My team just got a new coach about four months ago. Now personally, I don't have any major problems with this coach. He gives a pretty good workout, he is quite knowledgeable about stroke techniques, and he is trying to build some team unity. Admittedly, we have had some issues with him about showing up for workouts a few minutes late and relying too much on the pool lifeguards to provide us with a workout when he sometimes doesn't show (a much bigger problem for the newer/less experienced swimmers).
The big conflict seems to be from the beginning/intermediate swimmers and the triathletes (I'm also a triathlete, but I have a pretty strong swimming background). Now, this may seem quite trivial, and even a little bit petty to those of us who swam in college and have an intense competitive drive and thrive on the thrill of a good swim, but many of our intermediate/beginners are complaining that they are not getting recognition for their efforts. Thinking back to my early age group days, I can remember when a coach simply saying "good job" to me meant everything. It's what kept me coming back for more painful workouts the next week. Now swimming Masters, I really don't care if a coach singles me out for accomplishing something. I'm happy with an occasional Top Ten or winning a medal at Nationals. But we are now losing a lot of swimmers because they feel they are working for nothing. They don't see why they should swim Masters vs. just lap swim.
What's brought this to a head is that this morning, after workout, my wife sent me a text expressing how disgusted she was with our coach. She didn't go into specifics, but she ended with the statement "I'm done!". I didn't see what brought this on, but I did notice that halfway through workout, she was just swimming laps by herself. Back and forth, no stopping. I glanced at our coach, and he gave me a confused look, saying "so-and-so just wants to swim". While I'm not trying to make excuses for anyone, coach is a pretty young guy, with most of our members being 20-30 years older than him, and I think he might be a bit nervous expressing himself to some of us.
So heck, now I'm stuck in the middle. What do I do? Do I try to talk to the coach? Do I stay out of it? Help!
The original post was about people passive aggressively pouting because of a lack of "recognition" and "working for nothing."
I didn't read the OP that way. I took "lack of recognition" and "working for nothing" to mean the swimmers weren't getting much attention at all. Then the rhetoric on the thread ratcheted up to clapping and patting heads. Couldn't help but get sarcastic after that.
I would hope most coaches try to engage with each swimmer each practice in some sort of positive way. I think we all have different circumstances and are serving very different clientele. Our team is located in the middle of suburbia. We don't attract as many young working people or former college athletes as the teams located at a university or in a busy city. We have some former/a few current competitive swimmers who happen to live here with their families, many triathletes and many suburbanites looking to stay fit. Our club is going to look very different than the one at UT in Austin. I have lots more space for beginners and those not interested in competing in a meet. They can need a lot of extra attention - but that doesn't make them childish or needy.
The original post was about people passive aggressively pouting because of a lack of "recognition" and "working for nothing."
I didn't read the OP that way. I took "lack of recognition" and "working for nothing" to mean the swimmers weren't getting much attention at all. Then the rhetoric on the thread ratcheted up to clapping and patting heads. Couldn't help but get sarcastic after that.
I would hope most coaches try to engage with each swimmer each practice in some sort of positive way. I think we all have different circumstances and are serving very different clientele. Our team is located in the middle of suburbia. We don't attract as many young working people or former college athletes as the teams located at a university or in a busy city. We have some former/a few current competitive swimmers who happen to live here with their families, many triathletes and many suburbanites looking to stay fit. Our club is going to look very different than the one at UT in Austin. I have lots more space for beginners and those not interested in competing in a meet. They can need a lot of extra attention - but that doesn't make them childish or needy.
