Ok here's the deal. The school that I go to has swimming club but it's not very good. There's only about 6 or so members, no coach and they don't do anything really. They get together a few times a week and decide what to do, but with no real direction or instruction. Well, when I was talking to one of the lifeguards about why we didn't have a swim team..she didn't really have an answer. I think it would be really cool if I could get something in motion to get a REAL club put together. If I could find a coach for the team then I know I would find tons of interested people...even if it's an online one that writes weekly workouts. We have a decent pool, but apparently one of the reasons we don't have a team yet is cuz they don't think it's good enough. I still think that we should have a team...It's a fine practice pool. So I was wondering if any one had any ideas or information about starting a team. Where can I find a coach? How can I get the right permission? How can I get a team registered to compete in USMS meets? If the team is registerd with USMS can we still compete with other colleges? and so on. Any help that any one could offer would be nothing but help!! Thanx so much!!
~Kyra
Parents
Former Member
Why don't you be the coach? Go to the workouts section of this website and print out each week's workouts from Coach Mo or one of the other coaches. If you are going to workout as well, get the team members to show up 10 minutes before workout and explain the workout to them. Organize them in lanes based on skill level and modify the times/distances etc. to the lanes rather than each individual swimmer.
I print workouts from this website for myself because I swim at my local YMCA that doesn't have a coach or a team. You can plan an entire season from these workouts. Start a season with a combination of dry lands and swimming, build yardage through the season toward specific meets you want to enter, taper the workouts in the week before the meet and invite other interested swimmers to come to workouts. Let the swimmers tell you what events and meets they are interested in and you evaluate the team's strengths and weaknesses by what you see in the pool. (A good, large 60 second clock on the side of the pool will help immeasureably so swimmers can determine their split times, leave times, etc.)
I swam competitively when I was in grade school and high school and then coached a summer league team for several years. I followed my coaches' approach to workouts when I began coaching. You obviously have the interest in building the team. So take the initiative. Who else if not you?
Good luck.
Why don't you be the coach? Go to the workouts section of this website and print out each week's workouts from Coach Mo or one of the other coaches. If you are going to workout as well, get the team members to show up 10 minutes before workout and explain the workout to them. Organize them in lanes based on skill level and modify the times/distances etc. to the lanes rather than each individual swimmer.
I print workouts from this website for myself because I swim at my local YMCA that doesn't have a coach or a team. You can plan an entire season from these workouts. Start a season with a combination of dry lands and swimming, build yardage through the season toward specific meets you want to enter, taper the workouts in the week before the meet and invite other interested swimmers to come to workouts. Let the swimmers tell you what events and meets they are interested in and you evaluate the team's strengths and weaknesses by what you see in the pool. (A good, large 60 second clock on the side of the pool will help immeasureably so swimmers can determine their split times, leave times, etc.)
I swam competitively when I was in grade school and high school and then coached a summer league team for several years. I followed my coaches' approach to workouts when I began coaching. You obviously have the interest in building the team. So take the initiative. Who else if not you?
Good luck.
