The PDCA IS NOT OUT!
Many people like myself were under the impression that the PDCA was voted out of various positions on committees in US Diving. That is not the case. A code change did come up at the convention but it was defeated. PDCA officers will be working with the leadership of US Diving as they have done in the past.
I have mixed feelings regarding this issue because I really never had the sense that the PDCA represented all levels of diving coaches. The "P" stands for Professional which to many means that they make their living from coaching the sport. Many like myself do this for the love of the sport and are lucky if we can break even. PDCA agendas seemed directed only toward the levels with which they are involved (college and above). Nothing either (USD or PDCA) did seemed relevant to my situation. So from that perspective it didn’t make much difference to me. I only hope that someday there will be an organization that is representative of the full spectrum of divers and coaches including the part timers. At this juncture there is no organization that shares this commitment. The leadership of US Diving is focused on the National and International scene. The PDCA is split between that level on down to but not including the junior and grass root level. Neither organization appears concerned about the health of the sport from top to bottom. That may be the underlying reason for the problems we are facing.
Having said all that, the situation does really upset me because here is yet another example of the organization's attempt to rid themselves of coach's input. I question the purpose of the proposal of this code in the first place. This leadership doesn’t see its coaches as recruiters for the sport, which directly impacts finances and the success of the sport. Other organizations see their coaches as volunteers because they know without this volunteer force they can’t operate. Without coaches, there are no divers and no one to run programs or contests. That also means no income or reason for the organization to even exist. US Diving was almost able to do all of this by committee and their committees are definitely stacked in favor of the leadership's agenda. This has been accomplished by the ability to appoint various individuals to chair committees bypassing any membership invlovement.
Who would make this kind of proposal anyway? My guess would be someone with loyalties to the leadership. I don't believe that any coach would make a proposal to eliminate the input of a recognized coaching body. If you remove the PDCA committee members, it makes the President's 11 votes weigh in heavier than the 15% at the last convention. It would also be more favorable in that the athletes' votes could easily be swayed by feeding disinformation to accomplish the leadership's goals. It’s actually uncomfortable to imagine that many operations in US Diving are in the hands of a group that has little actual diving and/or coaching experience. They must feel intimidated by those that have this experience. Maybe that's the reason the proposal came up in the first place.
The same questions keep arising. How does any of this improve our diving? Who benefits from all of this maneuvering? It appears to be a struggle for control, which has yet to improve the quality of our divers' performances. Even more important, it hasn't increased the number of participants. While each of these entities continue to focus their energies on this struggle, diving at all levels will continue to decline in both quality and quantity.