April 19th, 1996... I received a phone call that changed me somehow. For the better, I hope. That day is the day my brother Robb's life ended. My brother Rich called and simply said: "it's over, he's gone". He and I just spent a moment on the phone first holding back the tears and then letting them go in the knowledge that Robb lived up to his promise that quantity of life was never going to outweigh quality. He lead a heroic journey of not only battling his own disease, but educating thousands of people young and old on how to prevent it from happening with them. It was an incredibly sad day, but I was surrounded by true friends that helped me keep it together as I prepared for my journey home to say goodbye and be with my family. It was all pretty surreal but I remember a few things rather photographically. The line that wrapped around the street for the visitation was so overwhelmingly positive, the police escort from the funeral to the cemetery.
Flash forward to October 2010. I'm in a hotel in San Francisco with my parents on their annual trek to California. My phone starts receiving texts at like 4am. I figured I'd check them later and just mute the phone for now. It keeps buzzing. I wake up again at about 6 to a call. I let it go to voicemail, then check the texts: "is it true?", "what have you heard?", "I can not believe this!", "Is it true about Fran?" My first thoughts turn to the fact that maybe Fran won in UAE and is coming home with some well deserved $$$!! Then I playback the voicemail of a dear friend who sounds panicked as she it talking about how she refuses to believe that Fran is gone. Then throughout the morning I went between giving comfort to friends and getting comfort from my family. I had an oddly great relationship with Fran in that we had a shared passion for raising the American Flag in London. I was clear at the beginning that I wasn't so much concerned with who made it happen, but that it happen. I have shared that with quite a few of our Open Water athletes since 2008. Probably the biggest influence on me on that October day was a conversation and a vow I made to someone close that we will do everything possible to prevent this from ever happening to another family.
We are now on the verge of a new beginning in Open Water Racing. One where many of the things Fran was looking to improve and many of the things we all have wanted for some time can and will change. Many say this is a process that will take time. I don't believe it has to take much time at all. All the commissions and committees are telling us what we already know. I'm even on one of them.
I have read all of their findings and some of them evoke an emotion of well thought out conclusion, and some of them look as if they have been influenced somehow to not let budgets be expanded.
There is one area dealt with that I will bring to the surface that does not deal with safety as much as finance. FINA has decided that every swimmer in a FINA event must have a coach accompanying them at a FINA race. This is something that I personally have been trying to see happen since I became involved in Open Water Swimming. The problem that arises from this is that we may want to send 6-8 athletes to a FINA world cup race. That means up to 16 people on a trip plus medical staff lets say 20. Fran was not only clear that the $400.00 he received to go to these races was not even close to what it cost to go, he was right. It was going to cost him a lot of money to compete and there was a small discount to that cost provided by his NGB. Now, somehow, our domestic commission recommends that the additional person required to be at a competition by FINA be fully the financial responsibility of the athlete? With this single, overlooked by the media item has just restricted our participation in the sport to those who have the monetary backing to compete. Where would this have left Fran? How does anyone think he would have responded to such a recommendation that is almost completely out of context of their charge?
The financial needs of Open Water swimmers is greater right now as we build an infrastructure for the sport. We do have resources available in the USA Swimming Foundation that could be allocated this direction with a deadline to phase out foundation funding in a couple years. Our pro athletes in the pool don't even think twice about going to World Cup events because they only have to get to the event and that $400.00, with good planning, can cover a great deal of the cost. It is of no fault to the Open Water swimmers that their events have a higher cost at the present time. For this we should fund them and their mandatory coach accompanying them while we devise a plan for them to cover these costs in the future.
They are only going to get closer to raising our Flag at the Olympic Games by racing internationally.
While we are working very hard to establish a safe environment for them to race in, let's not forget that we need them to be there and that costs money, now it costs twice as much. Let's not hand over this sport to those who can afford it, but to the best possible competitors. We have a lot of work at hand and ahead of us. If you have anything to contribute, please get involved, it is the years of standing on the sidelines that got us to this heartbreaking place.
Yesterday was Frans 27th birthday. Tomorrow will mark the 15th anniversary of Robb's death. This is not how birthdays and anniversaries should be observed. I have a very positive outlook and the energy and patience to see that these things get done, but many hands will make light work and move us along faster.
