Convention 2002
I have posed a number of questions regarding the operations of US Diving over the last five years. The upcoming convention may be my last since the results I have been able to achieve with this effort have been less than successful. What follows is a series of thoughts focusing in on the aspects of cost, quality and safety. It has been my opinion that since the onset of mandated certifications and the costs inflicted on the membership (both monetarily and time wise) that something was amiss.
Statements such as:
Whatever the reason for the original justification, the results of increased fees, mandates and the addition of training sites haven't produced the promised results. In their attempt to emphasize quality versus quantity, the resulting improvement nationally and internationally has not occurred in United States Diving. In fact many think we have gotten worse.
If we look at the transition from no safety certification to multiple certifications, we will notice that our sport may not be as safe as it once was. To quote our President: " Our premium is based largely on our claims history and, until fairly recently, that history has been a good one. (2/2/02)" That statement has many implications. If we look back in the past, we may get a better understanding of what is happening.
Because USD had its elite coaches already in place to follow the USOC directive with regard to the certifications, the requirement was mandated to all USD members. Why? (USD certifications are not being recognized in many places anyhow.) With the increase in fees and additional mandates, many coaches decided to drop out which purged USD of the quantity and allowed it to focus on the quality that was left. That quality of both coaches and athletes should have had a positive affect on the organization according to the leadership's position. In fact it has had the reverse affect. More injuries have occurred including the catastrophic ones that we have avoided for almost 100 years.
If USD had purged itself of all the riff-raff (quantity) and kept the best coaches and divers (quality), how can one explain an increase in serious injury and a decrease in the performance of its elite divers when the training sites were being emphasized? Add to the fact that the fees keep increasing to be part of this failing organization. The following is a demonstration of how out of line the fees appear to be.
US Diving is the most expensive organization to be a member of and currently is one of the most unsuccessful. In any other business, the leadership would have been changed long ago when it first didn't produce the results it promised. Obviously "Their Plan" didn't work, isn't working and in all probability will not work in the future. The future of the sport can not wait any longer on the leadership's promises. Too much time and effort has been wasted already.
If you plan to be at the convention this year and vote, it would be reasonable to consider voting for new leadership. The examples of the past could lead one to think that if we maintain the status quo, eventually there won't be a diving organization left to join. The present leadership has led us away from our world dominance and substantially reduced the membership rolls. A byproduct of that leadership is that the sport may no longer be one of the safest activities people can enjoy. In light of recent events, recreational diving with no supervision other than a lifeguard is now safer than diving with a USD certified coach. We've come a long way in 16 years haven't we?