Re-Creating America's Club Swimming System by John Leonard, Executive Director, ASCA

Part 1:  What's wrong with the American Swimming Club System?

More of this Feature • Part 1: What's Wrong? • Part 2: Need to Invest! • Part 3: We're Afraid • Part 4: Is Club Swimming Important?   Join the Discussion "The National Governing Body for swimming in the USA is USA-Swimming. Does it work to benefit swimmers in the best possible way? Do our swimming clubs have what they need to continue to compete at the world level, or will our countries size continue to allow us to luck into a enough good swimmers from time to time to keep us happy with the status quo? What systems do other countries use that seem to work? Look at the Aussies - much smaller than the USA, but as good or better in many areas. Why?" About Swimming Guide      Related Resources • Governing Bodies • Find your team • Other Aquatic Sports    Elsewhere on the Web • ASCA Online • Seven Traits of a Successful Age Group Swim Club

Since 1985, the ASCA and the ASCA Office have been actively involved in trying to help the American Swim Club. Our credentials for the following discussion include:

1. 1,137 days spent with clubs ranging from National Championship teams to teams run by part time coaches with 50 swimmers.
    

2. Operation of the ASCA Job Service for 16 years. Approximately 1,120 jobs evaluated , rated and reconfigured through the Job Service. They are typically full time positions and some of the highest profile club jobs in America. In the course of operation of the Job Service, we spend many hours a week on the phone with both coaches and club representatives discussing club employment issues.
    

3. Endless series of USA-Swimming committee meetings at 16 conventions and at least 20 other meetings where club concerns are foremost.
    

4. At least four attempts by USA Swimming Committees to foster real change in the club system. None has met with anything more than token success.
    

5. 86 articles in ASCA Publications since 1985 focusing on Club operations and function.

No office in American Swimming has been more active in working to create positive change in American Swimming Clubs. Now its time to do some "telling it like it is" and discussing how to make some real change and what those changes need to be. As always, some will disagree. That's good. Use your disagreement energy to come up with some better ideas. Do anything, but don't sit back and say, "Well, everything is OK and anyway, it's too hard to change."

I want to tell you first of all, that if we don't change, we are going to die a slow death. Actually, we ARE dying a slow death of our club system. It's just not overly visible because coaches and club officers move out of the system so rapidly that only a few people are left at any given moment with a historical perspective of the state of club swimming.

So here we go.

The Problems

Let's start with listing the top ten problems in American Swimming Clubs. We'll limit ourselves to ten because we could go to 100 or more, but they are all spin-offs or offshoots from some central issues.

Number One - Lack or club and coach stability

Stability and consistency are the hallmark of any successful business. American club swimming, in large measure, has far too high a turnover rate in its coaches. Why is this? Low pay, low respect, lack of contracts, absurd work schedules, lousy economics. Very few coaches on a percentage basis, own their own clubs. Most clubs are owned and operated by a parent board. This, in and of itself, creates the problems below.

The Need in search of a solution? Make many more clubs "coach-stable." The athletes and families in the sport will benefit directly. The only losers are the nut-case parents who want a coach removed when their darling doesn't make the "A" relay. There aren't many of them. (but enough to cause plenty of problems.)

Number Two - Our Clubs Are Short Term Thinkers

I can count on one hand the number of clubs that had some sort of long term planning process in place when I came to visit. Most club constitutions have Parent Boards serving one year and then coming up for election again. Do you know any businesses that change their entire Board every year? How do you create a business plan, vision, philosophy and operational success when the leadership changes each year? Mission Impossible. The Coach owned clubs, at least those with a coach who is in tune with planning to succeed, have a better chance of a consistent operation because they do not re-invent their aims and objectives each year.

The Need in search of a solution? Develop systems where leadership can stay in place long enough to make something work. And co-incidentally, this will aid in coach stability.

Next page > Need to Invest - in people and in clubs > Page 1, 2, 3, 4

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