“The High School – Swimming Club
Relationship in American Swimming.”
 In
cooperation with the National Interscholastic Coaches Association (NISCA)
and the American Swimming Coaches Association (ASCA), USA Swimming is
very pleased to endorse and to facilitate the distribution of the
following article “The High School – Swimming Club Relationship in
American Swimming.”
During the 2003-2004 school year, over 240,000 student-athletes
participated in high school swimming programs in the USA. Over that
same time period, 270,000 young people participated in USA Swimming
club programs. Many of these athletes swam with both their high school
and club teams. These swimmers receive many positive benefits from
both programs and their overall swimming experience is meaningfully
impacted in a variety of ways by those collective experiences.
It is very, very important that our high school and club
programs work together with mutual cooperation and respect with the
primary focus being the best interests of the athlete that they
oftentimes share. Coach Block’s article addresses this relationship,
makes suggestions on how coaches can work together and provides
examples of where and how this relationship has been very successful.
We commend Coach Block for his in-depth look at this critically
important component to the long-term success of American Swimming and
heartily encourage our club coaches to take to heart and support the
message that is offered.
Pat Hogan
Club Development Director
Part 1 – A Philosophy of Collaboration
Introduction
The history of the High School – Club relationship in the United
States is as high as George Haines at Santa Clara High School and the
Santa Clara Swim Club, and as low as Renee Magee (Houston, TX) being
disqualified from her high school State Championship for traveling out
of state to compete with the US Olympic Team.
The revisions to the Amateur Sports Act give clear direction to
all organizations involved in the development of young athletes
that it is our obligation to coordinate our efforts and respect the
rights of all athletes to participate in all programs for which they
may be eligible to participate.
Stated simply, the Congress of the United States requires high
schools to allow athletes to participate in NGB certified club and
developmental programs, and it requires clubs to place no impediment
on athletes wishing to participate in interscholastic competition.
As we enter the 21st century, with a new “Olympic and
Amateur Sports Act” as guidance, NISCA, ASCA and USA Swimming are
working together to develop guidelines for collaboration between club
and high school programs. This paper is a result of that effort.
The High School – Club Relationship
It is arguable that high school swimming is the cornerstone in the
success of American Swimming. Second only in importance
to high school swimming is the relationship between the local high
school team and the community swimming club.
The largest percentage of pools used by swimming clubs are those
built by local school systems. Access to these facilities
is essential to the health of the club system and American Swimming as
a whole.
In the ideal relationship, high school and club swimming are
mutually reinforcing, supporting each other from both above and below.
The high school team (or school district) supports club swimming by
providing informational access to young students in the school system
and by providing the exciting, dual meet oriented competitions during
the years when short-term goals are most critical. The
high school athletics experience provides the largest venue for
swimmers of several ability levels to receive peer and community
recognition.
The club team supports the high school program from below by
providing the developmental pipeline of age group swimmers that will
become the top high school swimmers. Additionally, club
swimming provides both training and competition above and beyond the
high school level, so that high school-aged swimmers can maintain
lofty, long-term goals.
High school competition fulfills many of the identity and
association needs of adolescent swimmers in a safe and positive
manner. It can help with their formation of both their
public and private identity (“I am an athlete”). It can help them feel
needed-wanted-accepted by a positive peer group. Even the
aspects of school spirit and team pride are vital in the development
of a healthy adolescent identity.
Simultaneously, it is in the club setting where the swimmer learns
to “hone their craft”. It is at this age where they must
decide if they are going to pursue excellence or participation.
Excellence in any pursuit is a year ‘round commitment. It is
only club swimming that allows this commitment.
Challenges to that Relationship
In spite of the obvious symbiosis, there are equally obvious points
of contention. In most states, the high school season
significantly overlaps one or more of the club seasons. This has an
impact on both the training and competition schedule of the involved
swimmers.
