Time to Lower Expectations?

Guess I expected too much after posting Opportunity to Save the Males!

Since Wednesday, hundreds have seen the post and not a single person has been interested enough to respond with contact info.

I may have this "Save the Males" thing all wrong.  Maybe they don't want or need to be saved.  Young men might be just fine with fewer opportunities in college swimming.

Think I'll dismount, give Rocinante a break, and leave them windmills alone for a while...

In other news:

If your USAS coaching credentials are up for renewal and you need info on safety requirements for the 2015 year, info is here.

WADA's revised doping code will take effect January 1, 2015.  The banned substances list:

WADA 2015 Prohibited List

Here's a groovy little item, the cubic rubber band:

via nendo

Results:

SMU vs. TCU (M)

Dragon Invite

The Woodlands vs. Collins

Conroe/Oak Ridge/Dulles

ESA vs. FCST

PACK Open

Clark/Taft/Brennan/Marshall

O'Connor/Brandeis/Health Careers/Holmes

AAHSSL "D" Division Dual #2

McKinney North/Liberty/Heritage

CSCAA Polls:

NCAA D-II (M&W)

NCAA D-I (M)

Save College of Charleston Swim/Dive video:


Minneapolis Grand Prix Psych Sheet

West University Recreation Specialist - Aquatics

USA Swimming feature on Laura Sogar is here.

“I’m looking at a lot of schools right now, some close to me and some not so close; I’ve got time to decide,” said Sogar, who intends to pursue her Master’s in Business Administration (MBA). “I’m very happy with life right now, especially being back on the road to being healthy, and I’m really excited about what’s still to come – in and outside of swimming.”

Will likely encounter rattlers, black bears, and a bazillion skeeters on the AT.  Might even run into a Bigfoot.  State by State sightings list here.

(via Custom Woven Towels)

USAS feature on NITRO Swimming is here.

3. We build from the bottom up. We have great lesson programs at our pools, and our conduit programs connect to our swim team. Intro to Nitro is the first step of being on the swim team, then we have Technique and Fitness, which is more about learning strokes and staying in shape. Those help us build within the infrastructure of our own team and work up the pyramid.

Sir Charles weighs in on Derrick Rose:

Opportunity to Save the Males!

Was contacted today by television producer who wants to hear from high school boys (15-17) who have experienced loss of college swim opportunities due to Title IX (mainly proportionality).

Parents and coaches, please get me contact info for young men who are swimming in high school and have discovered:

a) the school of their choice has a women-only swim program,
b) little/no financial assistance is available because they're males,
c) roster caps mean they can't even swim as a "walk on", and/or
d) any other reverse discrimination issues.

Producer would like to talk with kids by phone first (by the end of next week), then set up on-camera interviews.

I'm more than happy to be the go-between for this effort.  Email me contact info and I'll pass it along.

This is a great opportunity to tell a side of the story that's often missed in the media.

We know our sport is the most gender-equitable one out there, yet our young men pay a heavy price because other sports aren't nearly as "fair" as ours.

Wildcats End Drought!

Okay, it's not a Texas story (New York, actually), but bear with me (there's Texas news later).

In 1977, our sectional meet didn't come down to the last relay.  Our Marcus Whitman Wildcats' boys team came close to our first swimming team championship, but even our upset win in the 400 free relay wasn't enough to put us over the top.  As they say:  Close, but no cigar.

While up in Rushville last month for the Hall of Fame ceremony, there was talk that "This year could be the year."  Our girls' team was having a very good season and had a shot at a sectional title.

Last weekend, the Whitman girls won our school's first-ever sectional championship in a meet that came down to a must-win 400 free relay.  Full story here.

Marcus Whitman rallied in the last race to come away with the Class C team championship. The 400 free relay team of Hailey Rossi, Amelia Stash, Natalie Johnson and Courtney Copper won to give Whitman 303 points, edging out the host Rams by two points and third place Dansville by five.

It was the first sectional title for Marcus Whitman in program history.

“I’m so proud of all of my girls. They have inspired each other to be their best, which in turn made the team the best,” Marcus Whitman coach Marcy Adams said. “The competition at this meet was unbelievably strong, and I’m so grateful that we were able  to be part of it.

“Our team stayed very strong and worked off one another’s energy. They truly showed what teamwork and hard work can do.”

