Can't we get along?

Swimming World and Junior Swimmer, Nov 2002 by Whitten, Phillip

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Editor's

note

I used to be a university professor, where high-minded, altruistic faculty toil ceaselessly in the noble pursuit of scientific truth while devoting themselves, heart and soul, to nurturing hungry young minds.

Yeah, right!

I quickly learned that one of the abiding characteristics of campus life is academic politics, which is as passionate, as opinionated, as ideological and as Machiavellian as politics practiced anywhere on this planet. No, even more so. One of the cliches about academic politics is that it is so vicious because there is so little to fight over. It became a cliche because it embodies more than a little truth.

Unfortunately, a similar statement can be made about politics in the aquatic sports. A number of different organizations exist that regulate swimming at a variety of different levels-- FINA, USA Swimming, the YMCA, the NCAA, the National Federation of High Schools, U.S. Masters Swimming as well as smaller organizations. Then there are the coaching organizationsthe World Swimming Coaches Association, the American Swimming Coaches Association, the College Swimming Coaches Association of America, the Masters Aquatic Coaches Association and the National Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association. The other aquatic sports all have their counterparts to these groups.

Despite the fact that these organizations cater to essentially the same clientele and share many of the same goals, their record of cooperation is abysmal. Indeed, the Borgias would feel right at home during some of the turf wars that have rocked the aquatic community.

Those power struggles have led to some ridiculous decisions that only hurt the athletes the organizations are supposed to serve-for example, the decisions that led to scheduling last year's women's NCAA Championships and the USA Swimming Spring Nationals at the same time.

(One notable exception to this dismal picture is Pat Lunsford's "Our Kids Initiative," which has successfully brought together five swimming and three coaches' organizations to standardize the rules at every level.)

The subject of our cover story, "A Dual Duel," is the current turf war raging between swimming and water polo, particularly in California. Coaches from the two sports, competing for the same athletes, are trading accusations that have become increasingly acrimonious.

Guys, cut the fighting! This should not be a Zero-Sum Game, a situation in which there is one winner and everyone else is a loser. In fact, it should be a classic win-win scenario.

Swimming and water polo should-no, need to-work together. Water polo players need the technique training and conditioning swimming offers; swimmers--especially boys-- can enjoy the rough play and camaraderie of a demanding team sport, not to mention the anaerobic conditioning water polo confers.

Swimming and water polo have a long and glorious history of cooperation. In fact, some of the greatest swimmers were water polo players. Think Duke Kahanamoku and Johnny Weissmuller. Or, Bruce and Steve Furniss, John Naber, Pablo Morales and Matt Biondi. Or more recently, Brad Schumacher, a member of the 1996 U.S. Olympic swimming and water polo teams.

Instead of squabbling over eversmaller pieces of the pie, let's work together to bake a bigger, tastier pie.