Often either major competitions come into conflict; or the training
required to meet the swimmer’s long-term goals comes into conflict
with the competitive demands of the high school season. This
is unfortunate, because both high school and club swimming provide
something unique and of value to the adolescent swimmer.
There is almost nothing that compares to the excitement of high
school competitions and nowhere where both the relative novice swimmer
and accomplished National swimmer can both contribute critically to
the outcome of a close meet. In this setting, all levels
of experience and expertise are important and valuable. During
adolescence, all children are both peer and short-term goal dependent.
High school swimming can fulfill both of these needs in a very
positive way.
On the other hand, American club swimming has proven to be the most
successful athlete development system in the world. It is
both the best possible “farm team” for a high school team, as well as
the best possible source of “big thinking” goals to keep swimmers
motivated between seasons and well past their high school careers.
Unfortunately, it is often the very best swimmers who are impacted
most by the conflicting demands of what should (ideally) be two
supportive systems. Like divorcing parents fighting for
custody, coaches quickly become focused on their own self-interests
(well disguised as the best interests of the child), instead of the
long-term development of the athlete and person.
Avoiding Conflict
The best way to solve these conflicts is to avoid them in the first
place and, like all other relationships, avoidance is accomplished
through frequent, deliberate communications. If
professional coaches sit down together and hear the goals of the
athlete, develop a plan to reach those goals, and then present that
plan to the athlete and his or her parents, very few conflicts will
occur.
Solving Conflicts
When conflicts do arise, coaches would do well to learn from the
other professions. If we follow the example of the
Hippocratic oath and “first of all, do no harm,” both coaches will
avoid decisions that use the swimmer as a hammer to beat on the other
coach.
If we follow the example of law and act in “the best interests of
the child”, both coaches will be required to put aside their personal
interests and act only with the swimmer in mind. Neither
of these can be done without consulting the swimmer.
It is only the swimmer, and that swimmer’s parents, who can
determine “best interests”, because the best interest is the path that
keeps the swimmer on track to his or her long-term goals.
Inequities and Inevitabilities
There are times when conflicts are nearly unavoidable.
Situations where there are significant inequities between
either the high school and club team, or the high school and club
coach are ripe for conflict, as are situations where critical parts of
the competitive or training seasons clash. Even the basic philosophies
behind high school teams and club sports can cause difficulties.
Unfortunately, although there are thousands of gifted high school
coaches in this country, there are simultaneously hundreds of
“caretaker” coaches hired out of convenience by a high school
principal. Equally often, an experienced high school
coach is confronted with an inexperienced club coach who was just
hired by a parent board, because he or she was willing to work for
minimum wage.
Ideal relationships, by definition, require ideal partners. When
one of the partners is significantly less experienced, the
responsibility falls on the more experienced partner to make sure that
the benefits of both experiences are optimized for the swimmer.
It is professionally and ethically imperative that the more
experienced (powerful) partner does not take advantage of the less
experienced (powerful) partner, but instead guides him or her in
optimizing the experience that both can offer to their shared
athlete(s).
Often, the high school-club relationship is inherently “unequal”. Especially
in public school teams, the swimmers do not have a choice in swimming
coaches or swimming teams. If the swimmer wants to participate, he or
she only has one option. Conversely, there are very few
situations where the swimmer does not have a choice of more
than one swimming club.
This lack of “freedom of choice” on the high school side both makes
the high school coach inherently more “powerful” and burdens that
coach with built-in resentments. The choice implicit in
the club relationship makes that coach less powerful in coach-to-coach
negotiations, but much more sympathetic in the swimmer-parent-coach
relationship.
As difficult as inequities are to handle, inevitabilities are even
more difficult. Inevitabilities are caused by
significant conflicts in either the training or competition
schedule. An (extreme) example would be the National Championships
scheduled on top of the State High School Meet. Obviously,
a National qualifier would be an impactful member of any high school
team.
