In an Instagram post shared on Thursday, March 20th, USA Diving’s CEO, Lee Michaud released a public statement regarding the current role of diving in the NCAA. This comes after news of notable power four team, University of Virginia, announcing that they will be dropping their diving program.
Michaud stresses that USA Diving are taking the matter very seriously and are actively searching for solutions. The statement announced that they’re working with the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee, World Aquatics, the NCAA, and the CSCAA in order to find the best path forward. Key USA Diving officials will also be attending the NCAA Championships to attend meetings focused on the challenges the sport of diving is facing.
Following the final House settlement hearing on April 7, USA Diving will be hosting a virtual town hall, which will be open to all members of the diving community. USA Diving hopes this meeting will “provide fact-based information about the outcomes [of the settlement] and discuss the most effective ways for [the diving] community to get involved.” This town hall will be livestreamed, but a recording will also be available for those unable to attend live. More details are to come on the exact date and time of the town hall meeting.
USA Swimming is known to mostly stay out of the NCAA swim and dive realm, but college diving is especially integral to the international success of American diving. All but two American Olympic divers since 2012 have competed for a collegiate team and trained under a collegiate coach (the two that qualified to the Olympic team that weren’t collegiate athletes were in high school at the time and would go on to compete in the NCAA). Additionally, many national-caliber divers rely on their NCAA programs to fund their training and everything that comes with competition. Lee Michaud and USA Diving make it clear that the continued success of diving in this country is in jeopardy if the NCAA continues in this trajectory without interference.
100 percent of American Olympic divers since 2012 have competed for a collegiate team and trained under a collegiate coach
I guess this is true, but wasn’t true at the time. Both Hailey Hernandez and Tyler Downs had not “competed for a collegiate team” at the time they made the Olympics.