Saw one of the more interesting articles about the past, present, and future aspects of competitive swimming on SwimInfo's website the other day from Wayne Goldsmith..
www.swiminfo.com/.../7720.asp
I think it provokes a great deal of thought in this arena and specifically within this group since many of us either participate, have friends/relatives who participate, or remember participating in competitive swim meets.
I particularly appreciate the parents perspective provided in the article. While I have little children (5 and almost 3 years old), the thought of going through what my parents did with me makes me hesitate to sign up for the first set of SwimAmerica lessons or summer club swim team to introduce them to swimming. While I swam through my school age years, I didn't really consider just what my parents had to go through right along with me.. I was always thinking about what i was going through. Wow!
Check out the article and see what you think...
Rob
First of all I totally agree with Coach Kipp's thoughts. Too many parents and kids want to dabble in everything rather than really focus and excel at a few. I played three sports in high school and even more when i was a kid but I was always a swimmer first. By the time I got to college I chose swimming over football even though football would have given me better scholorships. I had great success in swimming earning All-American honors multiple times. This happened because of the hard work and DEDICATION I put in as a child and teenager.
I didn't train hours at a time as a kid but I did show up every day and put in my time. As a coach, I don't see this as much any more. I have had so many great experiences through swimming, traveled all over, made great freinds and learned how to win and lose because of swimmings focus on placing.
I hate losing but it happens and I still use what I learned in swimming when it happens as an adult. If you lose, you need to accept it and think about why you lost. Was it preparation, anxiety, nutrition, sleep or was that person just plain better than you? Everbody can't win but everybody can try to do better and that is what swimming does better than any team sport.
As far as the meets go, it's the number of participants not the events that make a meet long. Distance or sprint focus would help but putting a cap on the number of entries per event would help. You never see 20 heats of the 400 IM or 200 fly.
First of all I totally agree with Coach Kipp's thoughts. Too many parents and kids want to dabble in everything rather than really focus and excel at a few. I played three sports in high school and even more when i was a kid but I was always a swimmer first. By the time I got to college I chose swimming over football even though football would have given me better scholorships. I had great success in swimming earning All-American honors multiple times. This happened because of the hard work and DEDICATION I put in as a child and teenager.
I didn't train hours at a time as a kid but I did show up every day and put in my time. As a coach, I don't see this as much any more. I have had so many great experiences through swimming, traveled all over, made great freinds and learned how to win and lose because of swimmings focus on placing.
I hate losing but it happens and I still use what I learned in swimming when it happens as an adult. If you lose, you need to accept it and think about why you lost. Was it preparation, anxiety, nutrition, sleep or was that person just plain better than you? Everbody can't win but everybody can try to do better and that is what swimming does better than any team sport.
As far as the meets go, it's the number of participants not the events that make a meet long. Distance or sprint focus would help but putting a cap on the number of entries per event would help. You never see 20 heats of the 400 IM or 200 fly.