If this conflict is only dealt with in the weeks leading up to the
meets, the athlete will be caught in between two coaches. If
the coaches deal with this, after meeting with the athlete and hearing
his or her goals, prior to the season, a decision can be made based on
principles and the best interests of the athlete.
A more subtle example would be when the training demands of one
team conflict with the competitive demands of another. If,
for example, an Olympic Trials-level swimmer needs to put in a
significant training block prior to Trials and this training block
needs to occur during the taper period of State qualifying, conflict
is inevitable.
By definition, all inevitabilities are known in advance. Therefore,
there is a professional obligation on the part of both coaches
to deal with them in advance and present either their mutually agreed
upon plan, or their mutually acknowledged differences to the athlete
and his or her parents.
It is proper for coaches to have an “agenda”. It is,
in fact, required. It is not, however, acceptable for a professional
coach to have a hidden agenda. Both coaches must present their
views to the athlete and let the athlete (with parental guidance)
decide.
By definition, high school athletics is about teams.
Further, it is about teams this season. Club sports tend to be
about individuals and developing their potential over the
long-term, although long-term development is not a club-only goal.
Many club coaches are not cognizant of the “team” nature of high
school coaching, since it is not part of their daily demands. In
the same way, long-term for a high school coach can mean, at the most,
4 years, while club coaches are frequently planning 10 year
careers. These innately differing world-views can cause irreconcilable
differences, unless they are recognized and discussed in advance.
In spite of the inherent conflicts, both experiences are beneficial
to the adolescent-swimmer. On a high school team, the
swimmer learns to commit to others and be committed to something
larger than himself. As a club swimmer, the adolescent-athlete learns
to set goals, defer gratification past the horizon of “this season”
and do whatever is necessary in order to become the best that she can
be.
These two very complementary worldviews are also very different. They
can (and do) change how each coach will view nearly any situation. The
high school coach will (properly) evaluate every decision based on its
impact on the team. The club coach will (also very
properly) base those same decisions on the long-term development of
that adolescent-athlete.
Conclusion
Perhaps the most difficult aspect for any coach in minimizing the
high school – club conflict is learning to take him or herself out of
the equation. If the club coach thinks about the effect
of a single athlete on a club coaching career, all decisions can be
distorted, because it only takes one, great athlete to have a
signature career. High school coaches, on the other hand, are faced
with needing to win every year in order to be considered a
“successful” high school coach.
Both high school and club swimming are critical components in the
success of American Swimming and both provide unique benefits to
adolescent athletes. It is only with advance planning,
however, that the benefits of both can be maximized, while minimizing
the obvious conflicts.
Part 2 of this paper will deal with some practical guidelines for
building this communication.
Part 2 – Building a Professional Relationship
In most cases, the high school-club relationship is not a
relationship between two institutions. It is a
relationship between two human beings. It is a relationship between
two human beings who are responsible for bringing up an
adolescent-athlete through that teenager’s most sensitive years.
They are expected to take a dependent, compliant age-group swimmer
and produce an independent, goal-directed, collaborative
adult-athlete. Amazingly, they are expected to produce
this miracle while that boy or girl is in the throes of
adolescence. No wonder there is conflict.
Raising children through these years can stress the most stable
marriages, but unlike most stable marriages, most high school and club
coaches were paired together in an “arranged marriage”. They
seldom have the opportunity to select their coaching “partner”.
Usually, the marriage was “arranged” by chance.
Integrity and honesty are the keys to any
relationship. Without demonstrable integrity and transparent honesty,
there is no credibility. Without credibility, there is no
trust. Without trust, there is no relationship.
Since you can’t choose your partner, partner by choice. Neither
the high school, nor the club coach selected the other, but they can
both choose to actively partner for the sake of the athlete(s). One of
the sports psychology “tricks” we commonly teach to athletes is to act
“as if”. (Act as if you were confident. Act as if you were Olympic
Champion.) As coaches, we can do the same thing. We can act as if we
have had a long-term, respect-based, successful, professional
relationship.
