USA Swimming Blogger X Day 4: Words Fly

The coaches meeting started off with Coach Rose reporting the state of
the starts, turns and underwater performance of the Jr Pan Pac team.
The consensus amongst those coaches present was that USA Swimming was
not on par with the Aussies and many of the Japanese in the execution
of these elements. According to footage and first hand accounts,
Americans out swam everyone in the middle, but failed in the starts
and exchanges category. Interestingly, the blame got put on USA
Swimming by several people stating footage of the best is not being
made available by USA Swimming. People wanted more readily available
footage of the best, to which was responded with Rose saying USA
Swimmings National Team director was holding it close to his heart for
fear of the world getting that info. A few others shared that same
sentiment and rightfully so, footage is not just handed out by USA
Swimming. Furthermore, there was a growing concensus that this fear is
costing many the opportunity to study the best. A refreshing comment
by a coach snapped the room in line when they said to take
responsibility for your own coaching. Instead of complaining about
what is not just handed out, we should be proactive and take it upon
ourselves to make our swimmers better at it... In essences, coaches
coaching.

The meeting continued with a pulpit slamming speech by John Leonard
about the situation with FINA. A situation, if not taken care of,
could result in some very bad changes in our sport (Polyurethane
making a comeback being one of them). If you are reading this blog,
you already know what this speech sounds like or at least reads. A
very emotional John Leonard seized this moment with nearly 200 coaches
in the room to make sure everyone knew where the problem in the sport
lies, a undemocratic FINA. He finished with an equally impressive and
explosive statement in response to a European news source stating USA
International Team is in disarray (as a result of Schubert's 60 day
leave and the partnership agreement being shot down by the USOC). John
set the record straight that nothing is wrong and that "USA won't miss
a meet"...

The rest of the meeting was spent going over child protection, the
language used in the proposals/guidelines and the fears coaches had.
My first observation was Leonard in this topic. Not only did he not
given the same passionate speech about child protection, but he didn't
speak at all. I would assume that this would be of equal or if not
more important than grown men and women being exercising a privilege
to win medals for our country in textile suits. As opposed to the
rights being violated of our nation's young swimmers.

The overwhelming theme of those who did speak were worried about false
accusations and situations presented in the policies (what ifs) that
drew concerns. Several coaches took issue with member athletes having
to get permission to be at a coaches house to hang out with their
friend who is the coach's son. A coach with a mid-20s pro swimmer of
the same gender sharing a room to cut costs was another concern. There
was always a voice to try and get back on point, because the big issue
is that policies need to be put in place to protect the children.
However, we seemed to get right back on where everyones was focused,
false accusations and protecting coaches. Many coaches want
reassurance that the same amount of effort that is made to publicize
those accusations is met when exonerating those wrongfully accused.
Another interesting comment was in reference to given the number of
restrictions and requirements on behaviors alone, people may not be
willing to coach, scaring coaches out of club swimming and leaving us
with fewer good, young and energetic coaches. All very valid points
but missing the big picture of athlete protection.

Those trying to get policy in place to protect children are more than
a little worried that it will somehow be defeated by those more
ultimately concerned with false accusations, myself included. I will
admit, the policies when put in place could very well deter people
from taking up coaching or given the costs that would come with
personal professional liability insurance and other measures to CYA,
that it will be increasingly difficult to do our job. There will
certainly be a period of adjustment for some and a realization of
policy implimentation at the club and LSC level, but I am optimistic
that everything will workout for the better and our fears will be for
nothing.

Freestyle
If you don't know who Mark Russell is, he is the biomechanics man for
USA Swimming. Look him up, you will find several videos on USA
Swimming's website along with older posts from the now dead
floswimming. Russell discussed the few key areas important to
freestyle swimming. If you have kept up with the sport over the last
two years technically, nothing was new. The presentation itself was a
let down, Russell did not prove to be the best public speaker. It was
also evident that, unless he was hiding the footage, the velocity
analysis Dr. G. Sokolovas is doing is not being utilized (look him up,
it's pretty amazing). Overall it was a reaffirmation of everything
many of us have known and have been trying to teach.

Awards
The night finished up with the vast majority of awards that are
presented every year. A few moving awards were to Mallory Weggemann
who shocked most of the crowd with her accomplishments (look her up,
too much to write). The work done by the Atlanta Falcons for diversity
was equally impressive, providing 7000+ children in the Atlanta area
with swim lessons. The most surprised honoree of the evening was Coach
Todd Schmitz for developmental coach of the year. So unexpecting was
Coach Schmitz that he accepted his award wearing sandals and a
t-shirt, he gushed praise for everyone but himself. A very nice finish
to a day of turmoil and duress..

Tomorrow, we vote.