This op-ed comes courtesy of Darrell Fick, a former U.S. Nationwide Staff swimmer and three-time All-American on the College of Texas who has additionally served as a Division I coach on the collegiate stage.
Word: Opinions on this article don’t essentially mirror the views of SwimSwam as a complete.
I wasn’t precisely a pure within the pool. I received kicked out of swimming classes thrice earlier than my mother begged an teacher to offer me an opportunity. At age 9, I lastly began swimming. Twelve years later, I represented the US behind the Iron Curtain on the nationwide staff. Swimming didn’t simply train me to swim quicker—it taught me resilience, grit, and the worth of somebody believing in you.
Now, that probability I used to be given is slipping away for too many younger athletes. Collegiate swimming, a bedrock of alternative and improvement, is underneath menace—particularly for younger males. The SEC’s resolution to cap males’s swimming and diving rosters at 22 athletes, whereas different conferences adhere to the Home v. NCAA settlement’s advice of 30, is a shortsighted transfer that jeopardizes the way forward for our sport. If we don’t act now, we threat chopping not simply rosters however desires, alternatives, and the center of what makes swimming and diving nice.
Why Roster Cuts Damage Us All
Let me cease the trolls proper right here: This isn’t about telling a gaggle of “privileged” younger athletes to “simply swim quicker” or “recover from it.” These student-athletes have labored their butts off to get the place they’re. They’ve made sacrifices most individuals will not be keen to make. Championships are gained with depth, and improvement takes time. Shrinking rosters destroys each.
Smaller rosters remove the possibility for freshmen to develop, strip groups of the depth wanted to handle accidents or sicknesses, and create a “fight-for-your-life” tradition that undermines staff unity.
Take Shaun Jordan, for instance. He walked onto the Texas staff and labored his technique to changing into a two-time Olympic gold medalist and member of 4 consecutive NCAA championship groups. He was a captain his senior 12 months. Shaun just lately informed me that with a 22-athlete cap, he by no means would have made the staff. His story isn’t distinctive; it’s the story of collegiate swimming—a story of alternative assembly exhausting work and grit.
The younger males on these groups are a superb crew—like a household supporting one another. It breaks my coronary heart to think about them being informed they now not have a seat on the desk. I’ve seen the psychological toll this takes—their faculty, lives, and sense of belonging all disrupted. And for what? To save lots of a small amount of cash or adjust to some random compliance quantity? It’s short-sighted and incorrect.
Aggressive Drawback for the SEC
The 22-athlete roster cap places SEC colleges at a big drawback towards groups in different conferences with 30-athlete rosters. Athletic administrators within the SEC dedicate appreciable sources to gaining aggressive benefits—however this resolution achieves the alternative. Information exhibits that championship-winning rosters persistently common 35 athletes, and when comparable athletes compete, a 30-man staff beats a 22-man squad 65% of the time.
I get it—followers of non-SEC colleges may be joyful to see the convention’s powerhouse groups at an obstacle. However belief me, the SEC isn’t stopping right here. They’re hoping to persuade different conferences to undertake the identical 22-athlete cap, which might finally hurt your entire sport. Do we actually need to stage the taking part in subject by dragging everybody down as an alternative of lifting applications up?
It’s essential to notice {that a} 30-athlete cap is already a compromise. Traditionally, championship groups averaged 35–37 athletes, permitting for depth, resilience, and improvement. Decreasing rosters additional dangers undermining the very basis of aggressive collegiate swimming.
Foreshadowing the Way forward for 22-Man Rosters
If we enable 22-man rosters to grow to be the norm, the panorama of collegiate swimming will change dramatically—and never for the higher. Faculties will solely be capable of recruit athletes who already meet NCAA Championship A or B closing occasions. What number of younger males meet these standards every year? Not sufficient to maintain the rosters required to keep up the depth and competitiveness of at present’s groups. The steadiness of athletes will probably come from Europe and Asia (or switch portals, I suppose) as recruiting shifts to prioritize speedy outcomes over long-term improvement.