A little courtship can go a long way. Until
that professional bond is established, the occasional gift (meet
shirt, team coach’s shirt, coaching book, etc.) can go a long way
toward letting the “other” coach know that you value this
collaboration.
Know your partner's beliefs. Different coaches have
different and often conflicting beliefs about training, athlete
development, even professional relationships. You don't have to agree
with someone’s beliefs in order to work with them, but you do have to
know and understand them.
Don't confuse respect with friendship. It’s great if
you develop a friendship with the “other” coach, but it is definitely
not necessary in order to work well together. In fact, you don’t even
have to like each other. What is mandatory is that each coach respect
the other’s right to participate in the planning of the season and in
running his or her own team.
It can help to remember that “your” athlete finds something
valuable in participating in both of your teams.
Know your needs and speak up for them clearly. A
relationship is not a guessing game and a professional relationship
can’t succeed in the absence of openness and honesty. Many people fear
stating their needs and, as a result, camouflage them. The result is
disappointment at not getting what they want and anger at a partner
for not having met their (unstated) needs. Understanding cannot occur
without honesty. Your partner is not a mind reader.
View yourselves as a coaching team, which means you
are two unique individuals bringing different perspectives and
strengths. Those differences in perspective and strengths are the
value of a team. Your differences allow you to bring more to your
athlete - together - than you could by yourselves.
Know how to respect and manage differences. It's the
key to success in any relationship, but especially a professional
relationship. Disagreements don't sink relationships, but
backstabbing does. The inevitable conflicts actually show how much you
have in common, because these conflicts only occur when you both care
about the same things.
The “secret” to success is professionally dealing with the
conflicts that are the unavoidable byproduct of the differences
between two people, two programs, two seasons and one
adolescent-athlete. Stonewalling or avoiding conflicts is
NOT managing them. Stonewalling turns into backstabbing.
Quickly and factually dealing with conflicts is the key to creative
solutions. Put any and every difference on the
table immediately – no “save ups”. Deal with them openly and
factually, not emotionally. When creative solutions
can’t be found, the conflict must be presented to the athlete and
parent as what it is – a conflict. Often, only the athlete can resolve
“un-resolvable” conflicts and they can do it with remarkable ease.
Solve problems as they arise. Don't let resentments
simmer. Most of what goes wrong in any type of relationship can be
traced to hurt feelings, leading partners to erect defenses against
one another and become strangers, or worse - enemies. Deal
with problems or confusion immediately. Agendas are essential.
Hidden agendas must be forbidden.
Learn to negotiate. The most precious resource we have
at this time in our culture is time. “Dividing” one swimmer during one
season strains that resource to the maximum, so virtually every act
requires negotiation.
Since both coaches care about the success of the swimmer, every
negotiation must seek a win-win solution. That works best
when good will prevails. Because people's needs are fluid and change
over time, and life's demands change too, good relationships are
negotiated and renegotiated continuously. This can only
take place when agreements are met and obligations kept.
Take a long-range view. A coach-partner relationship
is an agreement to spend four years working to develop a talented,
adolescent-athlete. Compare your evaluations of each “shared” athlete
regularly to make sure you're both seeing the same things. Sit down
with the athlete and his or her parents to update their career
and season goals at the beginning of each “shared” season.
Use your ego; don’t abuse it. Ego is a strange
and wonderful thing. Without it, nothing happens. With
too much of it, all the good gets poisoned. Healthy ego
leads to confidence in setting coaching goals and guiding athletes. It
allows for multiple “winners”. Too much ego leads to
“win-lose solutions”. “Not only must I succeed, but you must fail.”
Warped perceptions of what defines coaching success play a huge role
in creating unstable and detrimental environments for swimmers.
Healthy egos create safe places for all to excel.
