Swim Rant

Yeah, combine that with my type A personality and I've been dying. Actually the HC has 6 years of experience just the first year with us. I emailed our team rep my concerns so at least I'v got that off my chest. I just wish that I could try my hand at coaching swimming, I think I could do a decent job with some experience. I've coached youth soccer and basketball so it's not like I'm a caoching rookie. But please, don't take that to mean that I view myself as the second coming of Bob Bowman. Paul 6 yrs is great. Although 1st years with any team can be tricky for the coach as s/he is getting to know the kids, parents and system. . . Did you try speaking with the coach or board (or if not a board the person in charge of hiring the coach) and ask to volunteer to help out as an assistant just due to the fact that the coach to swimmer ratio is not ideal - or due to the fact that the coach is still learning the system? Not sure how comfortable or knowledgeable you are with teaching swimming (although I've meant to congratulate you on your very good performance at IGLA), but an experienced coach may be happy to have someone on deck help with the administrative aspects during the practices. There's nothing like a well run practice! This "extra adult or set of eyes" has worked well in some summer leagues where there's a parent on deck directing everything except the actual stroke work. It's an extra set of eyes to help with discipline, directions, fun, equipment, proper swimming etiquette, communication of the sets, etc. Just a thought.

education.yahoo.com/.../irritate 1. To rouse to impatience or anger; annoy.

Cool...I lived off Penn View Drive, off of Northern Pike, east of Mosside. Actually, I swam for three different ones Rosedale in Oakmont, Meadowink in Murrysville, and the third one off Saltsburg Rd near the turnpike as you are coming up towards Boyce Park into Monroeville (can't remember the name.) I did most of my swimming at Greater Pittsburgh Swim Club in Penn Hills and then Kiski Prep in Saltsburg, PA Pretty Cool... What What What??? Monroeville, Pa???? No Way!! That's Where I Am From!!! Haymaker Swim And Racquet Club!!!

A few of my Greater Pitt team mates ended up down your way...Mel Nash and Billy Glasstetter come to mind. You must be an Al Rose trainee...And I never stepped foot into the Gateway pool, darn sounds like I disn't miss a thing. I'm guessing this is you: www.post-gazette.com/.../885488-364.stm Small world... Glider that is soooo neat! Monroeville...ah, it warms the heart. I just got back from PIT (annual trip to visit the parents - see also kung pao thread and Allegheny Mountain!). Greater Pitt was THE team to swim for in your day!! (I'm 40 now, so I think I am about 8 years younger than you?). I swam for JCCS. Gateway High School, WPIAL region VII in PIAA swimming!!! Arguably the 2 worst pools in Western PA, if not the entire state. Hulk I agree 100% with. You are the man. Have you gotten your volunteer ribbon award yet? You get one for every meet you officiate. Geek, I understand exactly what you mean - and perhaps our league was more like yours, but the problem is abuse of the system. It got so bad that no one was teaching the kids how to swim - just what to do to win the events - like all the girls would kick free with *** and there were only 2 girls legal in all of all-stars (top 16) who got around 8th, 9th place. Ok, since this is the swim rant thread - another thing that still makes my blood boil is people who tried to draft off of me when I was pregnant.

I guess your summer league is run quite a bit different than mine and that's OK. If your league guidelines encourage that type of judging, then it is what it is. All I know is that OUR league's handbook states exactly the conduct expected of our officials and in ours it says 'Call violations as seen'. That seems pretty self explanatory, at least for our league. That's exactly the same as ours, so no difference there at all. The difference appears to be that I don't tote around my handbook, I'm more relaxed than that. They've been giving heat winner ribbons since I swam summer league in the early 70s, not sure what is bad about that.

www.mcsl.org, it's one of the older summer leagues in the country and is the league I swam in from 1974 to 1985. Paul :wave: I swam for Robin Hood Swim Club in the MCSL from '81 - '91. Which team did you swim for, Paul?

I swam for Watkins Mill. Which merged with Stedwick in 1997 and merged with Whetstone in 2002. Your team name is familiar but I don't think we were ever in the same division.

Unbelievable. Geek is getting in touch with his feminine side. Who would have guessed?

Unbelievable. Geek is getting in touch with his feminine side. Who would have guessed? Gull, caressing one's moobs is not getting in touch with one's feminine side... Actually I kind of agree with Geek here. If you have a straggling kid that's not quite got the stroke (and is doing a DQable version) I wouldn't DQ. Not finishing the stroke correctly I would DQ, wrong kick I would DQ. For something bomething borderline I wouldn't DQ. I agree about teaching correct stroke, but as Geek said this is about kids that aren't swimming all year round...just a bit in the summer. Provided they're not winning based on the slightly incorrect stroke, I think DQ'ing may be more discouraging. If they get good feelings about summer league then they may join a team full time and develop then. That's show I see it. It's like the difference between in-town and travel soccer. If I had to call everything in in-town that I see we'd never get a game.

Really great explanation. I'm all for it. Maybe I should clarify or risk losing my status as an uncaring blowhard (could be too late to reverse that perception). This relates to Summer League only, not year round. First, I'm never gonna DQ a 6 and under and will make no apologies for that. If any of you judges does that, well, you can stuff yourself. No shrimp is gonna learn a life lesson from that. Oh, and if you DQ my 4 year old, I'm coming after you with a friend who is big and can fight. I'll watch from behind him/her. Next, I carefully watch the first couple of heats, as that is when the fast swimmers go in our league. Most of these are year rounders anyway. I give pretty wide leniency on the 7/8s and much much less as the age groups get older. However, if I see some kid in the last heat doing his/her level best and doing a pretty fair semblance of the stroke as it was intended, I'm damn sure gonna let it slide. Blatant turn issues, early leaving, wrong stroke, wrong kick and I'll DQ them. My philosophy is to remember the general nature of Summer League. Most of these kids swim 2 months a year, do it for both the exercise and fun of being with their friends. I'm not gonna be some ogre and read them the letter of the law and toss them. We have a kid in our division who is disabled. He swims the 50 free and 50 back. The kids adore him. He's always last and he always does a version of the stroke. When you see 300 kids standing and cheering for him every single meet, you really kind of keep it all in perspective about the whole DQ thing. Now, USS meets are a different story, chuck 'em all. BTW - tennis is a rotten example. If ever a sport had more controversy about calls I can't name it. There was even a big article last week on the error rate of cyclops at Wimbledon. John McEnroe might have a different take on that.