Starting a Professional Swim Team at the University of Alaska Anchorage: A Feasibility Study ENGL 212: Technical Writing Hayley Holt

Overview Introduction Research Methods Results Conclusions Recommendations

Introduction Examined the feasibility of creating a swim team at the University of Alaska Anchorage Looked into the possible benefits as well as the disadvantages of a swim team: o Higher average GPA’s o Individual’s physical health o Greater graduation and retention rates o High expenses o Not enough support

Introduction Determined the feasibility of a swim team at UAA based on designated criteria: o Enough student interest and faculty support? o Can UAA fund a swim team? o Do the benefits outweigh the costs?

Research Methods Conducted two methods of research: primary and secondary For primary research, created and distributed a survey to UAA students in order to gauge student’s interest towards a swim team For secondary research: o Looked at UAA’s website to determine the cost of renting the pool, and how to schedule practices o Looked into UAA’s graduation and retention rates o Used the UAA online Consortium Library to find information about collegiate swimming and its benefits o Compared UAA’s annual budget to the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ budget (who have a swim team) to determine expenses

Results After analyzing the results of the student survey, a few conclusions were made: o There are students who would be interested in joining a swim team, and more students who would like to attend a swim meet. More research should be done to determine exactly how many students. Do you attend sporting events and would you go to swim meets?

Results o Most of UAA’s students were athletes at some point, and almost all these students can swim, resulting in a large pool of potential swimmers. o More research needs to be done to gauge faculty support and student interest. o UAA may have the resources to fund a swim team if they reduce the amount of money for the other sports.

Conclusions Creating a swim team at UAA at this time is not feasible, more research needs to be done. There is certainly some student interest in a swim team, and there are also people who would attend swim meets and bring in money for UAA. More research needs to be done to determine how to pay for a coach, and what his salary should be. More surveys need to be distributed to gauge the UAA community’s ideas towards a swim team.

Recommendations Because very few students were interviewed, it is hard to conclude if there is enough student or staff interest in a swim team. More research needs to be conducted to determine what their attitudes may be. It is recommended to do more research on swimming and its costs and benefits.