Maintain self-respect and self-esteem. It's easier for
someone to like you and to be around you when you like yourself. Too
often, an athlete’s success in one program is viewed as a slap to the
“other” program. It doesn’t have to be that way. In reality, that
athlete’s success is a compliment to both of your programs.
Research has shown that the more roles people fill, the more
sources of self-esteem they have. Leading one program,
while collaborating with another, is a legitimate way to develop
professional self-respect and confidence.
Humility before pride. There is a reason
humility is listed as a virtue, while pride is listed as a vice. If
both coaches practice a little humility and remember that it is the
swimmer who achieves, both coaches will be able to take pride in
“their” swimmer’s accomplishments.
Cooperate, cooperate, cooperate. Help each
other. Relationships work ONLY when they are two-way streets, with
much give and take. Can the club team furnish timers and
officials to the high school team? Can the high school
coach gain access for recruiting in the school system? What can you do
to help the other coach? Flexibility is the key to maximizing
the potential of any collaborative relationship, along with minimizing
stress. Flexibility both requires and stimulates
creativity.
Maintain your energy. Stay healthy. Frustrations
peak and creativity wanes when people are physically or
emotionally exhausted. Coaches can easily get so busy taking care of
other people that they neglect to take care of themselves. Save time
for personal fitness and health, and avoid trying to solve difficult
professional issues when you are sick or tired
Recognize that all relationships have their ups and downs
and do not ride at a continuous high all the time. No relationship is
perfect all the time. Working together through the hard times will
make the relationship stronger. Don't just run away from a bad
relationship. You'll only repeat it with the next
coach-partner. Learn from a bad relationship by examining it as a
reflection of your beliefs. Use it as a mirror to look at yourself,
to understand what part of you is creating this relationship
problem. Change yourself before you change your relationship.
Steps to Success
1. Internal relationships must be stable
and excellence-focused before quality external relationships are
possible. The relationship of the high school coach with his or her
immediate supervisor (Aquatics Director, Athletics Director,
Principal, etc.) must be one that is supportive and focused on program
excellence. Every example of a successful
collaboration was preceded by an example of strong institutional
support for swimming, and a supportive relationship between the coach
and his or her immediate supervisor. Swimming was not treated
as a “minor” sport.
2. Recognize that most conflict occurs
around talented swimmers. Both coaches must focus on the best
interests of the athlete, or they will quickly become guilty of
using that athlete for their own benefit. The club coach will
naturally focus on the development of the individual athlete. The
high school coach will, just as naturally, focus on the development of
the team. The “greater good” for the club coach will be sacrificing
whatever is necessary in order to achieve the athlete’s long-term
goals, while the team comes before the individual for the high school
coach. The high school coach defines sacrifice as
sometimes surrendering pursuit of individual goals for the good of the
team. With two very different definitions of “greater good” and two
very different definitions of “sacrifice”, “best interests” of the
athlete can be equally hard to define. “Best interests” can only be
determined by involving the athlete and his or her parents in the
planning. Ideally, both coaches will have met and
developed a collaborative season plan prior to the
coach-athlete-parent-coach meeting.
3. Schedule the initial
communication. The club coach must schedule the initial planning
meeting well in advance of the beginning of the season.
The initial meeting must include:
a. a mutual assessment of the
athlete’s long-term potential,
b. an agreement on how this season
fits in to that athlete’s long-term development,
c. mutually developed season goals,
and
d. development of a training and
competition plan that will assist the athlete in achieving his or
her season goals.
4. Involve both the athlete and his or
her parents. After the first draft of the season plan is developed,
both coaches must review it with them, in order to make sure that
everyone is really working together and that there are no hidden
agendas. All parties must be present at this meeting.
5. Communicate frequently, preferably in
an agreed upon schedule. Adolescents and their parents can play one
coach against the other without consistent and frequent
communication. Do not use either the swimmer or the
parent as the “go-between” between the coaches. It is the coaches who
must communicate. Information gets “lost in translation”
with this type of communication and it puts either the parent or the
athlete in a very difficult situation.
