We built it, but they haven't come?

This blog has many purposes;

First, we are joining a growing group of people who find that traditional swim programs aren't ideal for many of our young and developing swimmers.  We feel that too many programs today are composed of methods born from habit, old ideology, a lack of new information and plain old stubbornness.  The sport of swimming is an art, just as is dancing, music, acting, brain surgery….   Yet the athletes get treated like rented mules swimming 20+ hours a week.  So many young swimmers are subjected to endless yardage, boredom, and a basic lack of education regarding proper swim strokes.  Much of this is due to the general lack of educated coaches. When looking into the reasons why swim coaches are so scarce we discovered something fairly unique to the sport.

Swimming has the odd belief that in order to coach, one must have been a competitive swimmer.  We know, blasphemy!   How could a 'non-swimmer' ever coach swimming?  Take a good look around at other youth programs.  So many of the coaches have never played football, basketball, baseball, soccer, the list grows…. yet they manage to successfully develop youth sports programs.   We rarely hear any parents ask what 'other' qualifications do the coaches have?  Why aren't we bringing more parents into the coaching ranks?  We feel that many coaches would rather the parents look away while they have their kids slog through another uninspired practice.

Secondly, while this reason is tied in with the first it stands directly in the way of delivering access to swimming to thousands of kids each year.  The typical swim team template is very difficult to implement in area with limited resources.  Swim programs, unlike many other youth programs have made it a habit to pay their coaches.  To the swim clubs out there that do, this is not a shot at your program!  We write this to encourage areas that just can't afford that template to seek other options.

In our own town the swim club based out of the YMCA has had 5 coaching changes in 5 years.  Each change has threatened the very existence of the program and resulted in the hiring of coaches out of desperation.  It's time to scrap that system and tap into the talent that already exists in our small communities.  We have leaders all around us, let's put them to use!

Third, we have made many connections around the swimming world with some incredible people who don't hesitate to share their experiences with us.  Their love of the sport is greater than their egos, and they represent the swimming world very well.  We hope that this blog creates yet another venue for discussion and idea exchange.

Finally, we hope that this blog helps me to stay focused on WHY kids swim.  You can find many reasons why they quit scattered all over the internet.  Let's start sharing how we can help them stay IN LOVE with swimming.  Don't be the coach that teaches that 'fun' and 'hardwork' are mutually exclusive.  Both of us have been inspired by many new coaching friends who have made it a priority to keep fun in their practices while at the same time showing their athletes how to work towards excellence.

Feel free to comment anyway you choose.  Please remember our goals though.  Get kids swimming.  Keep kids swimming.   Make it fun.  Find more coaching talent.