Note about the girls' picture:

When you win an event at sectionals, they give you your letter jacket patch on the spot.  Blue shield for individual events, white shield for relays.  Still have mine floating around here somewhere.  Might be a cool idea for UIL/TISCA to explore, right?

Way to go, Cats!

Now for the Texas news.  A new TISCA president's letter is here.  In summary:

1.  Spring '15 superintendent survey is next step in "24 to State" movement.
2.  A 3rd division might become a reality if/when 4A numbers increase.
3.  UIL wants polo but the L.C. doesn't.  It's up to TISCA to change that.

A few high school and club results:

Bob Stallings Aggieland Invite

Victoria ISD Invite

AAAA "C"

Cathedral/Loretto Invite

PEAK Senior

MARS L-1

CCAA Turkey Trot

Rockwall Invite

Red River Shootout

Georgetown/East View/Midway

Plano vs. Plano West

Broncos JV Sprint Pentathlon

Weslaco Invite

Quote of the Day

If there is a single power the

West underestimates, it is the

power of collective hatred.

(via Hoover Institution)

Ralph Peters

Only Three Months to Go

(via Trail Journals)

For any of y'all who might be interested, I'm starting to post on my AT thru-hike here.

Over the course of the next three (3) months, I'll be spending less of my spare time posting on this swim site and more of that time prepping for the big adventure.

Quote of the Day

In war the only sure defense is offense, and

the efficiency of the offense depends on

the warlike souls of those conducting it.

General George Smith Patton III

Quote of the Day

I should be sorry if I only entertained

them, I wish to make them better.

(via glogster)

Georg Friedrich Händel

Another Round of Results (Updated...Again)

Club

TXLA 10 & Under

Del Norte #2

Texas Ford L-2, D-2

EPAP Monster

NTN L-2, D-1

ATAC L-2, D-3

AAAA Nadadores B+

AQTX Tuesday Night Races



College

A&M vs. Texas (W)

Iowa State vs. Texas Christian (W)

Henderson State Invite (M&W, Day 1)

Henderson State Invite (M&W, Day 2)

A&M vs. Indian River (M)

Trinity vs. Incarnate Word (M&W)



High School

Oak Ridge Intrasquad

College Park/Caney Creek/Conroe

LCISD Private School Invite

Angleton Sprintathlon

The Woodlands Intrasquad

Tomball Fall Kickoff

Conroe/Cy-Lakes/Cy-Springs

College Park Intrasquad

LCISD 5A Invite

Tomball Halloween Invite

AAHSSL "C" Division Dual #2

Ranger Relay Invite

AAHSSL Distance Invite



Open Water

Snapping Tortuga 500

Snapping Tortuga 2.5k

Snapping Tortuga 5k

Nitro's Taylor Abbott won his age group and was 2nd overall behind Olympian Alex Meyer at the Barbados Open Water Festival on November 2nd:

It was a historic moment for open water swimming in Barbados as two world champions swam to a 1-2 finish in the Mens 5km race. Alex Meyer of the US was first ahead of fellow American, Taylor Abbott. Lindsay Vrooman was first in the Ladies 5km.

Quote of the Day

Inaction will cause a man to sink

into the slough of despond and

vanish without a trace.

(via NY Times)

Farley McGill Mowat

Quote of the Day

Sometimes I arrive just when God's ready

to have someone click the shutter.

(via Wikipedia)

Ansel Easton Adams

Where to start?

Guess we'll just get right to the point:

College Park HS assistant coach David James recently lost his son, Peyton, to suicide.  Full article here.

“There are people out there that love you, and whose lives would be torn apart without you,” said James, a resident of Jacob’s Reserve. “Talk to a friend, a teacher, a counselor, an assistant principal. Get help. Don’t give in to those thoughts.”

What if y'all said/did something nice for a kid today (and tomorrow, and the next day...) that might be struggling?  It might mean the world to him/her, right?  Don't wait for someone else - just do it!

In memory of Peyton, The Woodlands College Park High School Swim Team will be collecting travel-size toiletries this month and through December to donate to the Ronald McDonald House, where James and his wife stayed while Peyton was in the hospital.

Conroe ISD is hosting a TISCA meet that falls within the window of the drive.

Wouldn't it be great if teams attending that November 21-22 meet brought their contributions that weekend?

Spread the word, folks!

Quote of the Day

The first thing I remember about the

world - and I pray that it may be the

last - is that I was a stranger in it.