6. Priorities should be obvious. Unless
agreed upon in advance by everyone involved, the priority should be
given to the “in season” sport. During the high school season,
whenever possible if a conflict occurs, defer to the high school team. Before
the high school season begins and after it ends, priority should be
given to club training and competition.
7. Start at the beginning. Don’t
forget the lesson program. Either the school system or
the club system can run the lesson program, but there must be a
lesson program! Neither team can succeed if the base is ignored.
Part 3 – Examples of Successful Collaborations
Katy ISD and Katy Aquatics (Dana Abbott, Head Coach, Katy
(TX) HS; President, NISCA): In the past 14 years, the
relationship of mutual respect, cooperation and collaboration has
allowed the growth of both the high school and club programs with
virtually no conflicts or problems.
The current club program began with the hiring of Seth Huston
(currently head women’s coach at Rice University). Seth
immediately went to each HS coach to introduce himself, present
his vision for the club program, and ask each HS coach what
he (Seth) could do to help! Seth resurrected a dwindling
club program and built it to a position of strength and numbers.
After four years, Seth took a college job and the club was
taken over by Kelly Rives, a former club and college standout who
continued and further developed the program, while still maintaining
close communication with all the HS coaches. Four years
after Kelly’s tenure, then Head Age Group Coach Travis Sandifer
assumed the head coaching reins, and both the club and HS programs
have continued their performance excellence and growth. In Katy, we
have a minimum of two, formal “all-coaches” meetings per
year; frequent phone, e-mail, and on-deck conversations; and
occasional social groupings where conversation quickly focuses on the
swimming. Meet schedules are discussed and shared, attention is given
to the major club and high school meets, and how the year’s training
program will impact and be impacted by, the combined HS/Club seasons.
Frequently, it is possible to allow a swimmer to skip a
non-championship high school meet to attend an important club meet
(U.S. Open, etc.), and just as frequently, the swimmer may miss a
local or regional non-championship club meet to participate in a high
school invitational or rivalry dual meet.
Every individual’s needs are specific to that individual, so
we deal with specific meets and specific swimmers on a
case-by-case basis. There are sometimes initial conflicts, but for the
most part, we are able to resolve situations around what is best for
the swimmer, but the bigger high school meets tend to carry more
weight than club meets. It is fortunate that most of the time we do
not encounter conflicts between “big” high school meets and “big” club
meets.
I have to emphasize that this cooperative partnership exists
because both the high school and club
coaches in the Katy programs do not have
the ego problems seen in many
other areas, and ALL of the coaches, HS and club, work together for
what we agree is in the swimmers long-term best interests.
Part of the reason for this is because we “agree to agree” that the
end-of-season high school championships are going to take
precedence, and we also are fortunate that our seasons do not have
built-in conflicts that may exist because of scheduling problems in
other parts of the country. We also make sure that times achieved in
the championship high school meets can be “observed”, so that any
qualifying times achieved can be used in USA Swimming competition.
Cy-Creek HS (Coach John Webb) and the Cy-Fair Fleet (Coach
Clayton Cagle): High school swimming is very
important in our area, so important, in fact that the Fleet board
invited me to attend the interview sessions with all of the finalists
for the job as Head Coach of the Cypress-Fairbanks Swim Club.
After all the interviews were finished, I was asked to recommend
the coach who I thought would not only do the best job of coaching
swimming at the club level, but also who I thought would be the best
candidate to work with the high school swimming structure in the
Cy-Fair ISD. I hope that my recommendation of Clayton
Cagle held a lot of weight. He was hired the next week and that was
18 years ago! In those 18 years, Clayton and I worked very well
together for the betterment of each individual swimmer. We
developed a mutual respect for each other's strengths and fed off each
other in order to bring out the best in the swimmers we both had go
through the Cypress Creek aquatics programs. One of the things Clayton
was reluctant to follow my lead with was the high school water polo
program. In his opinion, that facet of our program took
away the fall training regimen he developed at the club level -
specifically for the distance-oriented swimmers. Clayton personally
talked to each of the distance swimmers and recommended they not play
high school water polo in the fall.
