On campuses across the country:

Fighting Literacy, One Child at a Time

Read Superheroes gather at Arlington Public Library to fight child literacy here.

Quote of the Day

Show me a man who claims he is objective
and I'll show you a man with illusions.



Henry Robinson Luce

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Quote of the Day

A life of frustration is inevitable for any
coach whose main enjoyment is winning.



Charles Henry "Chuck" Noll

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TISCA Changes?

Want to see some changes in TISCA?  Looking for folks who think outside the rectangular prism?  Shouldn't we look for coaches that want more than just a title and a couple of trips to Austin each year?

Maybe it's time to consider term limits for region swim/dive reps.  After six years, the time has come to either step aside for the new blood, or take your experience to a higher position, right?

How about the elimination of dual roles?  When one coach serves in multiple positions, he/she takes away an opportunity from another coach.  Again, let's create more chances for some new blood.

Let's elect/appoint active coaches only.  When I got into administration, I resigned my board position.  Only coaches who are coaching Texas high school teams should be representing Texas coaches' and athletes' interests.

Okay, cue the crickets...

You Owe Me A Coke!

via Indexed
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The New Timed Finals?

Coincidence?

April 21 - Longhorn Kickoff

April 22 - Fran Crippen Memorial Results

April 23 - HERSEY SWIMS 4:40 IN THE 400 FREE?

Nice work, Braden!

SwimSwam : Timed Finals = Braden K : Scott G

Ron Ballatore Passes

Former UCLA coach Ron Ballatore passed away yesterday. Read more here and here.

Ballatore's Bruin men were the victims of Title IX cuts in 1994.  He went on to coach at Brown and Florida.

Ron "Sticks" Ballatore, UCLA Swimming Tribute Video from Dan on Vimeo.

Quote of the Day

Doesn't "expecting the unexpected"
make the unexpected expected?



George Denis Patrick Carlin

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Is there a soda company...

...that will follow suit? Not likely!
via Laughing Squid

The HORROR!!

via Colossal

Has Splash-O-Truth Gone Under?

It's been quite a while since we last heard from Splash-O-Truth.  They were hacked a while back.  We've not gotten any mass emails recently.  Nothing new had been posted on their site for months.  Now, their account has been suspended.

Title IX Issues at SMU?

An article in The Daily Campus claims SMU isn't giving female athletes their fair share. Read more here.

Beth Wilson, associate vice-president and Title IX coordinator, said the university has done a superlative job meeting federal requirements. “I think we’ve done pretty much what we needed to do,” she said. “I think the issues have been addressed or are being addressed.”

Wilson said she could not discuss why SMU spends twice as much on men’s sports compared to female athletes until she reviewed the data SMU submitted to the Department of Education. When a reporter offered the records to her, Wilson refused to look at them.

Dr. Ellen Jackofsky, an accounting professor in the Cox School of Business and a member of the Faculty Senate Athletic Policies Committee from 1995 to 2011, reviewed SMU’s athletic spending. When asked if the records showed SMU in compliance with Title IX, she said, “Absolutely not.”
“This shouldn’t be happening,” Jackofsky said. “I’m disappointed to hear that, to know that’s where we are.”

Some students said the spending disparity is understandable for a simple reason.

“Come on, it’s football,” Gerardo Padierna, a first-year student, said. “Football is king.”

Others said the disparity is disturbing.

“This is a lawsuit waiting to happen,” sophomore Katherine Montgomery said.

How long before Nancy's flight touches down at Love Field?

Quote of the Day

The nice thing about being a celebrity is that when
you bore people, they think it's their fault.



Heinz Alfred "Henry" Kissinger

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If I Wanted America to Fail

Quote of the Day

There is no doubt that the reason for my
awful oversight was over-confidence
that sapped my sense of danger. So
that is where to look for the cause
of bad blunders - in the exulting
feeling of self-congratulation.



Alexander Alexandrovich Kotov

Bispo UT Women's Athlete of the Year

Longhorn senior Karlee Bispo has been named UT Women's Athlete of the Year.  Read more here.

"I think it's really awesome that they take time to put on something like this for us. We have a chance to get together, get all dressed up and celebrate each other's accomplishments," said Athlete of the Year winner and Olympic swimming hopeful Karlee Bispo.

Quote of the Day

I think we ought always to entertain our
opinions with some measure of doubt.
I shouldn't wish people dogmatically to
believe any philosophy, not even mine.



