I started this blog over the summer, while coaching for a community summer league team. Well, that season finished. And I didn't write much about it. Too bad. We move on. Now, I'm back coaching again. This time, with a high school team. This time, I will write more. I will.
I've never coached at the high school level before, though I have coached high school-age swimmers in summer league, so I'm not too worried. Kids are kids; swimming is swimming.
I'm a little late to the practice party, having had to wait for the requisite county TB test results, paperwork processing, background check, and concussion training to all sort themselves out. But yesterday I got to join the team, the head coach and the other assistant coach out on the deck. I was pretty stoked. Fortunately, I'm just in time for the first dual meet: Friday night versus a district opponent.
Everyone always says this about people younger than them, going through life stages they've already been through, but I have to say, the kids look smaller than I remember everyone being when I was on a high school team. Nothing against them, it's just my observation.
Tomorrow and Friday should be interesting. The personnel of the team will change somewhat from the first few practices of this week. That's because club swimmers who spend most of the week practicing with their respective club teams will suddenly appear. There's actually a rule for it: club swimmers are only required to attend 1 high school practice per week to be eligible to swim in meets. It's nothing new - was the rule when I swam - and swimming may be one of the only high school sports where this is the case.
Why is it the case? Because most likely, a club practice (a year-round USA Swimming team) will offer more lane space, more challenging workouts, a more consistent skill and talent level in each lane, and better (read: higher paid) coaching. My club coaches preferred if we didn't attend any high school practices - in their opinion, you would get the same benefit as an hour-long nap, maybe less.
Unfortunately, consequently, I never felt much connection with the team as a hole. I had my handful of friends, but I wasn't there for the day in, day out interactions. The other swimmers didn't know what I'd worked on, and I didn't know what they'd worked on. But when the races started, none of that mattered.
Because swimming is an extremely individual sport. Out of it you get EXACTLY what you put into it. Talent will only get you so far, practice yards will only get you further if you DO THEM. And if you work hard, your times will drop, you will become competitive, you will win races. And those victories are yours first, then the team's. Obviously, you want to help the team out, and scoring points by winning races helps accomplish that. But aside from a select few programs, teams as a whole don't think about going to the regional, state and national levels of high school swimming to compete. Individuals do.
That's not to say individuals shouldn't embrace the team aspect of the sport. High school is the best time to do that. Make some new friends. Bond over this common interest that sets you apart from so many of your class mates. And have fun. I remember club meets being the most boring, noncompetitive, bland events ever. But high school meets? Loud, obnoxious, emotional - fun.
High school = fun. Really? Did I just say really that? S'pose so. For now.