(via Dover Beach)

Thomas Malcolm Muggeridge

Quote of the Day

Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts

the person in an endless effort to satisfy

the need without ever reaching satisfaction.

(via Erich Fromm)

Erich Seligmann Fromm

Quote of the Day

Propaganda is the executive arm

of the invisible government.

Edward Louis Bernays

Quote of the Day

To some extent we are all the prisoners of

stereotypes;  we see each other in terms

of distorted and oversimplified images.

(via LBJ Library)

Chester Bliss Bowles

Robert Tapscott Aquatic Center

Houston's Julia C. Hester House just opened their new Wellness Center.  Story here.

The facilities were named after Dutton (Harold V. Dutton Jr. Recreation Center) and Robert Tapscott (Robert Tapscott Aquatic Center). Tapscott served as athletic director, swimming coach and music teacher at Hester House. Both Lee and Dutton spoke fondly of him.

Dutton has a rich history with Hester House, having grown up at the facility. He worked as a janitor there and later served as executive director.

Reflecting on the old Hester House swimming pool, Dutton said, “We didn’t have a swimming pool, we had a mosquito pond. We used it three months and they had it the rest of the year.” Because of his concern, Dutton rallied the support of architect Willie Jordan and Lee to help change conditions at Hester House.

“We gave Hester House back to the Fifth Ward community. Hester House is not a place for landing, it is a place for launching – launching dreams,” he said.

The old Hester House pool had its issues.  From the Houston Chronicle in 1958 (The Swimming Pool Went Swimming):

Read that story here.

Quote of the Day

Do not try to make the brilliant

pupil a replica of yourself.

(via Living Legacies)

Gilbert Arthur Highet

New Life for North Lake College Natatorium?

(via Irving ISD Swimming)

It looks like the City of Irving and the Irving ISD will work with North Lake College to keep their facility open.  More here.

According to Weaver, on January 1, 2015 (also pending Board approval), NLC is transitioning management and operations of the Natatorium to the City of Irving. This means that the City will assume all costs for management and operations of the facility, and that the Irving ISD will be a subtenant. The Irving ISD is subject to the same rules and regulations as the City.

“The Irving ISD will be a subtenant of the facility. Pending Board approval in December, effective January 1, 2015, there will be a one-year stop-gap lease with the City in order to give the City and the ISD time to secure formal funding and develop schematic designs for the Natatorium’s renovation,” said Weaver.

The IISD offers swimming lessons and aquatics sports. The district frequently busses school students in to use the pool in the mornings for children to learn and perfect their swimming techniques. Students also compete in swimming events held in the natatorium.

“The pool will always be available to the seniors and will not be shut down in 2020 as another newspaper source has reported,” said NLC President Christa Slejko.

(via Irving ISD)

Great news for everyone's favorite swim announcer, Sam Kendricks.  His mom was instrumental in getting that facility built for area kids back in the 80's.  Sam took time out from his busy work schedule to visit Irving last year, pushing to save the aquatics programs there.

Quote of the Day

Mild success can be explainable by skills and

labor.  Wild success is attributable to variance.

(via be you)

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Title IX Watch: Stephenville ISD

Regular readers* know my problem with Title IX is really with proportionality.  I'm all for equal opportunities, equal facilities, equal coaching, equal scheduling, etc.

It's the danged quota system Title IX has become that drives me nuts.

That brings us to Stephenville ISD and their Title IX issues.  It doesn't appear that activists are fighting for quotas.  Rather, it looks as though their issues are with those things Title IX was meant to protect.

Their website (Bee an Athlete!) points out problems in girls' athletics at SHS: 

Girls have fewer coaches.

Girls are provided less opportunity to compete in contests.

Boys ride in the latest chartered buses, and girls get generic yellow buses.

SISD provides a service to boys that works to secure them a college football scholarship. Girls have nothing similar.

Boys have a very nice baseball field right next the the high school (which includes their locker rooms and training facilities) while girls have a clearly inferior softball facility across town.

Boys have locker rooms that resemble lounges complete with leather couches, video games, big screen televisions and refrigerators while girls have nothing similar.

Girls have coaches with little knowledge of the sport they are coaching while boys are provided knowledgeable coaches.

The list goes on. SISD wants you to believe girls just aren’t interested in sports. In fact girls are interested but SISD treats them so poorly that the majority of them quit or fail to go out next season. The interest is there but SISD kills it.

