For the diving community this is not the first time we have seen this type of attack. In the early nineties it was in the form of eliminating springboards from existing and new facilities. This tide was stemmed with information to insurance companies that competitive diving under the supervision of a trained coach has not been the cause of a catastrophic injury in the U.S. in over eighty years of existence. The same kind of campaign must be waged right here, right now. The campaign is different now though in that we must not fight to save programs, but rather fight to change programs.
Swimming is like a ball and chain tied to the ankle of the sport of diving.
Where swimming goes so to does diving. Let s face it - the two don t have anything to do with one another except they are both done in a pool. That is like having wrestling and gymnastics together because they both use mats. What we need is a split from swimming. In fact, we have already seen the beginning of the process.