Since the last US Diving Convention, many things have transpired that doesn’t make US Diving look appealing. The last meeting at this year’s convention dealt with raising membership fees once again. Nothing was set in stone but some of the ideas that were tossed around indicated that it would be a substantial increase. Many people left that meeting frustrated. Prices were going to go up and many were at the breaking point already.

In my area alone, the AAU stood out as an alternative with many inquiries that saw some clubs jumping ship and others going with dual membership. Apparently Bridget Hunter got wind of this exodus and belittled the AAU insurance program in an article only to be told to remove it because none of her accusations were true. In actuality the AAU has better coverage than US Diving and it was much more affordable to both coaches and divers. Also there are no certification requirements to be met. I wasn’t surprised that Bridget did this because there have been accusations that certain articles disappeared from the rulebook without anyone’s knowledge and she was the primary editor. In any case US Diving eventually froze its membership fees in an attempt to stop coaches and clubs from leaving. It still remains to be seen if that did the trick.

The convention saw many of the old guard placed/appointed to positions that directly affect the direction US Diving wants to go. Some positions were created or renamed but the same people were rotated into those positions. Those people led diving to its worst Olympic performance ever. Now after the convention, they are continuing down the same unsuccessful path. They have not realized that a change is necessary. It appears that they intend to go on as usual. The changes that have been made are only cosmetic. Changing the way the team will be selected and changing the Olympic Training Center site are but two examples. For those of us who will never be at that level these changes don’t mean a thing and don’t make our coaching job any easier/better.

Until the organization develops a facilitator mentality rather than its current dictator mentality it will continue to see its membership and International performance decline. All we have left is the memory of World dominance in a sport that is being led to extinction by the very people that promised us International medals if we followed their "Plan".