Say it ain’t so…
I am not typically that person who posts anything negative on social media.
Until now.
As a former youth swimmer who came up adoring all things USA Swimming–and now a professional who works on the other “role model” side of it all, my words are few. And that’s saying something if you’ve seen the length of some of my posts.
To say that this article gives me a heart-wrenching, visceral response is an understatement:
But it’s just a news magazine, it can’t be right…
There is more than one side to every story. That little girl in me who fell in love with the sport–yes, she still lives–she wants to wake up tomorrow and realize that this was all just one big nightmare. How does it go? Innocent until proven guilty, right? However, the adult in me who lives in 2014 amid countless other adult-youth sex scandal stories thinks otherwise. Given the reports that it is (and was) so widespread and recurrent, something tells me that no, the rational side of me is probably right. Maybe it’s just a sensationalized story from another news media source, right? No…this is actually a magazine I generally tend to respect. <Sigh>
There has to be an upside, right?
Let’s just use this as a great opportunity to give a shout out to all the top-notch, role model swim coaches out there (both male and female) who have set a positive example and have helped shape not only me, but my best friends and all of the young swimmers of today. I’m ashamed and disgusted that there are monsters among our swim family who are trying to bring down such an awesome sport we’ve all put our blood, sweat, and tears into. I can only hope that some positive will come from this and keep all the young girls out there inspired to keep their hearts and minds in the water and keep on churning out yardage to reach all of their goals.
youthsportspt 