This has certainly been a challenging year for us, and it's resulted in some surprising decisions and even more surprising results. One of our main pools became unavailable at the end of January when a roof leak resulted in ceiling insulation falling into the pool. The pool was immediately closed, and as of mid-June we… Continue reading A Perfect Storm and Heretical Meet Choices
Testing a Team’s Guiding Philosophy
Regular readers of this blog will know that I favour slow development of young swimmers, with a progression path that ultimately leads to preparing graduating high schoolers for university swimming. This especially makes sense considering the average age of elite swimmers is the early to middle 20s. Why grind a 10-year old when they won't… Continue reading Testing a Team’s Guiding Philosophy
Coach and Fun / Motivation
The Facebook Swim Coaches forum was particularly busy today, and I saw comments in two different conversations that were both powerful, but together they made me realize something new. The first included a quote from the incredible University of Texas Coach Eddie Reese, in an interview with Coach Jeff Grace. "Everyone wants me to talk… Continue reading Coach and Fun / Motivation
The Complicated Issues Involving Weed and Swimming
I have to admit, my thinking on the subject of legalizing weed has done a complete reversal over the last few years. I was initially and emphatically against the legalization of weed for one very simple reason. I was worried that teenagers would equate legalization with safety. However, as I learned more about the societal… Continue reading The Complicated Issues Involving Weed and Swimming
Stop Watching the Stopwatch!
Recently, a coach put out a request on a Facebook Swim Coaches Forum for the top features coaches want from a stopwatch application, presumably on a smart phone or tablet. Which got me thinking about how I learned to properly use a stopwatch. Now, experienced coaches will already know all of this stuff below. But… Continue reading Stop Watching the Stopwatch!
The Flop Turn: Just As Fast and Lochte-Rule Legal
I've been hearing a lot of discontent lately from coaches about how swimmers are getting disqualified in the freestyle legs of IMs and Medley Relays due to the "Lochte Rule". I understand their frustration as many, many, many coaches only know the traditional flip turn. But there are alternative! This rule got its name when… Continue reading The Flop Turn: Just As Fast and Lochte-Rule Legal
We Need a Saner Approach to Swim Meets
This may be heresy, but the prevailing swim meet system in most major swimming areas is horribly broken. Swim meets are now expected to consume a weekend - from Friday afternoon or evening sessions to late Sunday sessions. A session itself can take 6 hours, the presence of rules that try to limit the session… Continue reading We Need a Saner Approach to Swim Meets
Abuse Policy Conversation with John Vadeika, Executive Director of Swim Ontario
Over the last few months, there have been some explosive revelations of sexual abuse of athletes and organizational coverups coming out of USA Gymnastics, USA Swimming, USA Volleyball, and other sports. Even a cursory review of those situations provides lessons on how we can improve our oversight and remove conflicts of interest. (If you want… Continue reading Abuse Policy Conversation with John Vadeika, Executive Director of Swim Ontario
USA Swimming’s Biggest Problem
It seems clear now that USA Swimming has some serious problems. Long term pressure from investigative journalists from Concussion Inc. and recent work by the Orange County Register have pointed out how little USA-S did to protect the victims, and how much they did to protect the abusers. All this attention has led some to… Continue reading USA Swimming’s Biggest Problem
Steps We Can Take to Prevent Youth Abuse in Sports
There's been a massive amount of long-overdue publicity lately about the issue of sexual abuse by coaches in youth sports, especially with the highly publicized and horrific case of USA Gymnastics and Larry Nassar. Swimming has recently had its own high profile case with Ariana Kukors coming out and accusing her long-time coach Sean… Continue reading Steps We Can Take to Prevent Youth Abuse in Sports
