Competitive swimming is a sport full of juxtaposing ideologies and personal struggle with little camaraderie. The divergent sport is always evolving and pitting individuals alone against one another in a foreign environment. Likewise corporate employees day in and day out work alone building their nest egg until the day they can succeed and come out on top or retire. Competitive swimming symbolizes the struggle for many of the Americans ideologies within the framework of corporate America.
In inequalities in the realm of competitive swimming mirror those of corporate America. Swimming like an overwhelming amount of corporations is dominated by wealthy white people. In the 2006, the last year the NCAA published data, whites were nearly 70 times more likely to be in division I swim teams than African-Americans. Even worse, a recent study confirmed that, “Fatal unintentional drowning rates for 5-14 year old African Americans were 3.2 times higher than that for whites.” The swimming disparity is not just one of race but economic class as the percentage of blacks in the is significantly lower than their overall percentage in the population. Swimming is much more expensive than basketball, football and track and thus facilities are frequently only available to the wealthy. Just as people are scared away from swimming they are scared away from corporate America supposing that they do not have enough training, their family did not have money and thus do not even attempt to succeed. Swimming although it may seem relatively natural requires lots of training and resources to master that complicated strokes. As the coach said, “there are no natural swimmers”. Parents often have their children training to become professional swimmers often ...
... middle of paper ...
...Wayne Humphrey, vice president of government relations for Central Florida YMCA said, "When you look into their eyes, you can see they believe they have a future. Their aspirations and their hope is grounded in their experience as swimmers, as people and as future leaders." Breaking barriers in swimming and incorporation incites images of freedom and hope that Americans desire. Despite the reality fettered by inequalities in access and arbitrary rules as long as Americans desire to succeed and value individuality competitive swimming and corporations will continue to grow.
Works Cited
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=lapchick_richard&id=3417453, http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.answerbag.com%2Fq_view%2F34008%23ixzz182EDMI6i&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNGR0A9-Oke0G2XfSA-83-_nwHDqeg, http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/34008#ixzz182EDMI6i
Racial diversification has become one of the many objectives of several sport organizations throughout the world. In New Zealand for instance, we have many parks, sports clubs, and recreations that are accessible to everybody, regardless of their ethnicity. However, on the other side of the spectrum, there are a few sports organizations in New Zealand, which only allows certain ethnic groups to be a part of it. In other words, racial discrimination remains as a plague in the sporting institution (Armstrong, 2011). Furthermore, this managerial constraint prevents individuals from different cultural backgrounds from getting jobs in sport management. Therefore, this could be a disadvantage to such sport organizations as well. This
The presence of activity and sport is found within cultures and societies all over the world, and throughout history. Activity in the form of sport can often be the purest form of expression for a society or individual. The sporting world is often thought to be a microcosm of the actual world with the problems and issues of society still being ever present in the sporting community. Since sport can be used as an expression of self, it is no wonder that sport is often a reflection of the society that it occupies. One such society that was deeply impacted by the role of sport is that of Native American boarding school students in the 1800’s and 1900’s. These students lived tough lives but just like how it had helped other cultural societies, sport was able to provide these students with basic needs of autonomy and pride.
If you’re one of the many people who has a family member who simply can’t live without alcohol, then John Cheever’s “The Swimmer” is a story that you would like to read. The story is about a guy named Neddy Merrill who is simply in love with alcohol. Throughout the story, Neddy goes from someone's swimming pool to the next because he wants to make his way home by ‘water.’ This is not normal for an ordinary dude to do. Throughout the story, Cheever hides in plain sight symbolic clues that foreshadow a conclusion that Neddy has a serious issue.
On September twenty-second in the year 1862, President Abraham Lincoln executively ordered the Emancipation Proclamation during the American Civil War. This command declared the freedom of all slaves in the ten Confederate States of America. Slavery was completely abolished in all states with the passing of the Thirteenth Amendment on December sixth in the year 1865. Since then African Americans have been free to live their lives without being owned, claimed, bought, or sold. Although this was a start, it definitely was not enough for African Americans to be considered equal. With all of the progression African Americans and other minorities have made, there are still obstacles the modern day ethnic-American faces. Some of these obstacles lay within a shared interest amongst Americans, sports. It has been hypothesized in the journal article “Race and Pathways to Power in the National Football League” by author Jomills Henry Braddock II, that a retired African American athlete would face struggles when trying to move into the coaching field or front office positions (Braddock 2012, 712). In the journal article, “Weighing in on the Coaching Decision: Discussing Sports and Race Online,” author Jimmy Sanderson explains to readers that the realm of the sports world has been heavily linked to white ideology (Sanderson 2010, 302). One cannot fully live the American Dream without sustaining successful and promising career goals. It is possible that people of color can get their foot on the first rung of the corporate ladder but actually climbing their way towards the top has proven to be a difficult and almost impossible task. It is evident that affirmative action has not been able to protect minorities from stereotypes and discrimination...
The triumphant Olympians, in “The Boys in the Boat,” became the national heroes and felt proud of themselves in rest of their lives. Although there was a Great Depression and boys had economic difficulties and other living obstacles, eight rowers continued to win and championed in the 1936 Olympic games in Germany. According to Al Ulbrickson and his eight rowers, receiving praises, respects, and awards from what they earned from putting so much effort make them proud of themselves but they cannot be too arrogant and self-satisfied. Otherwise, they will feel too conceited and slack off from which will make them to lose.
