Picture that you have been suddenly transported to an alternative universe in which none of the swimmers enjoys competition. You find yourself the president of an organization sort of like USMS and have been put in charge of designing programs for swimmers who aren't at all interested in racing but who enjoy swimming and have a desire to improve. What do you think an organization like USMS would look like under such a scenario?
A couple of things have been suggested to me:
Think of swim clinics like TI offers but based on a largely volunteer basis like USMS is instead of having an entrepreneurial basis. Instead of going to meets to race swimmers would be going to clinics to learn, and yes, test their progress.
Consider the number of person-hours needed to organize a swim meet, just in terms of officials. A tremendous amount of effort is put into ensuring a "fair race" and that times swum at one meet can fairly be compared to times swum at another. If you were able to get the same number of people to volunteer the same number of hours and undergo the same level of training aimed in a more instructional vein what could you accomplish? It seems to me that you could organize really great clinics, that non-competitive swimmers would benefit from a lot more than swimming in a meet and perhaps still obtain a similar social experience.
Would it be possible to produce tools for evaluating swimmers progress that would be more informative than just time in a race? For example could one use stroke checklists to give more feedback on technique? Could you develop standardized evaluation tools that, for example, used inexpensive video equipment to do a detailed analysis of a swim, including all the stuff currently used for analysis of elite swimmers such as reaction time, distance under water, time to 15m, stroke count and turnover, turn time, etc..
I suspect that there is a lot of great stuff being done at larger more established clubs that have really good coaches that could be captured and documented and codified and used in the many clubs that are currently struggling to find a good coach in their area that they can afford.
What can you envision?
Parents
Former Member
Actually I believe the American Red Cross sort of already does this, they are just not solely dedicated to the idea. I used to be a Red Cross WSI (water safety instructor, qualified to hand out lifesaving certificates), but I lost it because I did not keep it up (which can be done mostly by giving free swim lessons and clinics).
I’m all for the “information is free” theory that I first saw in Steven Levy’s book “Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution”. In my quest for swim info (on the web) I’ve found that there is a substantial gap between beginner info and super advanced info. The super swimmer sites frequently have good stuff on them, but too often they are mixed in among mass quantities of super detailed and highly technical descriptions (that require frequent use of a dictionary).
I’ve long wished to see more sites with just basic useful info, and lately I think they have been emerging, so hopefully the gap will be filled. There are way more average swimmers out there who would benefit from more condensed and simpler technique info (as opposed to the few beginners and Olympic class swimmers), so you’d think there would be more sites targeting them.
It is hard for me to imagine a place where no one enjoys competition. I don’t consider myself to be all that competitive, but there is absolutely no substitute for standing up on the block in a meet, even if all my “competitors” are 10-20yrs older than I am. There are not may pool meets where I live now, which is probably just as well because I was getting burnt out on not having more “average” people to compete against in my age bracket
Affordability is another issue. I’m convinced that swimming is a “rich mans” sport. I go through great effort to ensure I have easy access to a pool year round, yet it does not escape me that I am typically driving the oldest and rattiest car in the lot at the pool.
What can I envision?
Maybe some sort of mentor program. I see folks at the pool all the time that I know could improve a lot with just a little bit of help. I used to volunteer advice, but now generally keep my mouth shut unless asked (there has been at least one thread on this topic here).
Actually I believe the American Red Cross sort of already does this, they are just not solely dedicated to the idea. I used to be a Red Cross WSI (water safety instructor, qualified to hand out lifesaving certificates), but I lost it because I did not keep it up (which can be done mostly by giving free swim lessons and clinics).
I’m all for the “information is free” theory that I first saw in Steven Levy’s book “Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution”. In my quest for swim info (on the web) I’ve found that there is a substantial gap between beginner info and super advanced info. The super swimmer sites frequently have good stuff on them, but too often they are mixed in among mass quantities of super detailed and highly technical descriptions (that require frequent use of a dictionary).
I’ve long wished to see more sites with just basic useful info, and lately I think they have been emerging, so hopefully the gap will be filled. There are way more average swimmers out there who would benefit from more condensed and simpler technique info (as opposed to the few beginners and Olympic class swimmers), so you’d think there would be more sites targeting them.
It is hard for me to imagine a place where no one enjoys competition. I don’t consider myself to be all that competitive, but there is absolutely no substitute for standing up on the block in a meet, even if all my “competitors” are 10-20yrs older than I am. There are not may pool meets where I live now, which is probably just as well because I was getting burnt out on not having more “average” people to compete against in my age bracket
Affordability is another issue. I’m convinced that swimming is a “rich mans” sport. I go through great effort to ensure I have easy access to a pool year round, yet it does not escape me that I am typically driving the oldest and rattiest car in the lot at the pool.
What can I envision?
Maybe some sort of mentor program. I see folks at the pool all the time that I know could improve a lot with just a little bit of help. I used to volunteer advice, but now generally keep my mouth shut unless asked (there has been at least one thread on this topic here).
