Closing Gender Gap in The Pool

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Baltimore Salutes Michael Phelps

Michael Phelps, the only athlete in history to win eight gold medals in a single Olympic Games, was formally welcomed home Saturday with a celebration that began with a parade and ended with a fireworks show at historic Fort McHenry.

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Dealing with the problem has been far more difficult than identifying it. USA Swimming recently hired a youth marketing company in Vermont to provide advice on appealing to male athletes. Meanwhile, during mandatory coaching seminars throughout the last decade, Hogan said, coaches have been educated on the differences in the ways girls and boys learn, in the hope of ensuring that young, energetic boys aren't put off by programs that are too structured or repetitive.

Coaches also have been urged to allow boys time away from swim practice to play other sports if they wish.

"Those are the kinds of things we've encouraged," Hogan said. "We've seen a slow but steady increase since 2000."

Indeed, the number of boys has grown almost every year since by an average of slightly less than half a percent. As of this September, the percentage of male participants reached a 10-year peak of 41.8. This year, 2,912 males have joined USA Swimming, compared with 2,704 females.

But the gap still remains. Walker said girls outnumber boys by about three to one in a pair of youth classes he teaches for Longhorn Aquatics in Austin. Shortly before the Olympics, he said, one of his 10-year-old students approached him looking upset: "He told me, 'You need to talk to a kid at school; he said swimming isn't a sport.' "

Added Walker ruefully, "I heard that growing up."

There is also the matter of opportunity: Universities across the country have eliminated more than six dozen men's swimming programs in the last two decades, according to Phil Whitten, the director of the College Swimming Coaches Association of America. Most schools made the cuts to adhere to Title IX, the federal law that guarantees equal participation opportunities for male and female students. The perception that there are few opportunities for college scholarships could deter talented male athletes, some swimming experts say.

The North Baltimore Aquatic Club -- which Phelps is returning to this fall after four years at Michigan -- has been largely immune to the problem since Phelps began to emerge internationally shortly after the 2000 Summer Games. His gradual but startling rise, officials say, immediately jolted interest in the Baltimore-Washington region, an area already known for quality swim programs and huge participation. Hogan said the area is the sixth largest in terms of membership in the country.

Even so, Bowman and North Baltimore Aquatic Club founder Murray Stephens recalled a time when Phelps swam largely by himself during youth swim sessions because there were virtually no other boys in his age group.

"Ten years ago with the younger kids, we'd have 16 or 20 girls and only three boys," Bowman said. "It's a difficult environment when you have those ratios."

Swimming officials expect to see a major jump in overall participation this year. The September figures already show a rise of 2.2 percent. Given the 4.9 percent jump after the 2000 Summer Games and 7.2 leap after the 2004 Olympics, officials and coaches say they hope for double-digit growth in 2009.

And they hope a significantly narrowed gap between male and female athletes goes with it.

"Now, arguably, our most significant heroes are male swimmers," Hogan said. "Coming out of Beijing, if a boy wants to be a swimmer, I think it's a much more cool thing to do."