Bertrand Arthur William Russell

Quote of the Day

A strong conviction that something must be
done is the parent of many bad measures.



Daniel Webster

Quote of the Day

Success is having to worry about every
damn thing in the world, except money.



J.R. "Johnny" Cash

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Quote of the Day

A vacuum is a hell of a lot better than some
of the stuff that nature replaces it with.



Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III

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Oldtimers may have to explain to the...

...youngsters why some stations wouldn't play Melanie's Brand New Key:

Quote of the Day

Any activity becomes creative when the
doer cares about doing it right, or better.



John Hoyer Updike

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via James Law Cybertecture

High School Rule Changes

Breaststroke Rule Clarified in High School Swimming

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Becky Oakes

INDIANAPOLIS, IN (April 18, 2012) — New language was added to the breaststroke event in high school swimming that will help officials judge the initiation of the arm stroke permitted by rule on the start or turn.

The revised rule will state that “the initiation of such arm stroke shall be accomplished by a discernible horizontal separation of the hands.”

This clarification of the breaststroke event was one of five rules changes approved by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Swimming and Diving Rules Committee at its March 25-27 meeting in Indianapolis. All rules changes were subsequently approved by the NFHS Board of Directors.

“By stating that there must be a discernible horizontal separation of the hands, it should more clearly define the initiation of the arm stroke,” said Becky Oakes, NFHS director of sports and staff liaison to the Swimming and Diving Rules Committee. “This change will help officials in more fairly judging the beginning of the arm stroke.”

In the backstroke, a slight change was made to Rule 8-2-1f to permit a swimmer to lift the head to begin the rotation necessary to start a flip turn. The addition of the word “upward” provides clarification for legality of the turn. Oakes said this change should help avoid unwarranted disqualifications.

In Rule 3-3-2, it now clearly states the penalty for wearing illegal attire, such as an illegally marked swimming cap. Previously, a specific penalty was not associated with illegal attire.

When an official discovers a competitor wearing illegal attire as described in Article 2, the official shall, when observed prior to the start of the heat/dive, notify the competitor to make legal the attire before becoming eligible to compete. If the competitor cannot comply without delaying the start of the heat/dive, the competitor is disqualified from the event/dive and shall not be eligible for further competition until in legal attire.

If the illegal attire is discovered after the heat/dive officially begins, the official shall disqualify the competitor at the completion of the heat/dive, nullify the competitor’s performance time/score and the competitor shall not be eligible for further competition until in legal attire.

One change in diving rules was approved by the committee. While rules provide two options for establishing the order of divers in championship meets (by lot or by seeding), the default method for determining the order of the diving competition shall be by lot in those cases where there has been no action by the meet director.

Swimming and diving ranks No. 10 in popularity among boys sports with 133,900, according to the 2010-11 High School Athletics Participation Survey conducted by the NFHS. The sport ranks eighth among girls programs with 160,881 participants.

Quote of the Day

As an adolescent I aspired to lasting fame,
I craved factual certainty, and I thirsted
for a meaningful vision of human life - so
I became a scientist. This is like becoming
an archbishop so you can meet girls.



Matt Cartmill

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Here they are:

2012-13 4A Alignment


2012-13 5A Alignment

Quote of the Day

The perfect bureaucrat everywhere is
the man who manages to make no
decisions and escape all responsibility.



Justin Brooks Atkinson

Quote of the Day

Yesterday is not ours to recover, but
tomorrow is ours to win or to lose.



Lyndon Baines Johnson

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Don't let the chlorine in your eyes...

...blind you to the awful surprise...

After that last post, we need something fun, right?

Full screen!

Speakers up!

Sing and dance along:

What did you expect?

High school swimmers, coaches, and fans are on the edges of their seats bleachers - waiting for the UIL's 2012-13 swimming alignments.

Many are genuinely shocked that this important information has been delayed.

Really?

Really!?!?!?

Some of us aren't the least bit surprised by this latest issue.

You can bet, though, that your high school coaches' association leadership is all over it, right?

I'll have to tag this as "Ever So Slightly Humorous" now.

It's ventin' time:

Relay Take-Off Judging

Remember when Dan McAllen helped run the state swim meet?

Sure you do. Those were the "good old days" when automatic relay take-off judging equipment was used properly. We'd never even heard of Appendix B, right?