OUCH!!

We in the swimming community might have a bit of trouble relating to those problems, right?  You can go right down the line and see that our girls and boys are provided the same of everything, from coaching to bus rides.  Maybe it's time for school districts to hire swim coaches as athletic directors to straighten things out...


* Guessin' we is up ta 'round fitty er so

Quote of the Day

Beware of averages.  The average person

has one breast and one testicle.

Dixy Lee Ray

LAC Tragedy

(via LAC)

Lakeside coach Kyle Tilley was killed in a car wreck late Saturday evening.  More here.

The trooper told them the two cars were cutting each other off and chasing at a high speed before one of them struck Tilley’s car.

“They wanted us to know up front that Kyle had done nothing wrong,” said Kyle’s father, Larry Tilley of Flower Mound.

Kyle’s mother, Dona Tilley, said her son loved Star Wars, comic books and swimming. He joined the neighborhood swim team as a boy because his asthma and allergies held him back in other sports.

She said her son enjoyed coaching but was considering a career as a firefighter or high school history teacher. He was working on his teaching certification and hoped to coach high school swimming, too.

Quote of the Day

Patience is also a form of action.

(via Mirror)

François-Auguste-René Rodin

Quote of the Day

The truth is that many people set rules

to keep from making decisions.

(via Picture Theme)

Michael William "Mike" Krzyzewski

Quote of the Day

Men are more often bribed by their

loyalties and ambitions than by money.

(via Old Pictures)

Robert Houghwout Jackson

Quote of the Day

If the state is strong, it crushes

us.  If it is weak, we perish.

(via Famous Authors)

Ambroise-Paul-Toussaint-Jules Valéry

Quote of the Day

Only the insane take themselves quite seriously.

(via Wikipedia)

Sir Henry Maximilian "Max" Beerbohm

Super Creepy Rob Lowe

Quote of the Day

Failure is just success rounded down.

(via The Citizen)

Ryan M. North

Quote of the Day

I am always nervous before the start of a race.

It helps me to say to myself to try my very

best.  That is my commitment.  No matter

how bad it gets, I will try my hardest.

(via Vimeo)

Dean Karnazes

Once Emerging, Now Fading

When it comes to athletics, it's easy to see Title IX has devolved into nothing more than a quota system.  Championing equal facilities, budgets, coaching, scheduling, etc. have taken a back seat to pushing proportionality.

NCAA schools were encouraged to add equestrian in an attempt to meet one (1) of Title IX's three (3) prongs.

Bad news, folks.  It looks like the "emerging" sport of gallopin' & jumpin' is headed fer the glue factory.

More here and here.

For the first time since 2000, the school will be without an equestrian program. K-State Athletics confirmed the information given to the Collegian with a press release at 9:31 p.m. on Monday.

Due to a recommendation from the NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics, K-State Athletics will part ways with its equestrian program after next season’s scheduled competition. The department will search for a women’s soccer coach in early 2015 and plan for the team’s arrival the following fall semester. 

The Wildcats will dump equestrian and add soccer, but Oklahoma State isn't ready to part with their Tack Pack just yet.

“The status of equestrian as an NCAA sport is still to be determined,” said Gavin Lang, OSU associate athletic director, media relations. “… That recommendation (by the NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics) must be accepted at several levels before being implemented. There is no timetable.”

KSU dropping equestrian leaves OSU, Baylor and TCU as the only Big 12 schools with equestrian teams. Due to Title IX, KSU is adding a women’s soccer team to replace equestrian.

If OSU’s equestrian team were to be discontinued, the university would have to add another women’s sport due to NCAA requirements. The assumed replacement would be volleyball, as OSU is the only Big 12 school without a women’s volleyball team.

(via The Trademark Blog)

It's only a matter of time before the Kansas State faithful start hollerin' "Save our horses!  Start a polo team!"

Updates

South Texas Flying Fish masters coach Dirk Marshall appeared on yesterday's MSS:


Also on Swimming World, TWST raised over $3,500 for the Karen T. Stall Research & Breast Foundation.  More here.

Women's swimming will return to Indiana State in 2016.  More here.

Press release makes it sound like something new, but ISU did have men's and women's teams until the sport was discontinued in 1982.

