SwimSwam Pulse is a recurring feature tracking and analyzing the results of our periodic A3 Performance Polls. You can cast your vote in our newest poll on the SwimSwam homepage, about halfway down the page on the right side, or you can find the poll embedded at the bottom of this post.
Our most recent poll asked SwimSwam readers whether high school teams should allow athletes to train with a club but compete with the high school team.
RESULTS
Question: Should high school teams allow swimmers to train with swim clubs but still compete with the high school team?
- Yes – 86.1%
- No – 13.9%
A huge majority of SwimSwam voters said that swimmers should be allowed to train full-time with a club while still competing for their high school team.
The high school vs club debate is a hot one within the swimming community, but is heavily impacted by geography: specifically, the level of high school swimming in various areas. In some states, high school swimming is much less organized and much less prestigious. For some, high school swimming has become synonymous with poor coaching and low-level competition. On the other hand, many states have extremely competitive high school atmospheres complete with well-regarded programs and coaches at the high school level. In some cases, swim clubs are seen as the pinnacle of the sport at the junior level, with respected coaches and more rigorous and specifically-designed training groups. In other cases, clubs are more known for overtraining athletes, pushing the commitment to the sport to unhealthy levels too early in a swimmer’s development (read: 5 AM practices during the school year, year-round seasons, meets on major holidays), leading to early burnouts.
In many ways, this debate goes back to the aspect of control in coaching. Club coaches are often loathe to let their athletes train elsewhere for a three-month high school season out of fear that a shakeup in training will set the swimmer back. High school coaches are often unwilling to let their athletes train elsewhere for fear that club training won’t match the compact training block that high school coaches have to build in a few months with regular dual meets built in.
This idea came up in a high-traffic Facebook group on swim coaching, and most of the responses centered around doing what was best for the kid. Ironically, though, most of those responses seemed to assume that the best thing for the kid was wherever the commenting coach was – club coaches argued it was objectively better for the swimmer to train with a club, while high school coaches maintained it was more beneficial to train in the high school setting.
Setting aside the idea that one environment or the other is by definition superior (not really a great argument considering the wide ranges of club and high school programs), the debate also has to do with team-building. Club swimming tends to lean more toward the individual side of the sport, emphasizing individual swims, cut times and major meets. High school swimming really gets to the heart of the team side of swimming: dual meets, racing, swimming different events to fill out a lineup. From that perspective, it’s hard to see any other team sport that would allow players to train wherever they want before coming together for competitions. The team aspect of high school swimming is an underrated piece of preparing for college swimming, too, and there’s a solid argument that high school coaches should emphasize that piece by requiring the team to train together.
Below, vote in our new A3 Performance Poll, which asks voters whether Ryan Lochte will win this season of Celebrity Big Brother:
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I’ve got one for ya. What about the HS coach that bullies a swimmer so bad for not wanting to do water polo, it makes the swimmer leave the sport all together? It happened to my daughter, and I happen to be the head coach of a club team. My daughter did not want to play water polo she did not enjoy it but she was made fun of bullied by not only the coach her teammates for not joining water polo at the end of the season. That coach should be ripped out of that high school and never allowed to coach again.
The question is leading. Not many people would say no to the question: Should high school teams allow swimmers to train with swim clubs but still compete with the high school team?
Maybe the question should be: Do you believe all children should be held to the same requirements to compete for their high school team?
I have never understood the human need to compare and choose. Is high school coaching better or worse than club, is long distance preparation better than sprints – on and on it goes. Argue and choose a side – I guess it starts in the political world and grows from there, Sadly and the reason that pick and choose does damage is that America’s diversity is its strength. The fact swimmers can pick and choose a sprint or distance program, can swim for their school or their club – that choose is a huge and important strength. Long may the freedom of a wide selection last. Not either or but both.
My daughters HS just finished the season with their first ever swim team. She has swam club for 10 years. The workouts at the HS practice would not have allowed her to achieve what she did this year. She broke two state records with the closest swimmer being about 10 seconds behind her.
I’m grateful that the HS coach knee she needed the club swimmers to help her in pushing. The HS coach also was aware that my daughters club coach knew her better and knew why she needed.
She did attend some HS practices and helped them with stroke technique.
As a former competitive swimmer I don’t see why it is a big deal? My hometown… Read more »
Very interesting discussion and one we talk about extensively in Texas. It seems that our high school season is much longer than other states. Kids start practicing in late August when school begins and state takes place in February. Most kids competing at the state level are club swimmers. Every single high school in our area has different rules on how many high school practices a swimmer must attend and they range from none to all. It is my opinion that kids who have goals of swimming in college cannot just quit their club team for almost 6 months and just swim high school. Some can, most cannot. Last year my swimmer was practicing 11 times a week during the… Read more »
This is a USOC and USA swimming topic. They govern all amateur swimming in the USA. (As does Y and the NCAA for their members ). The swimmer should be able to choose to remain with their year round coach and swim for the high school they attend.
Lack of enforcement or encouragement has created this challenge.
http://www.soccerpark.com/TedStevens.pdf
Federal Law.
220522. Eligibility requirements
8) provides an equal opportunity to amateur athletes, coaches, trainers, managers, administrators, and officials to participate in amateur athletic competition, without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, or national origin, and with fair notice and opportunity for a hearing to any amateur athlete, coach, trainer, manager, administrator, or official before declaring the individual ineligible to participate;
I’m not a lawyer but this seems to make the rules for an athlete to participate in Amatuer sports.
This is really a non issue. As a former club swimmer who trained with my club team year round I was always physically and mentally prepared heading into high school championship season. There are plenty of duel meets between the start of high school season and states to practice relay starts and interface with high school teammates.
It all comes down to the athletes preference. Swimming is a year round sport and high school season is a small part of the year. If the high school coach cannot see the bigger picture then it’s time to move on.
I Northeast Ohio (Akron-Canton-Cleveland) many of the high school teams are coached by the USA-S club coaches. There are a few High School programs that send their better swimmers to the local club team, especially for the morning practices, due to limited pool time. As stated in the article, no other sport would allow its athletes to train one place and compete for their high school. Most of the coaches in our area are good friends and will do what it best for their individual athletes.