The UIL rules were quietly changed in 2009 - also known as 0001 A.D. (After Dan) - and problems resulted immediately.

Your Texas Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association (TISCA) leadership didn't take a stand until 2011 (0003 A.D.), when the heat was turned waaaaaaay up by swimmers, media, parents, and TISCA-member coaches.

Posting Call-Ups

This year TISCA leadership agreed to stop posting state meet call-ups on the TISCA site. When the official UIL lists were finally made public, there were several errors.

Our coaches, swimmers, and fans would be best served if we returned to the practice of posting an unofficial call-up list on the TISCA site.

Officials

This year all swim officials came under the UIL umbrella. For fifty bucks, volunteers can test and become UIL officials. TISCA no longer plays a roll in certifying officials.

As a result, we've seen a tremendous drop in the number of available high school officials - especially for diving competitions.

Push for Twenty-Four

We want twenty-four (24) qualifyers to the state meet, right? Shouldn't TISCA be presenting meet formats to the UIL so it can become a reality? Isn't it worth it to make an annual effort?

Instead of increased representation, could we be looking at a reduction in qualifiers? Don't be surprised if the UIL tries for a third swimming division (3A?). TISCA leadership has failed to throw cold water on that idea, so it may still be on the UIL's drawing board.

Switcheroo



A region allowed a school to qualify a relay to state meet via the old "switcheroo". The UIL upheld this blatant violation of National Federation rules and allowed the relay to advance. I suppose we'll hear cries of "foul" from our TISCA leadership if it happens again next year, right?

Meetings

Okay, this one really chaps me.

According to the TISCA By-Laws:

ARTICLE I (Meetings)

Section 2 (Board of Directors Meeting)

a) The Board of Directors shall meet prior to the Regular Meeting in the fall and shall meet again during the Spring Clinic. A quorum shall consist of those present and must include a majority of the Executive Board.

This year's spring clinic (Legends of Texas) was held up in Ft. Worth. Where did the TISCA board meeting take place? Do you really want to know? Want the truth?

How about in Austin!

Edit:

I'd earlier posted that it was at UIL headquarters (it's been held there before). Sorry about the error.

Now do you see why a little delay in posting of alignments isn't all that shocking?

Still surprised your coaches' association has no comment?

Quote of the Day

I celebrate a victory when I start walking off the
field. By the time I get to the locker room, I'm done.



Dr. Thomas William "Tom" Osborne

Quote of the Day

A man has made at least a start on discovering the
meaning of human life when he plants shade trees
under which he knows full well he will never sit.



David Elton Trueblood

Seaweed Streak

Aussie distance legend Murray Rose has passed away at age 73. Read more at SwimNews here.


In 1956, at 17, he became the face of the home Olympic Games in Melbourne a month before the Opening Ceremony when he clocked a world record of 17:59.5, becoming the first to race the 1,500m freestyle inside 18 minutes.

Iain Murray Rose also went by the name “the Seaweed Streak”, courtesy of his specialised diet: no meat, fish, poultry, refined flour, sugar, chemical-infused foods, but plenty of seaweed, honey and wheat-germ. The Olympic canteen could not cater for Rose, and so his parents were allowed to take their son out for meals.

Quote of the Day

Time sneaks up on you like a windshield on a bug.



John Arthur Lithgow

Quote of the Day

It seems to be a law of nature,
inflexible and inexorable,
that those who will not
risk cannot win.



John Paul Jones

Quote of the Day

It's better to be a pirate than to join the Navy.



Steven Paul Jobs

Coventry & Brackin at NITRO

An article at SwimSwam says Kim & Kirsty have moved over to NITRO. Read more here.

Nitro head coach Mike Koleber described the relationship as a “friendly invitation” for Brackin and Coventry to use a few lanes, though no formal employment relationship exists at this time. He said that he didn’t know Brackin that well yet, but that he wouldn’t shut the door to anything down the road.

Y'all happy now?

To help those with a little spare time on their hands, I've added yet another time-waster to the internet. That's right, fans! You can now follow Texas Swimming blog on Twitter!

For now, it's over there under the Trials countdown clock.

------------------------------------------------------------>

Where have you seen this before?

It starts off like this:

In order to strengthen existing competitive opportunities and ensure sustainable future success for the Department of Athletics...

