adviser.

When I burned out at 18, you could not have paid me to enter the water again. My body and mind needed time to get as far away from the smell of chlorine as possible. I also needed to try some other physical activities--anything other than swimming. I lifted weights, did aerobics, walked, ran, whatever. I've come back to the pool at 41 and know only 2 people from my large team who continued to swim after college. When you are pushed as hard as we were to attain Nationals or whatever the goal is, you cannot be pushed. You have to wait until you're mentally ready. What you might be forgetting from that time.....how you don't want adults, particularily your parents telling you what to do. There certainly is confusion, but there is also a strong desire to figure that confusion out all by themselves. I think since my son is such a strong athlete, having him jump into a 50 fly for fun, at a small little meet would be better than going to practice with a bunch of "old" people, which would include his Mom. He told me he loved the meets, it was getting into town for all the practices, and missing out being with his friends(no swimming at our HS, so no swimming friends within the HS), got to be a grunge.

J For one thing we live in the most reserved country in the world, Canada. Very few corporate sponsors here. If they were to sponsor anything the return would have to be worth investing and have a massive return.

Also, the training program you were told to do was probably ridiculous. If you trained properly back then, you might not have burnt-out at all. forums.usms.org/showpost.php When I burned out at 18, you could not have paid me to enter the water again. My body and mind needed time to get as far away from the smell of chlorine as possible. I also needed to try some other physical activities--anything other than swimming. I lifted weights, did aerobics, walked, ran, whatever. I've come back to the pool at 41 and know only 2 people from my large team who continued to swim after college. When you are pushed as hard as we were to attain Nationals or whatever the goal is, you cannot be pushed. You have to wait until you're mentally ready.

I'm not talking about sponsorship. Anyone can purchase a share of a public company geared towards brand recognition. Jonathan For one thing we live in the most reserved country in the world, Canada. Very few corporate sponsors here.

The pool/club fees were about $350 per month, plus we were "required" to go to 3 Nationals per year if we hoped to make the National team. There was 4 traveling training camps that year, one was on another continent, and about 15 inter-provincial competitions. If you add up the flights, hotels, food, and double pool-time costs, 30k was done cheaply. The thing is, I could have trained just as hard for $35/month, which is what I do now, as a master. It seems like there ought to be a middle ground between $420 and $30,000.

I'm not talking about sponsorship. Anyone can purchase a share of a public company geared towards brand recognition. You have brought this up a few times, you should really elaborate on this idea so that people can either get on board or explain to you why it won't work. The whole vague/mystery approach doesn't work. Brands are generally only as valuable as their ability to generate revenue. Despite the .com boom people who invest money want a return on investment.

One company that handles the exchange between the athletes and the general public. Whatever you want to call it, what is needed is a mechanism for investment and product development, a share that can be purchased by the average consumer. I can't see how it would be feasible to have a web site let alone a publicly traded company per swimmer.

This is an awesome thread. If it were me, I would not buy shares of Dara Torres, sure, it’s a great pharmaceutical company, but it could suffer from litigation and lawsuits in the very foreseeable future. Instead, I would invest in a much safer blue chip company during theses tough economic times. That’s why I advise all investors to take a look at abc stock (abc is my name on this forum). It has a proven track record, great management team, and currently trades at an earnings multiple of 1 (a great buy)! After reading this thread, we will also accept purchases in dollars and loons (Canadian money)! To make your investment, just PM me and I will gladly cash your check or money order. In return, you can expect to receive a half page newsletter from me quarterly in which I outline my domination in the sport of swimming. Also, I am planning a hostile takeover in Beijing, where I will look to purchase Michael Phelps, dissolve him into several smaller companies, and sell these individual units for a total that is much greater than the current whole. Please note, I respect everybody's opinion on this thread but think it has gotten a little out of control. I just wanted to make sure that I was part of the confusion. I concur. I was going to jump in on this thread a few days ago stating that my daughter is now eligible to swim masters and I was going to be able to compete with her at nationals this summer, then we started talking about buying shares of elite athletes. Shares do imply a return on investment--I think you would get more "return" on a crack ho.:blah: