I'm a huge fan of high school swimming. As an athlete, it provided me some of the greatest memories of the sport. As a coach, I have had the pleasure of being part of some amazing teams at Judge Memorial, and as a result, having seen numerous JM alums graduate from some of the finest colleges in the country.
However, I don't think the current state of high school swimming in Utah is set up in such a way that serves the best interest of Utah Swimming—and its athletes. The environment here seems to be of the (false) belief that Utah Swimming serves Utah high school swimming, rather than Utah high school swimming serving as a component TO Utah Swimming.
Lately, we're beginning to see some of the most prominent swimmers in this state foregoing high school swimming, if the situation is not set up just right for them. And so too, many kids and coaches must constantly brief themselves on the plethora of rules and regulations so they don't find themselves in violation of the Utah High School Athletics Association (UHSAA)—or putting their school in jeopardy of looking like the cheat instead of being a likely victim of confusion and/or ignorance.
How the high school swimming situation in Utah ever got to this point is something I'm still trying to understand. Nowhere else in America have I found a high school swimming having to endure 5 1/2 months seasons which cross three UHSAA sports seasons (fall/winter/spring).
For those states where consistent and numerous top level swimmers are developed (Arizona, California, Florida, Texas to name a few), not one has a high school swimming system that dominates and monopolizes the swim environment like Utah's does. All produce amazing high school programs, but they are fused and fed by amazing and terrific programs affiliated with USA Swimming. In these states, high school swimming has a large number of participation rates, and swimming has never been so popular. The difference? Their seasons are generally no more than 2 1/2 to 3 months long. And unlike a sport such as football, college swim programs depend on USA Swimming-trained prospects, generally not high school swim programs.
The arguments for the five month long season in Utah always seems to be the same. They're valid arguments to a certain extent, but seem shortsighted and even a little narrow minded. I tend to think they're self serving to the coaches as well.
At Judge Memorial over the past 8 years we have not been blessed with club swimmers. Most of the kids come from the country clubs, or kids who may have had some prior club experience but have since gotten involved in other sports (lacrosse and soccer are the most popular). Over the years, we have essentially worked with what we had, and thus, tended to build a program around doing extensive technique work and training for athleticism. High school swimming doesn't require much in the way of distance training, nor versatility. Though we emphasize both, it may take three years for us to see the development of a relatively "new swimmer." However, for the short term, we will generally try to "fill holes" when looking at an event-by-event synopsis.
With that said, you'd think I would be all for having as many months as possible to work with kids so that by the end of that 5 1/2 month cycle, we'd be ready to roll.
Honestly, I could have these kids ready to race in 2 months. The end result wouldn't be a huge difference, because I'd simply take my seasonal plan, pare it down, and still have them ready to go. At the same time, I'd be proactive in that if an athlete really wanted to improve and expand on their abilities in this sport, I'd urge them to find a program where they could do this; that is, a USA swim club, a country club, or both. Whatever gets them in the water, working on their skills.
Isn't that the case with any sport, activity or hobby? The more you do, the better you get? The more you put in, the farther you go? For instance, if you really wanted to be the best bass player ever, would you only pick up the instrument for 2 or 3 months (or 5?) and expect to improve enough to realize the dream? Fat chance...
Since I began coaching 8 years ago, my argument as it relates to Utah high school swimming has always been, "why is the dang high school season so long??..." 3 months is just as conducive as 5. At the end of the day, you still have to get these kids back in shape from their time away from the pool and if it takes you 5 months to do it, what the heck are you doing with all that time?
I know there can be arguments made for those rural schools with little or no means to get kids swimming year 'round, but my argument to that is, that's a convenient excuse... and life is not always fair. Learn to work with the situation you've been handed instead of expecting everyone else to conform to your own perceived needs. In swimming, 3 months really is no different than 5... you still have the get them back into shape, you still start from scratch.
It remains to be said that this 5+ month high school season is NOT in the best interest of Utah Swimming and that the current system needs to be obliterated in favor of something consistent with swimming in other states—never mind every other sport in THIS state. As far as I can see, there is no other sport that covers three school seasons like swimming does. Why?
I could go on and on and on, but the bottom line really comes down to this: is it really necessary that a high school swim season be a 5 1/5 month life? Is that really in the best interest of Utah Swimming? Utah Swimming is more than just high school swimming. By shortening the season, there would be no repercussions as to the excitement that high school swimming creates—these kids will still have lasting memories and they will still be ready to race whether it's 5 months or 3. It's not the length they will recall, it's the brief moments of glory shared that will live with them forever.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Bad Blood? Not here!
With no names or other swim clubs mentioned in this passage, there are rumors circulating abroad that we hold a grudge towards another club who shall remain nameless. In all honesty, I'm not sure what's the deal there other than to say we do not hold any grudges towards other teams—we just wish to be extended the same respect we hold for them. If anything, we remain quite fond of the team's accomplishments as they continue to grow and flourish and reach new heights.
Here are the facts: Race Swami is a small club of some 25 swimmers, varying in ages 7 to 17. Our growth and prosperity will come from our immediate community surrounding Rose Park. This is our foremost mission, which has been clearly stated in our business plan. The way we will achieve this is by offering programs from the bottom up (i.e. kids who will learn to swim), and to serve our immediate community. Aside from a few Judge Memorial kids who chose to follow us here, we never counted on, nor expected, attracting kids east of the I-15. The outlook on that front has never wavered.
Truth be told, I have utmost respect for all the clubs in Salt Lake City and enjoy watching them flourish. The bottom line should always be that we all do this for the kids... And it's never a bad thing when said kids are swimming FAST, regardless of what club they represent. I just wish we'd all remind ourselves of this and call it good.
What's best for Utah Swimming is that there should always be open lines (or in swimming terms: lanes) of communication. And maybe a heavy dose of good will. I have quite enjoyed getting to know some great coaches whom I previously had not known, or maybe only heard about.
My own swim coach, the late Kevin Perry, use to profess that the only way to continue inner growth was by "learning to learn." And to listen. And to engage. Whether that's related to swimming or to life, KP always ensured his swimmers learned and listened. We may have rolled our eyes at the time when he constantly nagged us between sets, but thankfully we listened... KP would say that by becoming a better person it must be demanded of us that we always strive for nothing but our best—regardless of outcome and regardless of our story—because that was really the only way we'd be able to "hit the slider life will surely fire at us in our many moments of uncertainty," (KP was a starting pitcher at San Jose State once upon a time, so he use to use a lot of baseball terminology with us growing up).
Obviously, KP knew what he was talking about because the slider life threw at me back on May 18th, 2004, when the neurologist at Stanford told me that my daughter had a rare disease known as a mitochrondrial disease; that moment could have had devastating effects. Instead, I've chosen to be a force for Lily and though we surely tread on rough times more than not, we are prepared to go the distance with a smile and a lot of faith.
There really is no other way. People are not out to get you simply because you open up to them. They only respect you more in terms of how you carry yourself through the good and bad.
At the end of the day, it's not how many fast swimmers you produce... it's really not. KP had plenty of those (Tyler Clary for one) but it's not what made him special. What people remember most about KP was what he gave to the sport, especially in Northern and Southern California, where he spent most of his years coaching. The lives he touched along his storied 30+ year coaching journey, the programs he started—including a learn to swim program in Fullerton CA for low-income children—those are the memories people recall most fondly of him.
I don't wish to preach or point fingers... I know we all strive to mean well. It's just a matter of extending respect. I guess we'll just have to earn ours over time.
Our objectives at Race Swami are not to supplant others, but rather, to bring more kids to this great sport, and perhaps make a difference in their lives. With or without the blessings of others, that is what we plan to do... and we'll continue to cheer for all our fellow teams as they continue to reach their own goals and objectives. That's what makes it all so fun for all of us.
Here are the facts: Race Swami is a small club of some 25 swimmers, varying in ages 7 to 17. Our growth and prosperity will come from our immediate community surrounding Rose Park. This is our foremost mission, which has been clearly stated in our business plan. The way we will achieve this is by offering programs from the bottom up (i.e. kids who will learn to swim), and to serve our immediate community. Aside from a few Judge Memorial kids who chose to follow us here, we never counted on, nor expected, attracting kids east of the I-15. The outlook on that front has never wavered.
Truth be told, I have utmost respect for all the clubs in Salt Lake City and enjoy watching them flourish. The bottom line should always be that we all do this for the kids... And it's never a bad thing when said kids are swimming FAST, regardless of what club they represent. I just wish we'd all remind ourselves of this and call it good.
What's best for Utah Swimming is that there should always be open lines (or in swimming terms: lanes) of communication. And maybe a heavy dose of good will. I have quite enjoyed getting to know some great coaches whom I previously had not known, or maybe only heard about.
My own swim coach, the late Kevin Perry, use to profess that the only way to continue inner growth was by "learning to learn." And to listen. And to engage. Whether that's related to swimming or to life, KP always ensured his swimmers learned and listened. We may have rolled our eyes at the time when he constantly nagged us between sets, but thankfully we listened... KP would say that by becoming a better person it must be demanded of us that we always strive for nothing but our best—regardless of outcome and regardless of our story—because that was really the only way we'd be able to "hit the slider life will surely fire at us in our many moments of uncertainty," (KP was a starting pitcher at San Jose State once upon a time, so he use to use a lot of baseball terminology with us growing up).
Obviously, KP knew what he was talking about because the slider life threw at me back on May 18th, 2004, when the neurologist at Stanford told me that my daughter had a rare disease known as a mitochrondrial disease; that moment could have had devastating effects. Instead, I've chosen to be a force for Lily and though we surely tread on rough times more than not, we are prepared to go the distance with a smile and a lot of faith.
There really is no other way. People are not out to get you simply because you open up to them. They only respect you more in terms of how you carry yourself through the good and bad.
At the end of the day, it's not how many fast swimmers you produce... it's really not. KP had plenty of those (Tyler Clary for one) but it's not what made him special. What people remember most about KP was what he gave to the sport, especially in Northern and Southern California, where he spent most of his years coaching. The lives he touched along his storied 30+ year coaching journey, the programs he started—including a learn to swim program in Fullerton CA for low-income children—those are the memories people recall most fondly of him.
I don't wish to preach or point fingers... I know we all strive to mean well. It's just a matter of extending respect. I guess we'll just have to earn ours over time.
Our objectives at Race Swami are not to supplant others, but rather, to bring more kids to this great sport, and perhaps make a difference in their lives. With or without the blessings of others, that is what we plan to do... and we'll continue to cheer for all our fellow teams as they continue to reach their own goals and objectives. That's what makes it all so fun for all of us.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
July Meets... and More!
Wow, there's a lot of meets coming up for the athletes of Race Swami. For instance, this week we have the Red White & Blue Meet hosted by HAST and held at the American Fork Rec Center in Utah County. It's a big, annual meet and should prove to be the last "big meet" in Utah until the end-of-season JO State Meet at Kearns Aquatic Center.
However, SWAMI will appear in array of meets between HAST and the JO State meet, namely, two "Last Chance" meets at South Davis and Park City, so our kids can get some more racing in (never a bad thing!). In mid July, we travel to Portland, OR for the Western Sectional meet for a couple of SWAMIs. That will be their final tune up for Junior Nationals at Stanford (we hope the second one can qualify), which takes place during the second week of August.
I must say... the summer season goes by quick! ...It feels like we barely got started. Whereas the high school season seems to drone on for months (which it does), the summer training bolts by like a strike of lightening. Since we returned from the Keys and Santa Clara it's been pedal to the metal. Thankfully, with lots and lots of preparation prior to each new week we face, we can stay on top of things as we move through an abbreviated season. I mistakenly use to think that the high school season was the season of quick and necessary adjustments while the club season was one of seemingly endless cycles. How wrong I was...
Still, it's been so much fun learning right there with the kids; of course from a different line of sight. For them, it's mastering the strokes, picking up on new vernacular, growing with the changes we make to their way of swimming. For the staff, it's just learning everything from meet entry protocol, "give and take" with the varying moods of your athletes, and just being a sponge on the pool deck and embracing the highs—and lows (from which you learn more from).
I do love—and hate—the ebb and flow of this experience—the obstacles and (brief) victories continue to pour themselves over this new club. On the one hand we might receive our blessing from the IRS as it relates to becoming an official non-profit entity; on the other, we might suddenly discover that we weren't accepted into a local meet— and, oh yeah!, we're out of money.
Having been through a number of business-related start-ups myself during my lifetime, I have come to find they are certainly a journey—and a very rocky one at that. But none of those experiences compare to this start-up of a totally different nature. Not only am I and my cohorts dealing with the pains of what a normal start-up would conjure up during the infancy/growth stages, but I'm also having dealing with some very tenacious teenagers... I call that the "x factor times 50"! I must say, cagey venture capitalists have absolutely nothing on a moody 15 year old.
So there are certainly my share of days when I ask myself, "how the heck did I agree to this?" when I'm feeling like everything is a lost cause... including my ever-growing debt that seems to expand on a weekly basis. But then I see the smiles on our kids' faces, adorned with the proud symbol of the fleur de lis on their forest green swim caps... and that symbol reminds me of the perseverance my daughter seems to conquer every day with a mito disease. And then that reminds me of our bottom line mission: to serve an underserved community that is full of flavor and vibrance and excellence.
We thrive to stand up and be a club with vision—not one of countless Olympians and excessive swimming accolades (although that would certainly be a nice by-product) but of a foundation that goes beyond swimming... one that teaches our youth about love, compassion, honor, accountability, mentorship, giving, being proud of oneself and the team... This is who we are—and aspire to always be.
Swimming is just the tool for which we bring these fine (and yes, sometimes moody) kids together... However, we want our SWAMIs to represent more than this one tool; for we want them to aspire to have a tool shed worthy of sharing with the world, a world that could certainly use a shed of worthiness in order to promote a better world... regardless of where we might have come from. Personally, we are proud to represent Rose Park and the "west side" of Salt Lake City. And we can't wait to make a much larger impact in this neighborhood.
However, SWAMI will appear in array of meets between HAST and the JO State meet, namely, two "Last Chance" meets at South Davis and Park City, so our kids can get some more racing in (never a bad thing!). In mid July, we travel to Portland, OR for the Western Sectional meet for a couple of SWAMIs. That will be their final tune up for Junior Nationals at Stanford (we hope the second one can qualify), which takes place during the second week of August.
I must say... the summer season goes by quick! ...It feels like we barely got started. Whereas the high school season seems to drone on for months (which it does), the summer training bolts by like a strike of lightening. Since we returned from the Keys and Santa Clara it's been pedal to the metal. Thankfully, with lots and lots of preparation prior to each new week we face, we can stay on top of things as we move through an abbreviated season. I mistakenly use to think that the high school season was the season of quick and necessary adjustments while the club season was one of seemingly endless cycles. How wrong I was...
Still, it's been so much fun learning right there with the kids; of course from a different line of sight. For them, it's mastering the strokes, picking up on new vernacular, growing with the changes we make to their way of swimming. For the staff, it's just learning everything from meet entry protocol, "give and take" with the varying moods of your athletes, and just being a sponge on the pool deck and embracing the highs—and lows (from which you learn more from).
I do love—and hate—the ebb and flow of this experience—the obstacles and (brief) victories continue to pour themselves over this new club. On the one hand we might receive our blessing from the IRS as it relates to becoming an official non-profit entity; on the other, we might suddenly discover that we weren't accepted into a local meet— and, oh yeah!, we're out of money.
Having been through a number of business-related start-ups myself during my lifetime, I have come to find they are certainly a journey—and a very rocky one at that. But none of those experiences compare to this start-up of a totally different nature. Not only am I and my cohorts dealing with the pains of what a normal start-up would conjure up during the infancy/growth stages, but I'm also having dealing with some very tenacious teenagers... I call that the "x factor times 50"! I must say, cagey venture capitalists have absolutely nothing on a moody 15 year old.
So there are certainly my share of days when I ask myself, "how the heck did I agree to this?" when I'm feeling like everything is a lost cause... including my ever-growing debt that seems to expand on a weekly basis. But then I see the smiles on our kids' faces, adorned with the proud symbol of the fleur de lis on their forest green swim caps... and that symbol reminds me of the perseverance my daughter seems to conquer every day with a mito disease. And then that reminds me of our bottom line mission: to serve an underserved community that is full of flavor and vibrance and excellence.
We thrive to stand up and be a club with vision—not one of countless Olympians and excessive swimming accolades (although that would certainly be a nice by-product) but of a foundation that goes beyond swimming... one that teaches our youth about love, compassion, honor, accountability, mentorship, giving, being proud of oneself and the team... This is who we are—and aspire to always be.
Swimming is just the tool for which we bring these fine (and yes, sometimes moody) kids together... However, we want our SWAMIs to represent more than this one tool; for we want them to aspire to have a tool shed worthy of sharing with the world, a world that could certainly use a shed of worthiness in order to promote a better world... regardless of where we might have come from. Personally, we are proud to represent Rose Park and the "west side" of Salt Lake City. And we can't wait to make a much larger impact in this neighborhood.
Friday, July 1, 2011
It's already July?
Wow, it's July 1st! Where the heck did June go? It's amazing to think back about how long the summer swim season use to feel when I was an athlete training in the Bay Area, swimming as many as 10 practices a week. Many of those harsh days of training just seemed to drag on and on until, finally, we readied ourselves for the annual mid/late July meet in Clovis, CA before heading off to the final meet of the season—Junior Nats or Nationals, which were always in mid to late August.
Now that school seems to start earlier each year, so too, the summer swim season has moved it's respective meets up into July, so that there isn't much left in August, save the few National meets and a nice little vacation.
Still, we have one SWAMI who will be preparing for Junior Nationals, which will take place at Stanford the second week in August. There is also Western Zones (hosted at the aforementioned Clovis, CA facility), for which we would have as many as four SWAMIs racing in, but because of travel costs, we're going to pass on that meet.
It's been a great summer so far. After a lackluster SYAC meet at the beginning of June,—a time when we were just getting use to the notion of long course racing—we've been turning it up a notch in our training regimen. We had perhaps one of our best, most creative weeks yet. Lots of circuit training, lots of tempo work, and lots of stuff from the blocks. We're just trying to keep things "off balance" so the kids don't get into any sort of a rhythm. That might sound crazy from the standpoint of training for the intent of "methodical preparation", but the unique thing here is we have put quite an emphasis on preparation by knowing WHAT we want to accomplish but not knowing exactly how to get it. So we tend to make some "game time decisions" as we go. For instance, how do they look during warmups? What kind of collective mood are we in? Are they up to the task of whats et we planned for that day, or perhaps, can they handle more?
We just want to accomplish our objectives by keeping things unpredictable so our kids don't fall into a comfort zone. If we were planning for a little recovery, but the kids are on fire—maybe we need to boost it up a notch or two. That last kicking set last night didn't end so great, so maybe we need to start by giving them another shot to master it this morning.
If there is one thing I really took from watching and talking to Gary Hall Sr, it's to always read the body language of your swimmers, and to never let one length of swimming go by without trying to perfect what it is we're doing in the water. Every turn needs to be perfect. Every underwater streamline needs to be extended. Every length needs to be technically sound. As Gary put it, survival swimming is great if your plane has just crashed in the middle of the Atlantic and you need to swim to shore, but for short, fast swimming, meticulous and technically sound swimming must be executed if you're planning to race at the highest personal level.
We have spent a wealth of time with this notion in June. Who knows if the times will reflect it for the short term, but for these SWAMIs, who are all still relatively young, we're looking at the long term. I do have faith their times will drop... We just need to stick with this plan and trust the training!
This week, I talked to Ben Sheppard from the Oakland Undercurrents swim program, a successful outreach club located in the east bay that primarily serves low-income youth in the area. Similar to our mission, Ben has built something special in Oakland, CA. Understandably, I was ecstatic to have had the opportunity to pick his brain. We chatted for more than 30 minutes and the ideas he posed to me were priceless. We now have much fat to chew on as we move forth in serving our mission in Rose Park.
SWAMI is still a very small club. We have maybe 30 kids, although I haven't counted in months. I'm not much into the numbers game right now only because I'm thrilled with the kids we have and the fact we don't have 28 kids in one lane trying to make do. We're thankful we have the lane space and that our kids can work on everything we intend to work on as part of our club objectives. There have been no restraints in that department, thus far. I can't really say that if we were a club of say, 100 (much less 50)... I wouldn't know what to do other than have odd and even days for when kids can show up—kinda like the gas wars of the '70's when your license plate was "odd" numbered, you could fill up on X day.
Frankly, until we can get some support, we need to stay relatively small.
And with growth we need qualified assistant coaches! That can be hard to come by in a place like Utah, where the coaching pool is somewhat limited. The coaches already with job are definitely qualified and are working. Every team in this state seems to have a great staff in place. SWAMI has struggled to fill our holes, but with college kids home for the summer, we're making it work for now. Where I feel I need to improve as a coach is in the time I take to help them out... to give them the tools to succeed. That takes time, though. It's been tough to find that time as I strain to build a new club, care for Lily, and balance a full-time job away from the pool. But it is what it is... we strive to be our best and do our best, all the while still managing to have fun and building something great.
July will be an interesting month. We have the HAST meet coming up. Then on to Portland, OR for Sectionals. Back for the J.O. meet. It'll be our first state meet as a club, since back in March we were still awaiting word from USA Swimming... We're even hoping to fill in a relay or two. Make a great show for a small, fledging club. We'll see how it goes, but in the meantime, it's back to the pool for some more fun and fast swimming!
Now that school seems to start earlier each year, so too, the summer swim season has moved it's respective meets up into July, so that there isn't much left in August, save the few National meets and a nice little vacation.
Still, we have one SWAMI who will be preparing for Junior Nationals, which will take place at Stanford the second week in August. There is also Western Zones (hosted at the aforementioned Clovis, CA facility), for which we would have as many as four SWAMIs racing in, but because of travel costs, we're going to pass on that meet.