In John Cheever’s short story, “The Swimmer” he conveys the transformation of the character through the use of the literary element of setting. The story begins in an American, middle class, suburbs. After what seems to be a night of partying and drinking. Neddy Merrill, the main character initially appears very optimistic; he has a perfect family, high social status and very few problems in his life. In spite of his age, he feels young and energetic therefore decides to swim across town through the neighborhood pools. However, his journey becomes less and less enjoyable as the day unfolds. The water become murky, uninviting and he becomes exhausted. Also the people in his surrounding become less cordial including his mistress who wants nothing to do with him. His voyage then comes to an end when he arrives to an empty, abandoned home. The central idea suggests that an unhealthy obsession with the materialistic aspects of life can lead to alienation.
At 5 A.M., swimmers around the world get up to go to practice or are already jumping into the pool. Later on that day, swimmers will get into the water again and practice for another couple of hours. In addition to that, there are always weights and some sort of dry land activity. Some teams even include yoga and Pilates for added flexibility. Having a social life beyond seeing the people on your swim team is near impossible. With school work, high physical demands at practice, having to eat almost every three hours, and trying to maintain a normal life, the weeks are exhausting. It is no wonder why the NCAA has set a maximum number of hours to train each week in regards to college swimming. All of these factors play into the hopes that when a swimmer tapers, or rests for a meet so that they are in top condition to compete, they will be able to swim faster than they ever have before and hopefully achieve a best time or get a new “cut”. The same process has been happening year after year, and then 2008 came around and one of the biggest headaches for the swimmers and all of their supporters was created: the LZR ( pronounced lasar) Racer. This suit has been one of the largest controversies swimming has had to face. In swimming, technology, technique, and conditioning are key to success, but when technology becomes the main factor, the sport of swimming is lost in the turmoil. If suits keep becoming faster and more technologically advanced, the only thing left to do will be to jump into the pool, and where is the sport in that? All suits manufactured with a non-permeable material should be banned from all competitive swimming events; in addition to that, the suits should not be longer than the knees, no higher than the waist for men,...
“African Americans have just as amount of chance of becoming a professional athlete as he or she winning the lottery”. This so called goal of theirs is unrealistic and is highly impossible. There are so many sports athletes but majority of them are of a different c...
Smith , Earl. Race, Sport and the American Dream. Durham, North Carolina: Carolina Academic Press, 2007.
Finish, Finish, Go, and Go you just set the new world record. Every four years lots of people gather around a pool cheering for Olympians. It is a very noisy place. A lot of Olympians that are part of the summer Olympics are very athletic, they swim all year around. The swimming Olympic history and background is very interesting. They have done so many new things over that past couple of years. They come out with new rules every year to make things more fair and challenging. There are a lot of events and tons of records that have been broke. A lot of Olympians have set future goals to stride for. I was swimming the 200 meter fly I was at a really good time when I had 50 meter sprint left at the end all I could think about was I’m going to set the new world record. Olympic swimming is a very fun sport it is very athletic. Every year in the summer time every one always sits around a TV watching this it is very famous in America. Swimmers from all around the world come and here and compete. There is a lot of competition there I have found out a lot about the history of swimming. There are a lot of events and tons of records that have been broke. A lot of Olympians have set future goals to stride for.
Swimming is an activity that’s been around for a long time. Some of its first forms have been in ancient caves that have illustrations of people swimming. Some others include in the Greek epic poems “The Illiad” and “The Odyssey.” During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, swimming began to be a structured activity and later on in history became a popular sport. In 1896, it was a portion of the Olympics in Athens, Greece and it continues to be part of the summer Olympics. Currently, swimming is the second most popular exercise in the United States with millions of people partaking in it.
As Miller and Wilson revealed, athleticism is not always analogous with success. Willy regarded Biff highly because he observed Biff’s presence and athleticism, and he believed these qualities would result in immediate success. Today many parents associate sports with success and therefore pressure their children to excel in sports. In today’s society it is very rare that fears of discrimination would cause children to not pursue a lucrative career in sports. Both Miller and Wilson knew the impact of sports on family dynamics, and how sports have evolved from a leisure time activity to a full-time commitment. Clearly, many of the qualitative aspects of sports--competition, teamwork and physical dexterity can contribute to being a success in almost any career.
“I’ve often wondered what it would be like if we taught young people swimming the same way we teach sexuality. If we told them that swimming was an important adult activity one they will all have to be skilled at when they grow up, but we never talked with them about it. We never showed them the pool . . . but when they asked a question about how swimming felt or what it was about, they would be greeted with blank or embarrassed looks . . . Miraculously, some might learn to tread water, but many would drown” (11).
Rowing, also called crew, is a unique sport here at the University of Georgia. It is rare to find the subject of rowing in every day conversations. In fact, it often hides behind the shadows of more well-known sports, such as football, baseball, and basketball. At first, I myself was not interested in rowing sports until my roommate invited me to attend a race. Thinking of the idea, I couldn’t imagine myself sitting and watching rowers move their boats a few inches in water every minute. Instead, I could be doing something more productive, like finishing my English paper. However, if I hadn’t gone to the race I wouldn’t have been able to realize the hard work and effort these crew members put into their sport. Although rowing is not one of the most popular sports around the globe, for some reason people still do this.
I dip my toes in—feels cold. My nerves rise up and spread like fire throughout my body while I watch—while I wait. Stomach hurts. All those butterflies clash and crowd. They come every time that I race—it never fails. There is so much noise—the splash of water, talking, yelling, whistling, cheering.