Over the past year, collegiate institutions have cut or suspended over 300 programs due to Athletic Departments’ inability to financially and/or administratively support their swim teams. These cuts represent the significant loss of opportunity for thousands of student-athletes who consistently achieve the highest levels of academia and athletics throughout their school as well as the entire United States. However, over the past several months a few organizations have emerged to support the well-being of college swimming, and one of the newest efforts originates from Swim Blogs United.
Andy Scherer (Founder of TheSwimmersCircle.com) and Braden Keith (Co-Owner of TheSwimmersCircle.com) have collaborated with several of the most well-known swimming blogs and have formed Swim Blogs United (SBU). Aimed to be one of the biggest alliances of swimming websites, SBU will focus on supporting collegiate level swimming from a journalistic and blogging front.
Along with the ongoing editorial support from all partner sites, Swim Blogs United is also dedicated to support and work hand-in-hand with the financial efforts of Go For 5!. Through the SBU logos found on partner sites, visitors are able to make tax-deductable donations to Go For 5! Donations will help Go For 5! raise awareness, fund facilities, endow scholarships, and do whatever it takes to save college swimming programs.
“It is TSC’s (TheSwimmersCircle’s) goal as well as the goal of Swim Blogs United to consistently and uniformly raise awareness with regard to the cutting or suspending of collegiate swimming programs” Scherer commented. He went on to say, “Thanks to the efforts of the sites involved with SBU, we (the swim blogging community) will also be able to make a significant financial difference in the efforts of Go For 5!.”
Currently, Swim Blogs United consists of sites:
- http://TheSwimmersCircle.com (Andy Scherer & Braden Keith)
- www.TexasSwimming.org (Bob Button)
- http://the17thman.com (Joel McKenna)
- http://swimviking.blogspot.com (Shawn Klosterman)
- http://mastersswimmersblog.com (Tracy Barbutes)
- http://swimdr549.blogspot.com (David Rieder)
To find out more information on how you can support the efforts of Swim Blogs United and make a true difference in the world of collegiate swimming, please visit http://theswimmerscircle.com/swimblogsunited or contact Andy Scherer at swimmerscircle@hotmail.com.
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Hey, I’ve been really busy and having email trouble (I can get emails on my phone but not send them), but I definitely want to be part of Swim Blogs United. swimdr549.blogspot.com
I’ll post the logo on my blog this weekend.
I was wondering where you went off to, David! We’d love to have you on board with the efforts! Let me know if you need anything with regard to the logo or links, etc.
As an update, SBU has added another two blogs to the mix with North Carolina Aquatic Club’s Ryan Woodruff joining on the efforts.