That pic of "The Launch" was part of the slide show at the Marcus Whitman Hall of Fame induction ceremony last week.  Clare & I:

The man that started it all, coach Henry Savage:

Oh how patient he must have been to put up with me for four years...

Quote of the Day

I make mistakes, I'll be the second to admit it.

Jean Kerr

Quote of the Day

Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be.

(via Parade)

John Robert Wooden

Void of Rhyme or Reason

Time for another random-ish post:


USA Swimming is easing standards for the Minnesota Grand Prix.  More here.  All about the $$$?

TOC has a couple of threads going on "best" and "worst" coaches to work for:

Best

Worst

Best coaches I've worked for (guys like Warren Trahan & Terry Cron) trusted us to know our sport and take care of business.  Only time they ever got more involved was to support us when issues arose.  Great communicators who took great care of their coaches and athletes.

Worst coaches I've worked for micromanaged us into submission.  We became paper-pushers working to further their careers.  Those folks didn't give a rip about our athletes or coaches.

Georgia Tech's Brad Homza (Westwood HS) was the ACC's Diver of the Week.  More here.

The City of Conroe needs an aquatics coordinator.

If/when the UIL adds polo - about the same time the Title IX quota system makes it to Texas? - will schools be under pressure to only add it for girls?

Funny hearing high school swim coaches complain about our country being run by the Chicago political machine.  They don't even realize they're being run by the West Texas political machine...

Looks like the Cal field hockey facility issue may be ready for the lawyers.  Not sure what's up?  Catch up here.  The latest:

Three Cal field hockey players considering filing Title IX lawsuit over potential loss of field

I hope they get the school to straighten out the mess before it goes that far.  If it takes a suit to get results, I'm behind the girls one hundred percent.  Problems like this are what Title IX protection is all about.

The Twin Lakes Family YMCA is still looking for an aquatics director!

Oh yeah, made it into the Marcus Whitman Hall of Fame.  Story here.

Quote of the Day

When a girl marries, she exchanges

the attentions of all the other men

of her acquaintance for the

inattention of just one.

Helen Rowland

First they came for the diving boards...

...and I did not speak out - because I was not a diver.

Then they came for the jump ropes, and I did not speak out - because I'm neither a jumper nor a roper.

Then they came for the swings, and I did not speak out  - because I'm not a swinger.

(via Playing in the World Game)

Well, that didn't quite go as planned...let's skip that part and get right to this story:

Killer Swings and Other Playground Myths

Seems insurance companies are pressuring schools to eliminate anything that might result in an injury now and then.

Remember climbing to the top of the gymnasium on a rope?  Don't see many of those around anymore, do ya?

And, of course, the reporter managed to find that nervous mom who is more than willing to back the school for this insane move:

Muge Kaineoz's daughter will be starting school next year. She's in favor of the decision to remove swings. "When she starts elementary school, those swings can get crazy! 

CRAZY! Just crazy. I mean swings go back and forth and high in the air. There are no straps keeping the kids on the seat. There isn’t a net to catch the kids if they go flying into the air and for goodness sake, they do this swinging thing in the open--there's no fence placed around the swingers to protect kids who might walk by and not notice the human wrecking ball flying through the air!  OF COURSE THESE KILLERS SHOULD BE BANNED. So really, everything should be banned because everything is potentially dangerous, right? EVERYTHING CAN KILL.

(via 1000 Awesome Things)

Since schools have removed just about all the hazards insurance companies can think of, those premiums they charge must be down to about zero by now, right?

Quote of the Day

Free competition is worth more

to society than it costs.

(via Wikipedia)

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

Quote of the Day

The public regards lawyers with great distrust.

They think lawyers are smarter than the average

guy but use their intelligence deviously.  Well,

they're wrong.  Usually they are not smarter.

(via Q961)

Francis Lee "F. Lee" Bailey, Jr.

Quote of the Day

Just because something is trending

doesn't mean you jump on it.

(via ADWEEK)

Nancy Hill

Quote of the Day

Authority is permission to spew

platitudes to people below you.

(via Twitter)

Rob Payne

Quote of the Day

A wise man distrusts his neighbor.  A wiser man

distrusts both his neighbor and himself.  The

wisest man of all distrusts his government.

(via Britannica)

Janet Miriam Holland Taylor Caldwell

Quote of the Day

I don't think I have ever been out of control.

(via ARHE)

Robert Montgomery "Bob" Knight