Junior Diving
I have been an advocate for the Junior diving program (Grass Roots) for 2 basic reasons. That's the level I most frequently coach and it's also the level that is ignored and abused by US Diving. The following demonstrates a few more reasons for my campaign against US Diving.
Since the 1998 Convention, I have been observing and learning as much as I can about the inner workings of US Diving. Everything I see happening leaves me with the feeling that US Diving would like to purge itself of the Junior program but financially it can't afford to do that. Everything is geared toward Senior diving and it's done at the expense of the Juniors. It all starts with the cost of membership. $50 or more is too expensive for what the Juniors get in return. Membership cards are issued late if at all and the Juniors get a copy of the Diving magazine which leans heavily toward Senior news.
The Junior coaches are forced to jump through the same hoops for certification mandates as the Senior coaches. That's probably the reason for the recent loss of Junior coaches and programs. Junior coaches can not use most of the equipment available to the Senior coaches. Even the dives the Junior coaches deal with daily are not the same as the Senior coaches see. We are told that certification is necessary because of safety and that we are following the USOC's recommendation. The Junior program has never been the focus of the USOC. All mandates were directed toward the Senior program. The safety issue has been uncovered as a scam that was used to dupe the membership into voting for the mandates. Why? It was designed so that certain people will still be in charge of our best divers and the organization. Cards to verify these certifications are not even issued anymore and more administrators are not recognizing these credentials.
Half of the Junior membership fee was said to cover the cost of insurance. When the premium went down, did anyone realize a change in these fees? The answer is no! I have asked a few times for statistics to verify who is making claims to the insurance company. I figured that if it's divers from a couple of clubs(Teams), then the Safety Committee could go to those clubs, evaluate the situation and suggest remedial action. Instead, the Safety Director attempted to spread injury statistics to all clubs. Never did I get a response to my question, verbally or otherwise. I believe that if a Junior diver is injured and needs treatment, that treatment gets paid for by the parents health insurance coverage. I will never see the statistics US Diving has but I'll bet that there are no Junior claims. I have revised my original thinking to include only those few clubs that supply caliber divers to a national event. What I am pointing to is that the Junior divers don't have to have US Diving Insurance. It is a secondary insurance. Any injury would have to be extremely serious for that insurance to kick in. I believe that there has never been serious injuries to Junior divers in a US Diving program. This is why I recommended that divers be given the choice of taking or not taking the insurance.
Now, who does need this type of insurance? Divers who have lost their collegiate eligibility and don't have a job yet. Think about that. The Juniors are paying the medical expenses for Senior divers who may be injured because those Seniors don't have their own insurance or a job. US Diving pays for Senior training, coaching and trips should they be good enough to make the traveling team(s). That funding may be split between the Foundation and the Ray Rude fund. The Juniors are and have been heavily supporting the Senior diving program financially. How are these Juniors rewarded? They not only get to pay for all of the above but they get to pay their own coaching fees, entry fees, travel and lodging fees. Along with that there is no opportunity for them to ever compete at the Senior level should they be good enough. The limited list of dives that has been set up for them doesn't allow these divers to do the harder dives they would need to compete. The only way they can make it to that level is to wait until they no longer have any eligibility left like the above mentioned Seniors. What a future!
Who is responsible for all of this? Per chance, could it be the same few names that have kept popping up in various positions over these past years? The answer is "you betcha"! Some of these people get voted out at the elections and then all of a sudden they are appointed to lead some committee. They're back and so is the same narrow minded thinking that keeps leading US Diving and the entire sport down the drain. The Juniors are really the divers that US Diving should be focusing on and monetarily funding. These divers are the future Olympians and the future of diving in this country. Other countries are doing this, even the ones we are supposed to be copying. Unfortunately US Diving would rather throw money away on divers who may be over the hill and don't want to go out and work for a living.