I took no stand on this because I knew what the kids (and their
parents) would tell him. "Coach Cagle, I want to play water
polo. If I didn't play water polo, I probably would have quit
swimming a long time ago!" This doesn't mean that I haven't
"backed down" and made some huge concessions in order to
cooperate with the club team and with Clayton. There were many high
school meets that conflicted with "more important" club meets. I
always told my kids that they should come to me with requests to miss
any high school meets due to conflicts with their club program. They
all did. We lost a few meets during the course of the years,
because I allowed kids to travel to more important club meets instead
of competing in a scheduled high school dual meet or invitational.
I think showing my respect for their efforts ended up
growing the respect of those kids, their parents and certainly the
club coaches for me, but most important, I knew that at the end of
the season, our “shared kids” would be ready to win State!
Hinsdale, IL (1963-1978) Coach Don Watson:
The organization and operation of the Hinsdale aquatics program
was patterned after the highly successful New Trier High School
Aquatics program, started back in the 1940s by Edgar Jackson. New
Trier hired a special aquatic staff to manage and operate their high
school aquatic program and conduct its “Community Saturday and Summer
Learn-to-Swim School”. The entire aquatics program was
centered on the high school. It was an ideal situation.
As the Aquatics Director for the Hinsdale School district and the
Village of Hinsdale, I had complete control of the combined programs,
with the authority to schedule the pool and operate all programs. I
had the support of the Board of Education and did not have to compete
with a separate Recreation or Park District Director. I
understand the concept of co-funding aquatics centers with taxes from
both the School and Park Districts, but by combining all
programming under a single operation, Hinsdale was able to enjoy a
cohesive program while avoiding the problems that result form
differing philosophies between separate departments and staffs
operating a single facility.
Hinsdale took the program another step past that of the New Trier
program by selling the Hinsdale Board of Education on operating a
community age group and senior club team from the high school pool,
under the control of the high school aquatics director.
It was a logical outgrowth of our Learn-to- Swim program and was a
feeder program for the high school swimming team. Many of our most
successful high school swimmers started swimming as participants in
our Saturday or Summer Learn-to-Swim schools. They became members of
our Age Group Swimming Team as 8 & 9 year olds and set a number of
national age group records as members of our teams. It
was a great bonding, confidence and team-building situation.
Richard W. Shoulberg (Germantown Academy and the Germantown
Academy Aquatic Club, since 1969): In the past
35 years, I had only one swimmer who quit swimming with her public
high school to train with our club full time. During the
high school season most of my non-Germantown Academy students train
once a day with the club and once a day with their high school team.
They always train on weekends and they train twice a day
outside of the high school season. I only require,
during the high school season, that they swim one club meet as a
“Grand Finale” to their season of swimming. I think
some club coaches forget that the swimmers are student-athletes first. They
require numerous club competitions, disregarding their swimmers’
commitment to high school swimming and their high school academics.
High school swimming plays a major part in their development.
I sometimes (privately) question the kind of coaching they
receive at their high school, but I never (publicly) downplay their
high school coach's approach. There are a million ways to create
excellence in all disciplines.
Coach Bob Laura (Texas): I have been on
both sides of the equation. From 1986 -1992 I was the
Head Coach of club team of 120 swimmers in the greater Dallas area.
During that time, 15 different high schools had at least one
swimmer on the club's Senior team. All but one of those high school
coaches regularly spoke with me about their swimmer(s).
The most important thing I learned during that time was to
listen to the athletes when they had concerns about their
high school practice and meet schedule, and how it impacted the club
schedule. I always advised the athlete to talk to their high school
coach about any concerns they had, then let me know what their coach
had to say. This helped me to prepare the athlete for their high
school needs, and made me more prepared for the times I would see
their high school coaches. My “best” experience was 1996-2001,
in Houston, and the past 3 years (2001-2004) in Granbury.
