August 2, 2000
Swimmer plunges into international waters
TC West student travels across dozen time zones to compete down under
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
G'day mate!
Greg Roper, a 10th grader next year at Traverse City West High School, found his two-week swimming trip to New Zealand and Australian an experience he will never forget. As a youth ambassador for the People to People Sports Ambassadors program, he was one of 160 American swimmers who traveled halfway around the world earlier this month to promote cultural exchange through sports.
Roper found that flying through nearly a dozen time zones was not too much of a culture shock, though having two Sundays on the trip home across the International Date Line was different.
Competitive swimming pools are competitive swimming pools the world over (well, there is that meter thing.) There were the wallabies, cars driving on the other side of the road or the now-famous accent and slang of the Australian residents. Roper also noticed a few other, more subtle differences during the trip.
"Australia had a lot more landscaping in the cities, not like our cities where you go around and see a tree a great once in a while," Roper said. "They have more trees and parks, everywhere. In New Zealand, you drive five minutes out of town and see farms raising sheep, cattle, whitetail deer and mule deer."
Roper and his teammates did miss a chance to swim in an Olympic setting. Near Sydney, workers were furiously building, painting and polishing all the facilities for the upcoming Summer Olympic Games starting in September. The Olympic Swimming pool was closed for painting during his visit. So they were invited to have their meets on a nearby luxury island instead.
"The meets were outdoors and it went down to 42 degrees one night," said Roper, a varsity swimmer last year who also plays football and runs track during the school year.
Roper and his mother, Lois Roper Forrester, left a taste of northwest Michigan behind on their travels in the form of Cherry Bowl Drive-In T-shirts and hats for their hosts. But they were very careful not to leave anything unwanted behind on any of their travels in Australia - it would have been a costly slip.
"They have fines for throwing trash in the streets - $2,000 for littering and $1,000 for a cigarette butt," said Roper Forrester, who found that Australia reminded her of Florida because of its palm trees. "There is no trash in the streets."
Educating youth about other cultures was the goal when President Dwight Eisenhower founded the People to People Ambassadors program in 1956. Since 1963, it has sent more than 11,000 kids ages 9-18 overseas to serve as youth ambassadors in both education and sports. In addition to swimming, sports programs range from baseball and basketball to football and soccer.
People to People Sports participants also attend clinics related to their sport during the trip to improve both their individual and team skills. Swimmers have a chance to compete in at least three meets after completing the clinics. Roper swam in seven races and earned a third place medal for his team effort in a 400-meter relay.
Participation in the People to People programs is by invitation only. Roper and his family are not even sure who nominated him to the People to People program. The initial letter inviting him to apply was a surprise for them and they still puzzle over how he came to the program's attention.
After completing an application and phone interview, he was accepted into the program in mid March. He then had just six weeks to raise $3,590 to finance his trip. Tackling it methodically, he promptly sent out 50 letters to area businesses explaining his trip, the People to People program and asking for them to help sponsor him. He then called all the businesses and requested a personal interview, something he had never done before.
In all, the past three months have been filled with new challenges and accomplishments for Roper. Besides some lifetime memories, he now knows the up and coming swimmers to keep an eye on in these three countries.
"There were a lot of swimmers there who were a lot better than I was," said Roper, who was one of four swimmers from Michigan. "There were a lot of people there that were young who were really good. They will be names to watch."