Knowing that there are others who are dissatisfied with the direction US Diving is taking, I thought that this would be a great time to address the points in the Long Range Plan and maybe the plan itself even though I haven't seen it as yet.

There are a lot of coaches that will not send their diver to a coach who, they feel, may not be as good a coach as they are. Perish the thought! Coaches want the best for their own divers not what US Diving might feel is best for them. Even when coaches seem to be good friends, if the diver's own coach feels his/her diver will not get the instruction he/she feels is necessary he/she will steer the diver away from the training centers or its coaches. As I write this stuff, I really get the feeling that this is another version of the "Chinese Way".

A lot of time and money has been spent on the idea of the training sites. It appears that coaches for these new sites are hard to find. My thought is if the divers don't want to go to a regional training site and/or their coaches don't want them to leave for whatever the reason, why continue with the idea? The bond between diver and coach is very strong and in all probability will not be broken. If that is the case, why insist on having this in the plan? It would seem a waste of effort and money.

Rumor has it that the Board of Directors is soliciting money specifically for these training sites. Who made that decision and why? When an organization solicits money, it is suppose to be for the greater good of the membership. Training sites only benefit the elite. If they are soliciting money, why isn't that money going into the general funds for everyone's benefit?

Leveling coaches is another idea that should be tossed in the garbage. This idea seems to parallel the training site idea. Coaches have always leveled themselves. I can't remember a coach at the National or International levels that didn't belong. That same premise holds true for the under levels also. Under this plan it would seem that if I develop a diver with a great deal of talent, when he/she reaches a certain level of skill, I would have to turn him/her over to someone else. That's just what almost happened with the divers invited to the regional training site. The talent and production of my divers will really dictate the level I will be coaching. Some years it may be at a lower level and others will be at a higher level. Again this looks an awful lot like a version of the "Chinese Way". I will be a beginner coach, you will be intermediate coach and someone else will be the advanced coach and so on. Each of us will have one level to coach and the divers will keep passing through to someone else. To me, that stinks. I enjoy having contact with divers that represent all levels of skill. It reduces the boredom and monotony of coaching. If I will be force to coach one area with limited skills for that level, I will get out of coaching altogether.

Competitive development money sounds a lot like the Tuition Assistance Program that came briefly to light at the 1998 Convention. One diver made a report that other divers receiving assistance agreed to the terms of the TAP contract but never completed the training hours that the contract called for. Some coach got paid well for doing almost nothing. At that time we never heard from the complaining diver again. Maybe someone made him a TAP deal that he couldn't refuse. How can you give out substantial amounts of money and not hold people accountable? In this country we do need to help our divers financially because our government doesn't do it like other countries do.

After watching the Olympic Trials, I really don't see the need for all of the above items with the exception of the TAPs program. However TAP should not be just for the elite. Someone or group wants to be in charge of the best divers in the country. If they want to do that, why don't they develop their own divers rather than trying to take ours? The reason is simple they don't want to do all the work it involves. They just want the perks. Egos seem to be getting the best of us. We all want the recognition for what we do and what we produce. We have lost the notion that we as coaches should be doing a better job of coaching. US Diving doesn't have to tell us how to coach. We know how to do that. We get distracted by what's going on and forget that we are coaches and not administrators of the sport.

As for US Diving, they should not be copying what another country does. The country US Diving is copying was once copying us. At one point in time, we were the Diving Dynasty. Since the present US Diving Board started tinkering with it, we are no longer that dynasty. US Diving in all its wisdom has shown that it does not have all the answers. If they did, we would have been a Dynasty already and we're not. It's been 8 years and we are no closer to that goal. If they keep tinkering, we will never be a dynasty again. They will drive all of us out of the sport.

In closing, I need everyone to know that I would like to support our National Governing Board. We do need an organization that supports our sport on all levels and that can give it media exposure in our country. I can't give that support when I believe that they are directing the sport for their own selfish purpose and not enhancing it for the rest of us. If we are truly dissatisfied, maybe impeachment procedures and sanctions should be considered. If it can be done to the President of the United States and the Congress, I see no reason why it can't be done in our organization. Another thing we can do is set up an alternate program outside of US Diving.