And what about diving? Some applications may remove diving totally to maximise their restricted roster slots or lower swimming and retain diving. Lengthy-distance swimming may be eradicated, as groups sacrifice these occasions to concentrate on sprinters and relays for factors.
We’ll additionally lose good coaches—devoted leaders who didn’t signal as much as run applications constructed on fixed roster turnover, recruiting uncertainty, and restricted alternatives for athlete improvement. These are the unintended penalties of 22-man rosters, and so they’ll harm not simply the athletes however the very coronary heart of collegiate swimming.
The Ripple Impact
Collegiate swimming is the spine of America’s Olympic dominance. NCAA athletes contributed 83% of Staff USA’s swimming medals in Tokyo. Chopping rosters to 22 doesn’t simply harm school applications; it weakens the pipeline that feeds our nationwide groups. With the LA 2028 Olympics on the horizon, this subject isn’t nearly school swimming. It’s about our id as a nation that values excellence and alternative in athletics. Will we need to be the nation that shortchanged its athletes as a result of chopping rosters was extra easy than fixing difficult issues?
Mentorship and Alternative
As a coach, mentor, and advocate, I’ve seen how swimming modifications lives. The self-discipline and resilience athletes acquire within the pool put together them for fulfillment lengthy after their aggressive careers finish. However these life classes are in danger if we maintain pulling the rug from underneath younger athletes.
I consider the student-athletes I mentor—college students who steadiness teachers with grueling coaching schedules. These younger women and men are studying expertise that make them leaders of their communities and industries. Eliminating “walk-on” alternatives in males’s and ladies’s swimming and diving—and throughout all sports activities—is devastating. Stroll-ons have at all times been a few of the hardest employees in our sport. From my days as an athlete to my years as a coach, I’ve seen firsthand how these teammates encourage whole groups. Their time drops in early heats typically set the momentum for championship swimming. Many of those athletes go on to thrive of their chosen professions and provides again generously to their applications and communities. Stroll-ons are the center and soul of collegiate sports activities, and dropping them means dropping a vital a part of what makes our groups nice.
Being a swimmer in any program is like having a 5-10-year head begin on the competitors in the true world. Once we lower their alternatives, we’re not simply chopping athletes; we’re chopping future medical doctors, engineers, and entrepreneurs.
A Name to Motion
Right here’s what you are able to do proper now:
- Advocate: Contact SEC athletic administrators and college presidents. Inform them to assist the 30-athlete roster cap. Encourage them to assist present athletes transition easily, not simply present them the door.
- File Complaints: Present and future athletes and coaches can file objections by emailing Tom Wiegand at [email protected] and duplicate Anna Starobinets at [email protected]. They will present steering and a template to make sure your voice is heard. Complaints have to be filed by January 31.
- Have interaction on Social Media: Public stress works. Share your story and tag decision-makers, particularly ADs and their Presidents.
- Help Native Groups by Filling the stands at collegiate meets, having fun with the joys of competitors, and exhibiting colleges that swimming issues.
Collectively, we are able to make a distinction for the following era of swimmers. Bob Bowman, the coach of Texas swimming and Michael Phelps’ longtime mentor, says, “Attaining middleman, progressive targets regularly produces on a regular basis excellence—and retains your sport plan aligned together with your imaginative and prescient.” Let’s align our imaginative and prescient now to guard the way forward for collegiate swimming.
ABOUT DARRELL FLICK
Darrell Fick is a former U.S. Nationwide Staff swimmer and three-time All-American for The College of Texas, the place he additionally served as staff captain. Over his storied profession, Darrell has been a champion within the pool, a founding age group staff coach, a D1 collegiate coach, and a devoted advocate for swimming. He has spent over 40 years giving again to the game that formed him, supporting younger athletes as a coach, mentor, and fundraiser. Off the pool deck, Darrell constructed a profitable 31-year pharmaceutical gross sales and advertising and marketing profession. As a lifetime Longhorn, he continues to assist younger swimmers succeed out and in of the water.
