There's a trend in this state (Rhode Island) that disappoints me. From time to time, in certain meets, they will do away with the 500 freestyle. And (when my daughter was on the HS team) I personally witnessed that it's sometimes because the coaches can't entice anyone to swim it. Lame! Sometimes it's because the team is so small that they don't have enough swimmers. OK...maybe! First, if I were the coach, and I have plenty of swimmers on my team, I pick a kid and tell him/her to get up on the blocks and swim the race!!! But...if the rules are going to be bent by not conducting an event...when a team is truly shorthanded...why not bend the rules differently? Instead of scratching an event, let certain swimmers compete in an extra event so that ALL the scheduled events can be competed?
Dan
We practiced at the Westfield Y for an hour a day, only 5 days a week. We did not have a pool at the school. We did not swim circles, but waves, so we had plenty of rest between swims. If we did 1500 yards a day, that was a lot. We swam from December to March for the HS, then March April for the Y. We did not do dry lands or year round swimming and some of the times we did then are still considered good. There was no recruiting at Westfield, but people knew of our reputation and moved to the town. Swimming was big in Westfield.
My HS ('64-'67) swimming experience was pretty much the same in West Hartford CT, except we swam at a town pool (Cornerstone) and summer club pool. We had an AAU team too and would get in with them off-season. We moved to West Hartford from LI to be able to swim at facilities in that town. Without goggles, it was tough to stay in the pool for more than 1 hour anyway, and pool time was precious. 2k was a lot. Good news was I think it saved my shoulders for swimming later in life without injury and surgeries.
We practiced at the Westfield Y for an hour a day, only 5 days a week. We did not have a pool at the school. We did not swim circles, but waves, so we had plenty of rest between swims. If we did 1500 yards a day, that was a lot. We swam from December to March for the HS, then March April for the Y. We did not do dry lands or year round swimming and some of the times we did then are still considered good. There was no recruiting at Westfield, but people knew of our reputation and moved to the town. Swimming was big in Westfield.
My HS ('64-'67) swimming experience was pretty much the same in West Hartford CT, except we swam at a town pool (Cornerstone) and summer club pool. We had an AAU team too and would get in with them off-season. We moved to West Hartford from LI to be able to swim at facilities in that town. Without goggles, it was tough to stay in the pool for more than 1 hour anyway, and pool time was precious. 2k was a lot. Good news was I think it saved my shoulders for swimming later in life without injury and surgeries.
