By Phillip Whitten<\/p>\n
SAN DIEGO, Calif., October 6. LAST month, USA Swimming President Ron Van Pool gave his annual assessment of the \u201cstate of USA Swimming\u201d at the organization\u2019s annual convention held, this year, in North Carolina. Not surprisingly, Van Pool\u2019s assessment was a rosy one. But, though it overlooks and underestimates various challenges to our sport, it is hard to take issue with the thrust of his remarks \u2013 \u201chey, we\u2019re doing all right.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was a strong speech and, the fact of the matter is, we are doing all right. In fact, we\u2019re doing more than all right, but we face some very stiff challenges in the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n
Van Pool began with a review of our national teams\u2019 performance in international competition, pointing out that American swimmers set four long course world records and eight American records in 2005, plus an additional four short course marks from last October\u2019s Short Course World Championships in Indianapolis.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd this is supposed to be an \u2018off\u2019 year?\u201d he asked rhetorically. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s a good point. With the changes our sport has undergone in recent years, there really are no \u201coff years\u201d any longer. Oh, an Ian Thorpe or an Amanda Beard might take the year off, but there are plenty of challengers ready to take their place. Witness Grant Hackett\u2019s taking down Thorpe\u2019s 800 free record, Leisel Jones\u2019 ripping Beard\u2019s 200 breast mark, and newcomer Jessica Hardy appearing on the scene and smashing the global standard in the 100 breast. <\/p>\n
He pointed out that the US won 32 medals, including 15 gold, at the Long Course World Championships in Montreal in July \u2013 actually, it was 33 medals: 15 gold, 11 silver and 7 bronze. Australia was second, he reported, with 22 medals, neglecting to mention that the Aussies had only two fewer medals of the golden variety than the USA.<\/p>\n
Van Pool went on to review the winning US performance in the Duel in the Pool and its strong showing at the World University Games.<\/p>\n
Everything he said was accurate, but what he didn\u2019t say paints a somewhat different picture. <\/p>\n
First of all, take the USA vs. Australia stats: the numbers are right but they should be put into a broader perspective. That perspective includes the fact that the US has 15 times the population of Australia. So it\u2019s hardly surprising that the US is somewhat stronger than Australia. What is surprising is how close to equal the Aussies are. And, in fact, the Aussie women are just a little better right now than their American counterparts. That, in itself, is especially surprising because it is the US men whose programs are under assault. Women\u2019s programs are solid.<\/p>\n
Moving from the current national team to the state of age group swimming, Van Pool pointed out that 44 individual and four relay national age group records were broken in 2005. That\u2019s true, and it\u2019s a positive sign for the future. But Swimming World\u2019s<\/i> examination of the quality of the next generation \u2013 the 16 & under girls and the 18 & under boys \u2013 indicates that the US can expect some very strong challenges from abroad, particularly from China, Britain, and Japan. Indeed, Uncle Sam\u2019s charges have their work cut out for them.<\/p>\n
Also missing from President Van Pool\u2019s report was a discussion of numbers. Traditionally, in the aftermath of an Olympic year, our numbers shoot up. That was certainly the expectation after 2004, with Michael Phelps the undeniable superstar of the Athens Games and with the fabulous success of our entire swim team. The TV coverage was excellent\u2026 and yet, our membership barely changed. In fact, our numbers haven\u2019t changed much in the past 30 years \u2013 meaning we\u2019re drawing a declining percentage of youngsters from the national population.<\/p>\n
Why? What needs to be done to fix it?<\/p>\n
But aggregate numbers also hide a disturbing trend: the declining number of boys in our sport \u2013 a phenomenon that has a variety of causes, one of which is the continuing assault on men\u2019s college programs.<\/p>\n
Beginning around 1990, the percentage of boys in USA Swimming began decreasing at the rate of about one percent per year, until today boys comprise only about one-third of the nation\u2019s swimmers. At first USA Swimming tried to hide the ominous trend, perhaps believing that if no one noticed, it would disappear. <\/p>\n
We noticed, made the information public and, to its great credit, under Chuck Wielgus\u2019s leadership, USA Swimming has attempted to address the problem. <\/p>\n
Today, there\u2019s reason to believe that the bleeding has stopped. Now we need to re-entice young boys into our sport. We need to build a powerful experience for boys in our sport, from the 8 & unders through the college years.<\/p>\n
Our sport still needs to improve its \u201coutreach\u201d \u2013 specifically, we need to become much more effective in reaching ethnic minorities, especially African-Americans and Hispanics. Van Pool acknowledged and addressed this issue in his speech. He appointed a task force to make recommendations, including budgetary ones for 2006, and he appears optimistic that USA Swimming will be more effective in bringing these young athletes into swimming than it has been in the past. I hope he\u2019s right but remain skeptical.<\/p>\n
On the issue of protecting athletes, Van Pool was admirably proactive. Much more needs to be done, but USA Swimming appears to be on top of a very sensitive issue.<\/p>\n
There is much more in the President\u2019s address, which can be accessed on USASwimming.org and is well worth reading.<\/p>\n
One final note: The convention took place in the immediate aftermath of the devastating Hurricane Katrina. Van Pool fittingly placed the concerns of our sport within the much broader survival challenges wrought by the hurricane, noting the actions USA Swimming, various LSCs, numerous clubs and countless individual swimmers had taken to aid the victims of the tragedy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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