Dear posters--
My boys swim on a YMCA swim team. Unfortunately the aquatics director is a clueless fool who is hostile to youth swimming. We have a great coach, but the team's ability to grow is severely handicapped because the aquatics director will only allow three lanes in the afternoon for the team. Apparently the Y has a policy to always keep lanes open for lap swimmers. Worse, the YMCA in the neighboring town had to shut down their pool, which left over a hundred boys and girls with no place to swim. Believe it or not, my YMCA (which is independent of Y national) refused to expand its team to accommodate these kids. I am working on a letter to the board of my YMCA asking them to change their policy. I'd like to bring up points related to:
--the benefits of youth swimming
--what's unique about youth swimming compared to other sports
--why a small team (25) diminishes the team experience (relays, etc.)
--any other thoughts
The whole situation is ridiculous and hopefully we can make a persuasive case to the board to change its policy. Thanks so much.
Oh, and in case you're wondering, no, my Y does not have any organized masters swimming program.
Parents
Former Member
I swim in the afternoon, so I think it's good to at least have one lane for lap swimmers then. But I don't know the situation you have. Maybe there are only 1-2 lap swimmers, so closing off lanes, would be easy. There's probably room for some creative thinking on this one.
Anyhow, to make your case, I'd try to estimate how much revenue the Y would receive from the additional team swimmers. That helps the Y manager understand he is foregoing revenue. (The lap swimmers generate no additional revenue, as their swim privileges are built into the general membership fee.) More swim team revenue means smaller increases in membership fees, and that's a fact the manager can use to sell the loss of pool time to the membership.
Short term, there will have to be some shared pain it sounds like. Long term, if you build up your swim team revenue, you can launch a capital drive to put in another pool. That's what happened at my Y. Now we have a small, warm pool for aerobics and a larger one for tournaments and lap swimming.
I swim in the afternoon, so I think it's good to at least have one lane for lap swimmers then. But I don't know the situation you have. Maybe there are only 1-2 lap swimmers, so closing off lanes, would be easy. There's probably room for some creative thinking on this one.
Anyhow, to make your case, I'd try to estimate how much revenue the Y would receive from the additional team swimmers. That helps the Y manager understand he is foregoing revenue. (The lap swimmers generate no additional revenue, as their swim privileges are built into the general membership fee.) More swim team revenue means smaller increases in membership fees, and that's a fact the manager can use to sell the loss of pool time to the membership.
Short term, there will have to be some shared pain it sounds like. Long term, if you build up your swim team revenue, you can launch a capital drive to put in another pool. That's what happened at my Y. Now we have a small, warm pool for aerobics and a larger one for tournaments and lap swimming.
