The Future
This has been an ongoing battle for me since 1998. The people who run US Diving are in the midst of some financial problems at this time. It would appear that the only way out is to come up with a sponsor that could bail them out of this mess. For now that hasn't happened. I am sure that they are working feverishly to that end.
It appears that the people in charge may have more or less given up on the next election. The reason is all of the questions that have been raised and the general feeling of mistrust by a growing number in the membership. That includes the senior divers with their mistrust in the current president. Apparently the in group feels whoever their candidate would be could not get enough votes to win an election. So what are they doing? Have they given up? The answer is a definite no. If we look back at some of the things they have tried to do in the past, we may get an insight into the future.
To insure that their plan succeeded in the past, a smear campaign was waged against the other candidate that ran for president in 1998. This was not unusual since threats were fairly common against others who sought prominent positions in the organization. The musical chair game that has been played over the years also gives a little insight into the mindset of these people. During elections many of these people were not re-elected to their positions. That includes the past President. However somewhere along the line they were appointed back into some position that allowed them to continue directing the organization. This has happened over and over again.
In 1998 sponsorships were lost during the past president's term and he is now being groomed to take Tom Gompf's place. He was installed as our representative on the International judging panel. That appointment replaced Hobie who was voted Diving's Good Will Ambassador to the World by his peers all over the world. Why would anyone make that change, which I believe is for the worse? The answer is because he is on the same page as the status quo and Hobie is not.
The Plan, Competitive excellence, Coaching ladder and the rest were an attempt for certain people to gain control of the organization and the best divers in our country. Those were ultimately thwarted but are still being brought up in various conversations.
Recently I had heard that they want to put Ron O'Brien up for Coach of the Century. Why would they do that? Because he is one of the in group. All he did was inherit a silver medallist and made him a gold medallist. I would think that Hobie Billingsley would be a better candidate for that honor. He never inherited a medallist. He developed them. He has had several different divers attain Olympic Champion status not just one. Our last male gold medallist was a wrestler. Hobie created a champion out of him in 3 short years. That alone is some kind of record. Hobie is still doing things for the betterment of the sport and doing it unselfishly. If Hobie is not nominated for or selected Coach of the Century then that award would not be an honor but rather a gift to the recipient.
What they are attempting to do now is very interesting and may paralyze the organization in the future. One thing that has transpired is that they want to hire a CEO to take over the responsibilities of the President. That would mean no election for President would take place in the future. Rewriting job descriptions, mission statements or by laws could also be a gauntlet for the next President. Directives may also be set in place that would difficult to reverse. These are things they may be trying to do that will have a long lasting affect on the organization.
My advice to those closest to the organization would be to carefully monitor any changes no matter how innocent they may appear. Change should only be allowed if it will begin to unravel the mess that they have made up to this point.