News For

SWIM  PARENTS

Published by The American Swimming Coaches Association

5101 NW 21 Ave., Suite 200

Fort Lauderdale FL 33309

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The Career Club Coach

 

I met with an old friend who was in town on business the other day.   He's a parent of three memorable children I used to coach on a USS club team in the Midwest.  It's a nice feeling to be the friend of a swimming parent. 

I told him I enjoy working in my current position with ASCA but I nevertheless am looking forward to returning to coaching some day.  He asked me what college division I was interested in.  He was surprised to hear me say that I have no intention, either short term or long term, of coaching in college.  He explained that he had assumed all coaches aspire to someday coaching in the college ranks.

I wonder how many parents assume their club coach is aiming at a college coaching career when in fact he or she wants to be a career club coach?   The pinnacle of coaching is not necessarily college coaching.  For many coaches, club coaching IS their chosen career and they want to stay right where they are at now.

Boards and parents groups might have a better working relationship with the coach if they realized that the coach is not necessarily using the program as a stepping stone.

Today's coaches seek stability.  Read that, "stay-ability".  They want to be part of a community, they want a home for their family, and they want to lead the program to success at all levels.   They do not want to move to a new program and new town every two years or so.

Where does "stay-ability" come from?  At ASCA we believe it comes from two areas.  First, it comes from the improved ability of the head coach to LEAD the program.

Today's coaches must be able to administrate as well as coach.  To administrate the program means working with people, knowing how to get the best efforts from staff and volunteers, managing budgets and fund raising, personal organization, delegating effectively, long range planning, communication, and reporting.  In short, today's coach must be the Chief Executive Officer of the club.  There is no such thing as stability for the coach who wants to "just coach".

"Stay-ability" also comes from a recognition by the Board and parent groups of the coach's experience, education, achievement, ability, and dedication.  This recognition prompts the club to treat the coach as the club's greatest asset deserving of respect, responsibility, authority, and compensation.

Why hire a coach to lead young people in one of the most meaningful experiences of their  lives, but pay him less than the going rate for a baby sitter and give him little authority to make decisions about children's swimming development and the overall program development?

When a club matches a coach of this quality with its own enlightened willingness to allow the coach to lead the program, it will truly have a program of stability and continued growth with a coach that is making his career right in that community.  This is the most important challenge facing clubs and coaches today.