Is swimming "eating its young?" Are they being burned out with mindless yardage? Do they have to do volume training for long events? Are we missing masters swimmers who were burned out as youths? As to the kids, what can we do to stop the cannabalism?
Fortress,
I agree with your summer league comments. My wife ran one in St Louis for 21 years. The team grew from about 100 to where they capped it at 200. There were a few things that were key themes for her. The kids learned to swim the strokes, everyone participated, there were other things that were fun during the summer that you did with the team - parties etc. She also got the older kids to come in and help with the younger kids which really helped build a sense of team. With this true sense of team she was able to keep a great number of kids until they graduated from High School. She also was a major reason the club stayed opened when many of the other ones were being turned into homes.
It was also interesting to see how others reacted to the team. The team she coached only lost 4 or 5 meets while she was there - having 6 and unders who can do all 4 strokes legally really helps - and more than once someone came to the league meeting with a plan to split the team or kick them out because of the success. We heard people complaining about the fact that she was a "professional" coach. The bottom line though was that these kids kept coming back because they had fun and enjoyed the team.
Leo
Fortress,
I agree with your summer league comments. My wife ran one in St Louis for 21 years. The team grew from about 100 to where they capped it at 200. There were a few things that were key themes for her. The kids learned to swim the strokes, everyone participated, there were other things that were fun during the summer that you did with the team - parties etc. She also got the older kids to come in and help with the younger kids which really helped build a sense of team. With this true sense of team she was able to keep a great number of kids until they graduated from High School. She also was a major reason the club stayed opened when many of the other ones were being turned into homes.
It was also interesting to see how others reacted to the team. The team she coached only lost 4 or 5 meets while she was there - having 6 and unders who can do all 4 strokes legally really helps - and more than once someone came to the league meeting with a plan to split the team or kick them out because of the success. We heard people complaining about the fact that she was a "professional" coach. The bottom line though was that these kids kept coming back because they had fun and enjoyed the team.
Leo
