Imagine that as a child, a good portion of your time was spent in pools. And as you grew older, you chose to pass on many of the typical teen activities in favor of studying to keep your grades up while seeking more water time, and adding weight lifting and stretching to your training regimen.
At that age, almost every swimmer’s dreams include earning a college swim scholarship and finding the coach and team that offer the training and racing experience to earn Olympic Trials QTs.
Imagine then, the pain, anger, hurt and frustration you experince after you are told swimming has been cut, right in the middle of your college years.
This is what 24 young men, former ASU men’s swim teamates, are experiencing now.
Perhpas even worst are the current hard feelings over how the cut was made. According to recent press releases which followed the official ASU announcement made this past May, teams (men’s wrestling and tennis also have been cut) and their coaches were not given advance warning, or in other words, a chance to save their sport.
Luckily, the Sun Devils and their supporters have not given up on their swim team. Fundraising efforts have sprung up around the country since the announcement. Many are endearing individual efforts such as the Laney family’s. Max would have returned to the team this fall. To help raise awareness of his team’s plight, Max baked cookies for an ASU men’s swimming information/donation station manned by his dad during a recent masters swim meet. Judy, Max’s mom, created her own “swim-a-thon” at the meet by swimming all the freestyle events.
To reinstate the Sun Devil men’s swim team, an endownment of $5 million needs to be established. To help reach this goal, an organized a fundraising movement. To make a contribution, as well as check on the latest news concerning the future of ASU men’s swimming, please visit www.saveasuswimming.com.
Until next time,
Rebecca, swim evangelist