Reply to Competitive (Club) Swimming -- At what point is it fine for a child to leave a longtime sport?

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Reply to "Competitive (Club) Swimming -- At what point is it fine for a child to leave a longtime sport?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]PP at 17:08 and 17:45, you posted the same thing on two threads.

And for

[quote]In addition to catching some of the very best swimmers with the wide net it casts, swimming supports its most talented swimmers through the "subsidies" that the not-so-talented swimmers provide in annual club fees ($3,000+/yr.), [/quote]

probably all of the parents of the "not-so-talented swimmers" don't have any problems with their money is "subsidizing" the "most talented swimmers", right? They couldn't be happier to be paying $3000+ that their kids don't benefit from, because Olympics USA USA yay.[/quote]

I believe that this is the point another PP tried to make.

I do not think that the strong base of support for our swimming programs is jingoism (USA!) per say, but rather that we Americans really value our sports (at any level).  My father, an immigrant to this country, was struck by how Americans appear (at least) to favor our sports as compared to the arts, music, and other intellectual pursuits.

Suppose that the schools asked our families to pay an average $1,500 fee to set up an after-school academic program to offer daily 2+ hours of instruction in mathematics and the sciences.  The best students would be place in an accelerated group taught by current math and science professors from local universities, the good students to be taught by longtime local high school math and science teachers, and the struggling students would be taught by recent graduates of good schools like Virginia Tech.

The best students would be prepared for the national competitions (AMC 8, Siemens, National Science Bowl), but all students could participate in local and regional math and science events/competitions. This program might disproportionately benefit the best students, who would now have structured instruction, guidance, and support for their intellectual pursuits, but also undoubtedly beneficial to the good student or especially the struggling student who would now have the benefit of additional tutoring to gain a higher level of proficiency in academic areas which we "should" value (shouldn't being a good math or science student be as important as being a good swimmer?).  The groups would additionally provide a setting for kids to socialize and interact with each other.

The same arrangement principles could presumably be applied to support extracurricular programs in music (youth orchestras, choirs), theater, the visual arts.

And yet I do not think that the parents who willingly pay $2,000+ in annual fees to swim programs for their kids to socialize and become "better" swimmers, would necessarily make the same investment for their child to become "better" in the academics or arts.

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