SPONSORSHIP
Every time I turn around, I get wind of more things that the hierarchy of US diving does that continues to erode my confidence in the leadership of that organization. In a recent article I mentioned that US Diving was feverishly looking for a sponsor. They found a possible sponsor but after a second meeting, the sponsor backed out. Loosing a potential sponsor bothers me but not as much as the idea that many of the USD officers had no idea that there was even a potential sponsor. The whole situation was a secret to even those who hold a prominent position in US Diving.
I wonder what the musical chair people demanded from that sponsor. Better yet, maybe the sponsor was repelled by the personalities facing it in that meeting. Understand that we are a group that desperately needs sponsorships. As I mentioned in the last article there is a prediction that in 3 year’s US Diving may be broke. It’s hard for me to imagine that Diving can not secure a sponsor.
How can we go broke? Let’s start with the loss of coaches and divers that I have constantly mentioned over the years. Now we have 2 training centers that will cost the organization about $300,000 a year or maybe more. Add in the travel expenses for the musical chair people and maybe some of their friends. Lastly then add the paid officers of US Diving. None of these items even address money to send divers to International meets. US Diving seems to be spending more money on the officers of the organization than it spends on its divers. Somehow they have forgotten the original purpose of US Diving. With this kind of spending it appears likely US Diving may be broke earlier than predicted.
Since they couldn’t get this sponsor, the leadership is asking for donations. They want you to go out and solicit sponsors from your neighborhood or area. This again repeats the same lack of planning and forethought that happened before the 1998 convention when sponsorships were lost. I always thought that we were paying someone not only to run the day to day operations of US Diving but part of that job was to seek sponsors. If that is the case, then the organization should find someone else to do that job.