Editor’s Note: This interview was conducted prior to the passing of longtime USA Swimming Executive Director Chuck Wielgus and Mike Unger being named the organization’s interim CEO on April 23.
As chief operating officer of USA Swimming, Mike Unger’s responsibilities include oversight of all major events, including the U.S. Olympic Trials. In 24 years with the organization, Unger has held roles that give him a broad understanding of the NGB and its relationships, including its interplay with NBC Sports, with which he has earned three Emmys while working “on loan” during the Olympics. He spoke with senior writer Bill King about issues percolating in the sport.
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■ On life after Michael Phelps: It’s something we’ve been contemplating for many years. Even after he won eight golds in 2008, there was always that, “What will happen next?” A lot of leagues in the U.S. have had this similar dilemma and challenge. Jordan. Tiger Woods. We have that same challenge.
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For one thing, we will never replace Michael Phelps. What he has done for the sport is immeasurable. He has taken us off the sports pages and onto the business and lifestyle pages and captured the attention of all sorts of people in the United States. But we also have been cultivating so many other athletes coming along. You may not replace someone like Michael, but there are tons of other athletes who are bubbling up through the system who have the potential to have an impact. Katie Ledecky has blown away the competition.
The trials itself has started to stand on its own. Michael has been a huge part of that. But there is great racing with great names in lots of different races.
■ On youth participation strategy : We typically see a bump in the post-Olympic year based on the visibility we received through the trials and the Games and other avenues. So we typically are up a good percent in a post-Olympic year. We’re up about 5.5 percent from 2016. That number is strong but not as strong as we had hoped. We’re looking at how to get more young kids, especially 10 and under, into the sport.
Parents put kids in swim lessons when they’re 5 or 6 to make sure they’re safe around pools and oceans. But did they take that next step? We need to work more closely with the swim schools around us and our member clubs to establish junior swim league programs so that when they come out of lessons, maybe if they have the aptitude or interest we can get them into one of our clubs without the transition being such a large step.
The data tells us that if you’re swimming (in a club) when you’re 13 or older, retention is over 90 percent. That’s incredibly high.
■ On the facility crunch: There are some clubs in the Northeast, for instance, where there are 300 kids on a club and they can’t take 301. It becomes even more competitive to try out for that team. That is a challenge. Building more pools would be awesome. But that takes so many angles to come together. We have a facilities department at USA Swimming that does its best to work with communities and help give them plans for how to make facilities cost effective. How do you make it so that there are multi-use components of a facility? Adult fitness. Swim lessons. There are lots of aspects you can consider so you can hit more parts of the community.
We’re doing our best there, but more can be done.
