Where Is The Red, White & Blue Headed In The Flow Of Swimming History?
Part 4: are there enough people left in place who can help new USA Swimming CEO Kevin Ring to understand the issues, separate them from PR and tackle the real work first? Good question - and a few answers in our conclusion to this mini-series
THEMA: USA SWIMMING FUTURE
The Ghost of USA Swimming Future is a merry old soul, a spirit of optimism in his step, a jauntiness in his balanced handling of pragmatism, positivity and progress, each of those things requiring an essential foundation: the truth told by his fellow ghosts of past and present.
Parts 1-3:
Craig Lord
Craig Lord
Craig Lord
There are ways, says our cheery ghost, of removing the slippery from the slope and getting a grip on what it takes to get back up to the best of views on Olympic Heights when it comes to the domestic regulator’s singular most important shopwindow to the world at home and abroad, recruitment to excellent outcomes when the super troupers light up the spills and thrills of aquatics for a wider audience far beyond the coastal waters inhabited by the swimming community, athletes, coaches, families, organisers, sponsors, kit makers and merchandisers, fans, niche media and more.
Our ghost raises a flag. It's red, white and blue, the first for valour and bravery, the second for purity and innocence, the third for vigilance, perseverance, and justice. How apt for the challenging times we live in.
Red is the dominant colour of the hour for a spirit with a short, sharp slap in his smile: wake up!
He reminds us he's 'talking swimming', points to backdrop of our voyage with three ghosts: red sky at dawn, that Shepherds' Warning under-scoring the words emblazoned on the banner flapping in the early morning breeze. They were spoken by new CEO and president of USA Swimming, Kevin Ring, on his arrival in post, are emblazoned on the banner:
“In order to succeed as CEO of USA Swimming and the USA Swimming Foundation, initially, I will spend meaningful time listening and learning, creating partnerships with key stakeholders, and communicating clearly with the board, stakeholders, membership, and USA Swimming staff. We will build a culture of transparency, innovation and modernization, all the while keeping focus on the mission and building upon the solid foundation already in place. This will be done using my experience with the PGA which aligns well with USA Swimming and the USA Swimming Foundation while also using my experience at Legends which allowed me to be CEO of my business while working with the commercially driven entity of Legends and the mission based Association at the PGA that has allowed both to create a modernized revenue plan. These complementary skills brought together will lead to the next phase of growth and leadership at USA Swimming."
Our spirit smiles. Nothing wrong with revenue streams but they are part of the outcome, not the essential process, he suggests, as he tosses the banner over a cliff edge into the pit of a miserable scene below, where swimming's stream is drying up.
The Ghosts of past and present are down there, pointing to pool closures, folk walking the wrong way through the doors of a sport more challenging for family life than almost any other spot you care to mention. Our Future spirit stops one frazzled mother and asks: why are you leaving? She replies:
"I wish we'd never come. Maybe we'd feel differently if our kids had what it takes to be Michael P, Katy L, Aaron P, Nathan A, Gretchen W, Torri H, Kate D, and Bobby F, but we'll never know because we and our others kids, who do [fill in a variety of other sports, music, and myriad other pursuits in life] just can't sustain the exhausting round trips to training, the endless Friday to Sunday evening competitions, the fees and other demands of the sport that make it far less fun than it ought to be, and we're seriously worried about where it will all end up if they do succeed give what happened to Caeleb and the reasons why Phelps is asking the leadership 'how could you let this happen'."
Someone at USA Swimming and an Olympic medallist are heard in the distance shouting something about 'no pain, no gain; survival of the fittest...'.
Well, says our ghost, that will always be true to some extent but times change and you either adapt with them or pay the price, and that message from Phelps is all the louder and more important in a world where the numbers game has shifted in the pool.