It usually ends with something like this:

...East Cupcake University has announced the reclassificaton of men's ___ from varsity to club status.

This time, it's different.

In order to strengthen existing competitive opportunities and ensure sustainable future success for the Department of Athletics, Niagara University has announced a restructuring of its intercollegiate athletics program.

The restructuring includes the addition of women’s track and field as a varsity program and the immediate contraction of the women’s ice hockey program. Niagara’s track and field program will begin competition during the 2013-14 academic year.

Title IX lawyers are scrambling to find first-class seats on non-stop flights to Buffalo...

Quote of the Day

They say that God is everywhere, and yet we always
think of Him as somewhat of a recluse.



Emily Elizabeth Dickinson

Quote of the Day

I will see this game of life out to its bitter end.



Pearl Zane Grey

Make it Count

Why keep swimming an "M&W" sport?

Agree or disagree:

Dropping men's swimming hurts women's programs.

Need more information?

Let's explore, shall we?

What if there were combined team scores at the 2012 NCAA Division-I championships?

It would have looked like this:

1. Cal Berkeley-948
2. Stanford-744.5
3. Arizona-695
4. Texas-692
5. Southern California-517.5
6. Auburn-503.5
7. Georgia-472.5
8. Texas A&M-359
9. Florida-317
10. Michigan-285
11. Tennessee-283
12. Indiana-255
13. Louisville-179
14. Minnesota-162
15. Arizona State-159
16. Missouri-144
17. Ohio State-140
18. Florida State-137
19. Virginia-125
20. Virginia Tech-106
21. UNC-118.5
22. Wisconsin-110
23. Penn State-86
24. Southern Methodist-67
25. Notre Dame-45

Although some scored only in one gender, all twenty-five (25) of these schools sponsor both men’s and women’s programs.

Think it’s unfair of me to post "slanted" statistics like these? What, if anything, does it prove?

Here’s where a few women-only teams placed in the 2012 NCAA Division-I women’s championships:

26. Miami-20
37T. UCLA-9
37T. Toledo-9
41. Arkansas-7
47T. Boise State-2
49T. New Mexico-1

Still not being fair? Many schools didn't have any qualifiers or scoring athletes/relays, right?

Okay, let’s back up from NCAA’s and check out conference results for women-only squads. Would that be more "fair"?

Big Ten (12 teams) - Illinois (10th), Nebraska (11th)
Big XII (5 teams) - Kansas (4th), Iowa State (5th)
Pac-12 (9 teams) - UCLA (5th), Oregon State (8th), Washington State (9th)
SEC (10 teams) - Arkansas (6th), Vanderbilt (10th)
Big East (11 teams) - Cincinnati* (7th), Rutgers (8th)
ACC (12 teams) - Miami (6th)**, Wake Forest (12th)
Conference USA (6 teams) - Rice (2nd), Houston (4th), Marshall (5th), Tulane (6th)

*Cincinnati men compete but are being defunded.
**Miami sponsors only diving for the men.

Spot a trend?

That's right, fans: There's a high correlation between performance in women's college swimming and the sponsorship of both men's and women's college swim teams.

Okay, okay! I know correlation doesn't imply causation.

If it did, we could wipe out U.S. highway fatalities by importing more lemons from Mexico, right?


Still...

Quote of the Day

You can motivate by fear, and you can
motivate by reward. But both these
methods are only temporary. The
only lasting thing is self-motivation.



Dr. Homer Rice

Nope...not...going...to...end...well...

Unless you're a rookie reader, you know all about the Title IX issues in Massachusetts high school swimming.

Guys swimming in the girls' state meet ring a bell?

Newbies can catch up near the bottom of this mega-blast-from-the-past-post.

Read more here.

Remember that committee they formed to tackle the issue? Been on the edge of your seat, waiting to hear their solution to the problem?

It was easy - they're going to eliminate the fall high school season.

Last month, a subcommittee of the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association recommended that fall swimming for both boys and girls should be eliminated by the 2015-16 school year. The full Swim Committee at the MIAA, which oversees high school sports programs across the state, will consider the proposal next Thursday.

Let the suin' begin!

Thanks for the heads up, DJA!

Voter ID law?

We don't need no stinkin' voter ID law!


...or do we?

It Makes Sense

If the Longhorns decide to hire from outside their current swim coaching staff, Dorsey Tierney-Walker is likely the front-runner.

