Those of you who read the thread (How to Handle a Situation--or something similar) I started a week or two back know how frustrated and disappointed my family has been with the high school swim team/coach my granddaughter (freshman) is swimming with.
Well, the coach suddenly decided he had to cut some swimmers from the team and create a varsity squad. Why at this late date is unknown. His criteria--1) grades. In Georgia it is "No pass no play"; 2) Your booster club fees have been paid. DGD is a Beta Club member and dues have been paid, so yea she is a varsity swimmer. The two criteria cut 3/4 of the team!!!
The varsity squad had two meets this weekend. One Friday night and one Saturday morning.
Friday night she swam the backstroke leg of the 400 medley relay in 1:02:47. That is well under the 1:06:00 need to meet state QT. (Ga's high school swimming, not USA Swimming). She also swam 2 other relays and the 100 fly. After the meet was over DGD's mother talked to the coach and told him DGD's goal was to make state in the 100 Back. The coach said that was an unreasonable goal because even if she got state cut times she didn't stand a chance at state! Saturday morning the coach put her in the three relays and the 100 back. This was a SMALL meet (three HSs)--all three relays were before the 100 back. The medley relay where she swam fly was event 16 and 100 back was event 18 (with one heat of boys 100 back between her swims) DGD's mother asked coach to put another girl in the medley relay. The coach said he couldn't because DGD was the only swimmer he had who could swim fly at race pace and not get DQed. So in an effort to be a team player and a leader DGD swam the events her coach put her in. Needless to say, she didn't get a QT in the 100 back. She was sooo disappointed. She did place first though and was 22.9 seconds faster than second place time. So that and all the impressive drops in her times since August is what we have been getting her to focus on.
I get that the coach wants to win meets and relays are the way to go, but I just think it would be possible to have both--a team that wins meets and individual swimmers who achieve their personal goals--if he just managed the events he entered swimmers in better. Any advice that would help her stay motivated? I am encouraged by something I heard her say on the way home. She critiqued her own swim and pointed out two things she wants to work on.
Thanks in advanced. Lainey
We didn't really enjoy our high school swimming experience either. We made the decision, as a family, that there was more to life than swimming, and more to school than swimming. Of course, we also had a MALE swimmer, and as you know, there are very few MALE college swim teams, let alone scholarships. I have watched what other families have done, and am sharing this info - not encouraging you or suggesting anything - just sharing.
In our city we have one HS that has an amazing, stellar, group of swimmers. The coach was a swimmer herself, and loves to rest on the work of the age group coach, basking in the light of the swimmers successes. She knows who is good at what, and the best way to win dual meets, and the best way to win State - and has done so for several years in a row, now. The other HS in the city don't fare so well - we have tennis coaches for swim coaches, previous HS swimmers for swim coaches, parents of kids on the team, because there wasn't a coach. . . you get the idea. Some parents have chosen, like we did, to keep their kids at the school they were zoned for (in other words, the school with the less stellar swim team), and let their kids make the most of it. Some have pulled strings, rented houses in other districts, even relocated, to get their children into different schools, so their child could swim for the "best" HS swim team. We even have a parent who lives across the state line who has rented a house in our state for more than a year before the child is even to enter HS!! We have a couple of young kids further down in the state who are from several states away, who have farmed their children out to relatives so that their children could swim for certain high schools. High School swimming can be a lot of fun. It can also be quite a headache. We have several "success" stories in our city who came from actually really crappy HS programs & went on to swim for Indian River, Florida State, UF, Univ of Arizona and Stanford - in SPITE of the interference from the swim coach & the prejudiced (against the faster kids) booster club. Choose wisely. There really is more to life than swimming. Best wishes.
We didn't really enjoy our high school swimming experience either. We made the decision, as a family, that there was more to life than swimming, and more to school than swimming. Of course, we also had a MALE swimmer, and as you know, there are very few MALE college swim teams, let alone scholarships. I have watched what other families have done, and am sharing this info - not encouraging you or suggesting anything - just sharing.
In our city we have one HS that has an amazing, stellar, group of swimmers. The coach was a swimmer herself, and loves to rest on the work of the age group coach, basking in the light of the swimmers successes. She knows who is good at what, and the best way to win dual meets, and the best way to win State - and has done so for several years in a row, now. The other HS in the city don't fare so well - we have tennis coaches for swim coaches, previous HS swimmers for swim coaches, parents of kids on the team, because there wasn't a coach. . . you get the idea. Some parents have chosen, like we did, to keep their kids at the school they were zoned for (in other words, the school with the less stellar swim team), and let their kids make the most of it. Some have pulled strings, rented houses in other districts, even relocated, to get their children into different schools, so their child could swim for the "best" HS swim team. We even have a parent who lives across the state line who has rented a house in our state for more than a year before the child is even to enter HS!! We have a couple of young kids further down in the state who are from several states away, who have farmed their children out to relatives so that their children could swim for certain high schools. High School swimming can be a lot of fun. It can also be quite a headache. We have several "success" stories in our city who came from actually really crappy HS programs & went on to swim for Indian River, Florida State, UF, Univ of Arizona and Stanford - in SPITE of the interference from the swim coach & the prejudiced (against the faster kids) booster club. Choose wisely. There really is more to life than swimming. Best wishes.
