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
Paul,
"Coaches are clueless" (here in RI) could be part of it. Maybe it's not always their fault. I would frequently witness coach-swimmer discussions/arguments wherein the coach would be trying to get the swimmer to swim a certain event that the swimmer did not want to swim...in order to affect the outcome of the meet (i.e. win it). Too many times I'd see the swimmer win that argument and the team would lose the meet simply because the kid didn't want to swim the event the coach was asking. That's selfishness on the kid's part. But the coach ought not put up with that. In the case I described above where I became the on deck assistant...it was simply to keep the coach advised as to what the running score was. Which is segue to why I learned how to score the meet...
Here in Rhode Island, I consider h.s. swimming to be the absolute worst spectator sport. It is tough on the spectator's senses. The natatorium is hot (for those fully dressed in winter attire), many of those natatorium reek of over-chlorination, and it's loud. On top of all that, never once at a h.s meet here in RI was there ever a scoreboard operating to keep swimmers, coaches, and spectators (mostly parents like me) informed as to the running score. Heck, there usually wasn't even a race clock. We would just be cheering for the kids from our school to win their heat/race. So, I began keeping a running score in the stands, and kept the other parents informed. They appreciated it. And sometimes my score would be wrong. When a kid would get DQ'd...the official scorers really wouldn't inform anyone...unless they were asked. That's where I came in. The coach found out I knew how to score. So she asked me to be on deck with her during meets just to keep her constantly informed on the score. You'd think a good coach should keep track of that. But I can attest that it is chaotic on the pool deck with all the high schoolers running around, and everything that's going on. It would help her in changing race assignments around when the score necessitated it. And still being down there on deck my score would be wrong because the officials would DQ without telling anyone. So after each race I'd have to go ask who, if anyone, was DQ'd. Back when I was on my h.s. track team...there was always a clock, always a scoreboard (or the score constantly announced).
Dan
Paul,
"Coaches are clueless" (here in RI) could be part of it. Maybe it's not always their fault. I would frequently witness coach-swimmer discussions/arguments wherein the coach would be trying to get the swimmer to swim a certain event that the swimmer did not want to swim...in order to affect the outcome of the meet (i.e. win it). Too many times I'd see the swimmer win that argument and the team would lose the meet simply because the kid didn't want to swim the event the coach was asking. That's selfishness on the kid's part. But the coach ought not put up with that. In the case I described above where I became the on deck assistant...it was simply to keep the coach advised as to what the running score was. Which is segue to why I learned how to score the meet...
Here in Rhode Island, I consider h.s. swimming to be the absolute worst spectator sport. It is tough on the spectator's senses. The natatorium is hot (for those fully dressed in winter attire), many of those natatorium reek of over-chlorination, and it's loud. On top of all that, never once at a h.s meet here in RI was there ever a scoreboard operating to keep swimmers, coaches, and spectators (mostly parents like me) informed as to the running score. Heck, there usually wasn't even a race clock. We would just be cheering for the kids from our school to win their heat/race. So, I began keeping a running score in the stands, and kept the other parents informed. They appreciated it. And sometimes my score would be wrong. When a kid would get DQ'd...the official scorers really wouldn't inform anyone...unless they were asked. That's where I came in. The coach found out I knew how to score. So she asked me to be on deck with her during meets just to keep her constantly informed on the score. You'd think a good coach should keep track of that. But I can attest that it is chaotic on the pool deck with all the high schoolers running around, and everything that's going on. It would help her in changing race assignments around when the score necessitated it. And still being down there on deck my score would be wrong because the officials would DQ without telling anyone. So after each race I'd have to go ask who, if anyone, was DQ'd. Back when I was on my h.s. track team...there was always a clock, always a scoreboard (or the score constantly announced).
Dan