She's done a great job at Arizona State. She's a former standout breaststroker for the Horns. She's got international swimming and coaching experience.

If offered the job, would she take on the high-profile challenge?

Put yourself in her position.

You've:

• helped bring the Tempe program back from the brink,
• just gotten a new athletic director,
• been in a conference with powerhouse programs that bury the rest, and
• been coaching a program that's had to raise money year-round just to remain in existence.

If you accept a job at UT, you'll:

• work at your alma mater,
• have Olympians and Olympic coaches in the water and on the deck daily,
• have little pressure in the conference, and
• be making buckets of dough (university, club, camp, clinics, etc.).

Making sense?

Quote of the Day

I don't think I have any brain damage,
but that's yet to be seen.



Bobby Petrino

Dry-Land Idears

If your program's dry-land component is lacking, check out Guy Edson's presentation (25.25 MB, so be patient) from last year's ASCA World Clinic in San Diego here.

He led off with "1 Slide to Sum up 282":

1. Do No Harm
2. Thousands of exercises are out there
3. Pick age and developmentally appropriate exercises
4. Plan routines with purpose and progression
5. Educate everyone
6. Get excited about it.

Quote of the Day

Balance, peace, and joy are the fruit of a successful
life. It starts with recognizing your talents and
finding ways to serve others by using them.



Thomas Kinkade

Misc.

The latest email from USA Swimming has a link to Ten Things Only Bad Managers Say.

Check it out and then see if you can come up with your own lists.

Swim parents can share their lists about what bad coaches say...but that's really not fair. I don't know any coaches who could come up with a list about things bad swim parents say...

Sorry about that tangent...back to the original list of ten things only bad managers say:

1. If you don't want this job, I'll find someone who does.
2. I don't pay you to think.
3. I won't have you on eBay/ESPN/Facebook/etc. while you're on the clock.
4. I'll take it under advisement.
5. Who gave you permission to do that?
6. Drop everything and DO THIS NOW!
7. Don't bring me problems. Bring me solutions.
8. Sounds like a personal problem to me.
9. I have some feedback for you...and everyone here feels the same way.
10. In these times, you're lucky to have a job at all.

Attention recruits: Check on your school of choice's academic performance. If they're not doing well academically, it might be you that pays the price.

Swimmers doing poorly in school now may mean trouble for those that follow. See what lousy grades did to this basketball squad:

The University of Connecticut will not be eligible to play in next year's NCAA men's basketball tournament because of the poor APR they turned in back during 2007-11. Read more here.




#8

Quote of the Day

There is no greater hell than
to be a prisoner of fear.



Benjamin "Ben" Jonson

...people talking without speaking...

...people hearing without listening...

For You Tiger Fans

Buy it at Shirt Woot here.

Paul Harvey's "If I Were the Devil"

...Paul Harvey...good day!

Thanks, dad!

Quote of the Day

I've never missed a putt in my mind.



Jack William Nicklaus

Bob Costas Talks Title IX

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Bob Costas:

If something's gotta go, it's gonna be a men's program, in most cases.

Millersville senior Michael Parker:

We have elite caliber athletes at our university who are going to lose training partners in the men's program, and it will really be counterproductive toward elite athletes coming to our university on the women's side.

Parker also pointed out the coaching change that will hinder the women's running programs at Millersville. No, I doubt it was a slap at the new coach. Parker was just stating the facts.

Don't believe Mikey on the training issue? Just ask Kutztown University's women's swim team if they miss the men.

With the same facility and coaching, but without the men's team, they've gone from 4th in the conference and 16th at NCAA's in 2010, to 9th at conference and not scoring at NCAA's this year.

Them facts is facts: axing men hurts women.

Stick around for all nine minutes, as an interesting discussion toward the end of the video when the idea of "taking football out of the equation" came up.

The Women's Sports Foundation's Angela Ruggiero seemed open to that approach.

When it comes down to it, though, don't look for the idea to gain any traction with the Quota Crowd over at the WSF. Taking football out of the equation would mean athletic departments could - and would - immediately dismantle sports like equestrian and rowing for budgetary reasons.

As y'all know, the excuse used when sacrificing men's programs - money - cannot be used to cut women's programs.

NostraButton:

Football will continue to "count" and proportionality will live on...until enough brave and influential women demand equal opportunities for their brothers, sons, and nephews.