I was the high school coach in both places and have dealt with
only one club coach at each place. We have been able to
communicate on a regular basis - especially now with email - and
the athletes at both places have been aware that both coaches
communicate with each other, and both coaches share their concerns and
training plans with the athlete. Also, I set my high school
schedule after I have seen the USA Swimming schedule - national,
senior, and age group, for the club team. The few times there has
been a conflict, both coaches had already discussed which meet would
be the priority, and let the athlete know well in advance which meet
the athlete would prepare for.
The biggest positive during this time has been the gratitude
shown by the parents of these athletes. They are very
appreciative that the club and high school coach communicate and care
about the progress and goals of their child. These
parents attend club and high school meets, sitting in the bleachers
and hearing other parents complain about the lack of communication
between the two programs their athletes are members of. This just
makes them even more appreciative of the coaching their children
receive from us.
Bill Schalz, Marmion Academy and the Academy Bullets:
I currently coach a girls and boys HS team and I own a club
team. As a high school coach, my relationship with local
coaches has been quite good. When a swimmer comes to my high
school team from another club, I will usually call the club coach and
get some insights about the athlete. Many times, I see the club coach
on deck so a phone call is not necessary. I also make it clear to the
high school swimmers on my club team that these swimmers are not
to be pressured to switch to our club team. If a high school
swimmer does decide to join my club, I insist they talk to their
former coach and let him/her know they are leaving. As a club
coach, I coach swimmers from many different high schools (8 at
last count). If I see swimmers from my club at a meet, I will say
“Hi” to the swimmer and see what he/she has been up to (I avoid
talking about training or technique). I also talk to the high school
coach and see how everything is going. Finally, I have
realistic expectations about the different relationships between
high school and club coaches. I know that neither high school nor
club coaches are going to design different seasonal plans for all of
their swimmers from other teams; and I know that I am not going to be
asked often about what I think the coach should do. I am comfortable
with that arrangement. At a USAS convention during the height
of the USA Resident Team war, Pete Malone spoke passionately
about the swimmers’ right to swim where they want to swim. He said
(paraphrasing), "It bothers me to hear coaches accuse others of
'stealing MY swimmers'. We (coaches) do not own these
swimmers. Americans have died on battlefields to preserve our
freedoms, including the freedom of a swimmer to choose who they swim
for." Pete's comments really hit home for me and it is as
applicable in this situation as it was during the Resident Team
debates.
We must remember how blessed we are to have the opportunity
to work with those swimmers who choose to swim with us.
Contributors:
Dana Abbott,
Katy (TX) High School and (President) NISCA
Tom Avischious
Director of Programs and Services, USA Swimming
Dennis Beck
Lakota Swimming
Andy Gates
Damien (CA) High School
Dr. Tim Henrich
Professor of Sports Management, Univ. of the Incarnate Word
Pat Hogan
Director of Club Development, USA Swimming
Bob Laura
Granbury (TX) High School
John Leonard
Executive Director, ASCA
John McGough
Director of Aquatics, Carroll I.S.D.
Mark Onstott
New Trier (IL) High School and (President-elect) NISCA
Bill Schalz
Marmion (IL) Academy and the Academy Bullets
Dick Shoulberg
Germantown (PA) Academy and Germantown Academy Aquatic Club
Bill Thomas
Sandra Day O’Connor (TX) High School and Alamo Area Aquatics
Bill Walker
(Retired) Director of Aquatics, Northeast ISD
Don Watson
Director of Aquatics, the University of Texas
John Webb
(Retired) Cypress Creek (TX) High School
Editor:
George Block,
Asst. Dir. of Athletics, Northside ISD and Chair, Alamo Area
Aquatics
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