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!
Wow. Who knew this would end up such a heated topic? We had a masters group once at our pool - there were one or two strong swimmers, and about 8 people who were literally learning to swim. That is personally, not attractive to me. I would join a team for the camaraderie, the competition, and coaching - meaning occasional stroke technique input. I don't want anyone to think I am holier than thou, but I like to be (in a lane at least) swimming with people of similar abilities and a commitment to working hard, showing up regularly and things like that. It would be interesting to have the option of being on a team coached by Whitney Hedgepeth, or even to belong to a team like the Sarasota swim team, but alas, we don't all have that option. I don't think I even got a lot of great feedback when I was a kid, so maybe that's why I wonder why people need it. I am more internally driven, I guess. Not that I don't get it - but how can the coach coddle newbies, and also constructively push & guide the more experienced swimmers in the same practice group? Isn't that why the kids teams have more than one practice time, and why the younger/less experienced kids have several coaches on the deck, instead of just one? I notice college teams seem to have (frequently) 5-6 coaches on deck during their practices too - so how can one Masters coach be all things to all swimmers? Give them a little credit (and gratitude, as Rob said) for what they can do. And yes, say thanks for the workout when you get out - that's one way to get noticed! Hardly anyone says thank you anymore.
Wow. Who knew this would end up such a heated topic? We had a masters group once at our pool - there were one or two strong swimmers, and about 8 people who were literally learning to swim. That is personally, not attractive to me. I would join a team for the camaraderie, the competition, and coaching - meaning occasional stroke technique input. I don't want anyone to think I am holier than thou, but I like to be (in a lane at least) swimming with people of similar abilities and a commitment to working hard, showing up regularly and things like that. It would be interesting to have the option of being on a team coached by Whitney Hedgepeth, or even to belong to a team like the Sarasota swim team, but alas, we don't all have that option. I don't think I even got a lot of great feedback when I was a kid, so maybe that's why I wonder why people need it. I am more internally driven, I guess. Not that I don't get it - but how can the coach coddle newbies, and also constructively push & guide the more experienced swimmers in the same practice group? Isn't that why the kids teams have more than one practice time, and why the younger/less experienced kids have several coaches on the deck, instead of just one? I notice college teams seem to have (frequently) 5-6 coaches on deck during their practices too - so how can one Masters coach be all things to all swimmers? Give them a little credit (and gratitude, as Rob said) for what they can do. And yes, say thanks for the workout when you get out - that's one way to get noticed! Hardly anyone says thank you anymore.
