What does it mean when we look at the performance of the US men's swimming team at Beijing without Phelps....... i.e. without the man carrying the team? Is he merely the "Vince Young" of a slightly above average football Team?
We essentially lose the 400 free relay, 100 fly (Ian moves form 4th to 3rd), 200 IM and 400 IM (Lochted moves to silver), 200 free and 200 fly. That's makes 6 less golds and one extra bronze.
The US would effectively only win 2 individual events...... the 200 and 100 back.
Is Phelps a true representation of the state of US men's swimming or and exception?
www.nbcolympics.com/.../index.html
So is this any different than it was 20-30 Years ago for any of us who swam in high school?
One good thing about people who do get into swimming and stick with it is the ability to work hard/play hard...with 5, 6am workouts the nights (for some) may have been earlier but we learned to "make the bell"....don't think its a coincendence that swimmers almost always have the highest GPA's of any sport.
Perhaps not. I was much more of a nerd than my social butterfly daughter. I just hear an awful lot of chatter about how swimming is ungodly time consuming. One difference might be that, compared to 20-30 years ago, kids now have more competing activities, more homework, more AP classes, etc.
Most endurance sport athletes have good GPAs. Crew and cross country are just as high as swimming around here. Lacrosse, football and basketball, those getting the college scholarships, are comparatively a bunch of dolts. (I just said that to annoy the anti-Title IX groupies).
Hofffam, Here is fairly commonplace for girls in their early to mid teens to be in PT in a variety of sports. At least according to orthos I know and my own general observations (which are only anecdotal obviously).
So is this any different than it was 20-30 Years ago for any of us who swam in high school?
One good thing about people who do get into swimming and stick with it is the ability to work hard/play hard...with 5, 6am workouts the nights (for some) may have been earlier but we learned to "make the bell"....don't think its a coincendence that swimmers almost always have the highest GPA's of any sport.
Perhaps not. I was much more of a nerd than my social butterfly daughter. I just hear an awful lot of chatter about how swimming is ungodly time consuming. One difference might be that, compared to 20-30 years ago, kids now have more competing activities, more homework, more AP classes, etc.
Most endurance sport athletes have good GPAs. Crew and cross country are just as high as swimming around here. Lacrosse, football and basketball, those getting the college scholarships, are comparatively a bunch of dolts. (I just said that to annoy the anti-Title IX groupies).
Hofffam, Here is fairly commonplace for girls in their early to mid teens to be in PT in a variety of sports. At least according to orthos I know and my own general observations (which are only anecdotal obviously).
