Call me an old fashioned cynic, but Gary Hall's oh so exclusive "Race Club" seems to generate more amusement than intimidation. To review the bidding for those with real lives, Mr. Hall announced a few months ago his intent to form his own club dedicated to elite swimming. It has a fabulous location and training facility in the Florida Keys. It will cover travel, training and living expenses. (I'm tempted to ask who is fronting the money, but I won't denigrade Mr. Hall's ability to raise funds.) If you want to join them, send in a resume; don't call us; we'll call you. Let us look over your accoplishments and decide whether you are worthy.
Hmm, great facilities, don't have to share pool time with the non-world class members (i.e. 99%) of a Swim Club, just about all expenses paid. Unless you have your own lucrative endorsement deal, what swimmer wouldn't want to join this team?
Well, the initial members of the "Swim Club" were announced last week. www.swiminfo.com/.../6097.asp Eight Olympians sounds real impressive. But then you look at the list a little more closely. Eleven swimmers, and although I have not googled everyone of them, all of the ones I have googled are in their late 20's or older. Or in other words, 3 of the 11 swimmers are chronologically at the back end of their careers, and they have not yet made their nation's Olympic Team. Closer scrutiny reveals 10 of the 11 are men. Just about all of them swim the 50 free or 50 fly, and few of them seriously compete in anything other that the 50 or 100 free or fly. In contrast to the lack of age, gender and event diversity, the team does have members of many nationalities and ethic backgrounds. However, the most telling stat of all is that roughly half of the members I checked are not currently ranked in the World Top 20 Rankings, LCM or SCM, in any event.
Overall, the "Swim Club" sort of reminds me of the kind of team a rookie fantasy league coach would assemble--there are a lot of names you would recognize, but their most productive years may be behind them. To be fair, all of these folks are amazing, world-class swimmers. Their careers to date have been awesome, and they remain extraordinary today by any standard, except arguably World Rankings. In contrast, I am an opinionated loud mouth. I would be delighted to see them find new speed and light up the scoreboards next year with medals and records, and make a complete monkey of me. As of right now, I think may the "Swim Club's" gloss may have exceeded its actual capabilities.
Matt
Parents
Former Member
lefty,
I really do not want to down play John Olson's credentials. I have met Jon at several World clinics and he is a wonderful human being. Just because you can do something does not mean you can teach it. This is not pointed at Jon either. Of all the sprinters of the last 30 years, Jonty Skinner is by far the most successful as a coach.
As an ASCA Level 5 coach like Emmett, I see the huge amount of planning, physiology, and subtle nuances that are required of the great coaches. Writing things out like Emmett shows tremoundous knowledge to comprehend the whole picture, and Emmett is extraordinairy. When he gives a lecture at the ASCA World Clinic, all the great coaches listen:p
There are two qualities I have seen amoung young great coaches.
First they recognise they do not know it all, and are sponges to new knowledge.
Second, they were good swimmers, but usually not the teams superstars. I often hear from them that their coaches would have never suspected them to go on to coaching. Their coaches often had to explain things to them over and over again. Much can be infered from this:D
I also see that masters coaches are the equal of the age group and Olympic coaches. Heck, give me 5 great swimmers and I know I could make them faster still. It amazes me that even at the Olympic level swimmers still have minor and major stroke flaws. A couple of tenths of a second can mean the difference between first and fifth. No one remembers the loosers.
lefty,
I really do not want to down play John Olson's credentials. I have met Jon at several World clinics and he is a wonderful human being. Just because you can do something does not mean you can teach it. This is not pointed at Jon either. Of all the sprinters of the last 30 years, Jonty Skinner is by far the most successful as a coach.
As an ASCA Level 5 coach like Emmett, I see the huge amount of planning, physiology, and subtle nuances that are required of the great coaches. Writing things out like Emmett shows tremoundous knowledge to comprehend the whole picture, and Emmett is extraordinairy. When he gives a lecture at the ASCA World Clinic, all the great coaches listen:p
There are two qualities I have seen amoung young great coaches.
First they recognise they do not know it all, and are sponges to new knowledge.
Second, they were good swimmers, but usually not the teams superstars. I often hear from them that their coaches would have never suspected them to go on to coaching. Their coaches often had to explain things to them over and over again. Much can be infered from this:D
I also see that masters coaches are the equal of the age group and Olympic coaches. Heck, give me 5 great swimmers and I know I could make them faster still. It amazes me that even at the Olympic level swimmers still have minor and major stroke flaws. A couple of tenths of a second can mean the difference between first and fifth. No one remembers the loosers.
