Back To Current TopicsConvention Caution
Since many of you are getting ready for the Convention, I think that you should be aware that the LRP might be a distraction that allows other items to sneak through unnoticed. I apologize for my lack of faith in the leadership of the organization but for at least 2 years now I have seen no reason to trust they will do what's good for the entire diving community.
My dissatisfaction with the organization seems to expand every time a new proposal is made. I don't see any benefit of these proposals for the segment of diving I am involved with. As I look up the ladder, I can't see the benefit for some of the other levels either. The whole program appears to be set up for 56 divers (28 men and 28 women), those that qualified to compete at the trials. That focus goes even narrower afterwards (2 men and 2 women in each event), those that made the team. The majority of US Diving people did not have a diver there. If there are 10,000 athletes, then the other 9,944 athletes' needs are not being met. On one web site it said we had 25,000 athletes. The question is still the same, "Why are we ignoring the needs of the other 24944 athletes"? This was the rationale behind the question that I asked about 2 years ago; Can US Diving survive on the support of 56 divers and their coaches? Obviously they can't but the focus is still on winning Olympic Gold medals. Very few programs in US Diving run for the entire year. The leadership has failed to recognize that most coaches and programs participate in US Diving for parts of the year. These are not full time paid (by US Diving) coaches. They are sometimers like myself. The LRP was designed as a blueprint to win Medals. Did they listen to the "Man" who has the answers to the medal problem? NO! (Read "The Hobie Factor " on this site) Where is all of the money coming from that they are spending? Not just for the gold medals ($1 million 200 thousand since 1996) but also things like the Regional Training center in Indianapolis. Paying the way for the Technical Director to be there as well as many others. Why? The future may bring fee increases for everyone with no rollbacks as seen when the price of insurance goes down. No matter how the LRP is written, it is still a glorification of the "Chinese Way". They copied us, why would we want to copy us again? It appears that few want the LRP and it won't produced any results because it is not coaching or diving related. It is organizational. Why is it still being pursued? (Read "A Question of Leadership" on this site.) Certifications were interpreted to be for those who aspired to coach Nationally and Internationally. Why does everyone need them? We are losing coaches because of them.
The "Powers That Be" are trying to create new job positions in the organization that are inconsistent with the descriptions that are presently written in the US Diving code. If I understand this correctly, when these jobs are created and accepted, they will operate without any guidelines until next year when they might be accepted by a simple majority of the Board of Governors. The kind of jobs being created and the people that fill those positions will dictate the depth and scope of our potential problems in the future. How can you create a job without some sort of existing job description? Could this be a posturing ploy to insure the LRP doesn't die at this year's convention? Are these jobs in any way related to some aspect of keeping the LRP alive? Do we really need these new positions? Do we really need the LRP?
This next item may sound at the surface like good business sense but is it really? There has been a proposal that the Board of Directors be completely made up of all non-diving related people. If this means people with no present coaching responsibilities, this might be a good thing. However, it seems to justify why those 4 or 5 people, who seem to control everything, should remain on the board. It would definitely narrow down the number of people who would be eligible to be board members. On the other side of the coin, do we want people directing the administration end of our sport without any experience or knowledge of the sport? Do we, as coaches, like the idea of having no input into the business end of the sport we financially support through membership fees? This would mean that the Board of Governors would only have a voice on matters of Rule and Code changes and nothing else.
Since the Olympic Games will be over by the time this convention convenes, maybe more proposals and/or more questions will arise. Rationalization seems to be running rampant through these discussions. My suggestion to all that attend the convention is to listen carefully. When it comes time to vote, vote to keep things simple and uncomplicated. That's the only way most of us can keep track of what's going on. Start by asking yourself the question, "Is this proposal really necessary?" Will it make our divers any better? If it's not necessary, simple, easy to understand or makes diving better for everyone in US Diving, vote it down.
On line since 10/1/2000