It's been a great summer so far. After a lackluster SYAC meet at the beginning of June,—a time when we were just getting use to the notion of long course racing—we've been turning it up a notch in our training regimen. We had perhaps one of our best, most creative weeks yet. Lots of circuit training, lots of tempo work, and lots of stuff from the blocks. We're just trying to keep things "off balance" so the kids don't get into any sort of a rhythm. That might sound crazy from the standpoint of training for the intent of "methodical preparation", but the unique thing here is we have put quite an emphasis on preparation by knowing WHAT we want to accomplish but not knowing exactly how to get it. So we tend to make some "game time decisions" as we go. For instance, how do they look during warmups? What kind of collective mood are we in? Are they up to the task of whats et we planned for that day, or perhaps, can they handle more?
We just want to accomplish our objectives by keeping things unpredictable so our kids don't fall into a comfort zone. If we were planning for a little recovery, but the kids are on fire—maybe we need to boost it up a notch or two. That last kicking set last night didn't end so great, so maybe we need to start by giving them another shot to master it this morning.
If there is one thing I really took from watching and talking to Gary Hall Sr, it's to always read the body language of your swimmers, and to never let one length of swimming go by without trying to perfect what it is we're doing in the water. Every turn needs to be perfect. Every underwater streamline needs to be extended. Every length needs to be technically sound. As Gary put it, survival swimming is great if your plane has just crashed in the middle of the Atlantic and you need to swim to shore, but for short, fast swimming, meticulous and technically sound swimming must be executed if you're planning to race at the highest personal level.
We have spent a wealth of time with this notion in June. Who knows if the times will reflect it for the short term, but for these SWAMIs, who are all still relatively young, we're looking at the long term. I do have faith their times will drop... We just need to stick with this plan and trust the training!
On the dry side of SWAMI, we are still surviving... First off, some good news came in the way of donations from some terrific families we have gotten to know. That will give us some breathing room financially (for a little while, at least). So too, we received a fairly thick envelope from the IRS while I was in Florida. In it contained the "thumbs up" we were looking for—we are officially a non profit entity! As Mary Chris put it, "it was like opening a college entrance letter..." the anticipation... yes or no? Usually, thick means yes, thin means no. In this case, it was definitely thick and the results positive. Now we're on to the task of asking for more sizable donations from area foundations. We're hopeful we'll be able to get some help from them, because we're going to need it!
This week, I talked to Ben Sheppard from the Oakland Undercurrents swim program, a successful outreach club located in the east bay that primarily serves low-income youth in the area. Similar to our mission, Ben has built something special in Oakland, CA. Understandably, I was ecstatic to have had the opportunity to pick his brain. We chatted for more than 30 minutes and the ideas he posed to me were priceless. We now have much fat to chew on as we move forth in serving our mission in Rose Park.
SWAMI is still a very small club. We have maybe 30 kids, although I haven't counted in months. I'm not much into the numbers game right now only because I'm thrilled with the kids we have and the fact we don't have 28 kids in one lane trying to make do. We're thankful we have the lane space and that our kids can work on everything we intend to work on as part of our club objectives. There have been no restraints in that department, thus far. I can't really say that if we were a club of say, 100 (much less 50)... I wouldn't know what to do other than have odd and even days for when kids can show up—kinda like the gas wars of the '70's when your license plate was "odd" numbered, you could fill up on X day.
Frankly, until we can get some support, we need to stay relatively small.
And with growth we need qualified assistant coaches! That can be hard to come by in a place like Utah, where the coaching pool is somewhat limited. The coaches already with job are definitely qualified and are working. Every team in this state seems to have a great staff in place. SWAMI has struggled to fill our holes, but with college kids home for the summer, we're making it work for now. Where I feel I need to improve as a coach is in the time I take to help them out... to give them the tools to succeed. That takes time, though. It's been tough to find that time as I strain to build a new club, care for Lily, and balance a full-time job away from the pool. But it is what it is... we strive to be our best and do our best, all the while still managing to have fun and building something great.
July will be an interesting month. We have the HAST meet coming up. Then on to Portland, OR for Sectionals. Back for the J.O. meet. It'll be our first state meet as a club, since back in March we were still awaiting word from USA Swimming... We're even hoping to fill in a relay or two. Make a great show for a small, fledging club. We'll see how it goes, but in the meantime, it's back to the pool for some more fun and fast swimming!
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