This is a bit of a rant, and I'm reluctant to post it here because I always get politely chastised when I suggest ideas like this. But there was another example of it in today's h.s. swim meet results in the newspaper. I was a track and CC runner in h.s. I began swimming for fitness decades ago after h.s., but have never been on an organized, competitive team. So, I never really gained an understanding of how meets are conducted, nor coaching philosophy. That changed when my now adult daughter joined the h.s. swim team. To better support her, I studied up and figured much of it out. Even to the point where the coach coerced into being a "meet day on-deck assistant" during daughter's h.s. years. So, to this day, I still peruse the sports pages for local h.s. swim meet results. But, one thing that I just can't understand is why coaches (seemingly) don't set their race assignments for maximum points. Specifically, I frequently see results wherein the winner of the 500 free will swim a faster pace than the winning times in the 100 free and 200 free (and now and then even the 50 free). I see this on almost a weekly basis. Instead of being spent winning the 500 free, and getting points in just one event, that one swimmer (presumably) could have gotten twice the points and won both the 100 and 200...and his/her team won the meet instead of losing by two points. I get it that there are team dynamics I may not be aware of; you can only compete in x# events per meet; that the coach may be building for the future; wanted swimmers to get experience in other events; a swimmer had a bad day; etc etc. And, maybe it's stubbornness on my part as a runner at my core, thinking that swim training, competing, and coaching ought to be done the way it is on the track. I know...it's a completely different sport. To many of you I know that sounds crazy. I guess I just can't grasp the swim team coaching and competing mentality. Maybe there are paradigms. I just wish I could witness a swim coach take that approach and see what the outcome would be.
Dan
Dan,
Unfortunately, some parts of the country treat HS swimming as an intramural activity (and New England has more than their share of this). Wins/losses don't matter because it is all about club swimming and letting the club swimmers do whatever they want. This is the reason I WON'T coach or officiate HS teams/meets in Oregon.
There are parts of the country that function the way you think (NY, Ohio, Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin - to name a few). The goal is to win meets and the team members swam the events that made that possible - even if they did not want to. My HS teams in Minnesota were undefeated for 4 years which was a huge motivation for everyone to play a part. On close meets, I would spend hours finding a way to gain an extra point or have a Plan B when something did not go right. When I was asking a swimmer to step up, they understood why. We had divers swimming relays if it meant a point and a swimmer, with some diving skill, even dive once to gain a point or two. I got out-coached early in my coaching career (and we lost a meet we should have won). Never happen again.
The issue you raise is exactly why hs school swimming is important for kids. They learn (we hope) that the team is bigger than them, that life is bigger than them, and they should get used to doing what is needed instead of what they want.
Of course, in your situation, it could be the coaches are clueless - which is a shame. Other parts of the country are like you wish Rhode Island would be. If it is not obvious, I agree with you!
Paul
Dan,
Unfortunately, some parts of the country treat HS swimming as an intramural activity (and New England has more than their share of this). Wins/losses don't matter because it is all about club swimming and letting the club swimmers do whatever they want. This is the reason I WON'T coach or officiate HS teams/meets in Oregon.
There are parts of the country that function the way you think (NY, Ohio, Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin - to name a few). The goal is to win meets and the team members swam the events that made that possible - even if they did not want to. My HS teams in Minnesota were undefeated for 4 years which was a huge motivation for everyone to play a part. On close meets, I would spend hours finding a way to gain an extra point or have a Plan B when something did not go right. When I was asking a swimmer to step up, they understood why. We had divers swimming relays if it meant a point and a swimmer, with some diving skill, even dive once to gain a point or two. I got out-coached early in my coaching career (and we lost a meet we should have won). Never happen again.
The issue you raise is exactly why hs school swimming is important for kids. They learn (we hope) that the team is bigger than them, that life is bigger than them, and they should get used to doing what is needed instead of what they want.
Of course, in your situation, it could be the coaches are clueless - which is a shame. Other parts of the country are like you wish Rhode Island would be. If it is not obvious, I agree with you!
Paul
