Continue reading »]]> Written by Steve Henson

Hundreds of college athletes were asked to think back: “What is your worst memory from playing youth and high school sports?” Their overwhelming response: “The ride home from games with my parents.”

The informal survey lasted three decades, initiated by two former longtime coaches who over time became staunch advocates for the player, for the adolescent, for the child. Bruce E. Brown and Rob Miller of Proactive Coaching LLC are devoted to helping adults avoid becoming a nightmare sports parent, speaking at colleges, high schools and youth leagues to more than a million athletes, coaches and parents in the last 12 years.  Those same college athletes were asked what their parents said that made them feel great, that amplified their joy during and after a ballgame.

Their overwhelming response: “I love to watch you play.”

There it is, from the mouths of babes who grew up to become college and professional athletes. Whether your child is just beginning T-ball or is a travel-team soccer all-star or survived the cuts for the high school varsity, parents take heed.

The vast majority of dads and moms that make rides home from games miserable for their children do so inadvertently. They aren’t stereotypical horrendous sports parents, the ones who scream at referees, loudly second-guess coaches or berate their children. They are well-intentioned folks who can’t help but initiate conversation about the contest before the sweat has dried on their child’s uniform.  In the moments after a game, win or lose, kids desire distance. They make a rapid transition from athlete back to child. And they’d prefer if parents transitioned from spectator – or in many instances from coach – back to mom and dad. ASAP.

Brown, a high school and youth coach near Seattle for more than 30 years, says his research shows young athletes especially enjoy having their grandparents watch them perform.   “Overall, grandparents are more content than parents to simply enjoy watching the child participate,” he says. “Kids recognize that.”

A grandparent is more likely to offer a smile and a hug, say “I love watching you play,” and leave it at that.  Meanwhile a parent might blurt out …
“Why did you swing at that high pitch when we talked about laying off it?”
“Stay focused even when you are on the bench.”
“You didn’t hustle back to your position on defense.”
“You would have won if the ref would have called that obvious foul.”
“Your coach didn’t have the best team on the field when it mattered most.”

And on and on.

Sure, an element of truth might be evident in the remarks. But the young athlete doesn’t want to hear it immediately after the game. Not from a parent. Comments that undermine teammates, the coach or even officials run counter to everything the young player is taught. And instructional feedback was likely already mentioned by the coach.   “Let your child bring the game to you if they want to,” Brown says.

Brown and Miller, a longtime coach and college administrator, don’t consider themselves experts, but instead use their platform to convey to parents what three generations of young athletes have told them.  “Everything we teach came from me asking players questions,” Brown says. “When you have a trusting relationship with kids, you get honest answers. When you listen to young people speak from their heart, they offer a perspective that really resonates.”

So what’s the takeaway for parents?

“Sports is one of few places in a child’s life where a parent can say, ‘This is your thing,’ ” Miller says. “Athletics is one of the best ways for young people to take risks and deal with failure because the consequences aren’t fatal, they aren’t permanent. We’re talking about a game. So they usually don’t want or need a parent to rescue them when something goes wrong.  “Once you as a parent are assured the team is a safe environment, release your child to the coach and to the game. That way all successes are theirs, all failures are theirs.”  And discussion on the ride home can be about a song on the radio or where to stop for a bite to eat. By the time you pull into the driveway, the relationship ought to have transformed from keenly interested spectator and athlete back to parent and child:

“We loved watching you play. … Now, how about that homework?”

FIVE SIGNS OF A NIGHTMARE SPORTS PARENT

Nearly 75 percent of kids who play organized sports quit by age 13. Some find that their skill level hits a plateau and the game is no longer fun. Others simply discover other interests. But too many promising young athletes turn away from sports because their parents become insufferable.  Even professional athletes can behave inappropriately when it comes to their children. David Beckham was recently ejected from a youth soccer field for questioning an official. New Orleans radio host Bobby Hebert, a former NFL quarterback, publicly dressed down LSU football coach Les Miles after Alabama defeated LSU in the BCS title game last month. Hebert was hardly unbiased: His son had recently lost his starting position at LSU.  Mom or dad, so loving and rational at home, can transform into an ogre at a game. A lot of kids internally reach the conclusion that if they quit the sport, maybe they’ll get their dad or mom back.

As a sports parent, this is what you don’t want to become. This is what you want to avoid:

• Overemphasizing sports at the expense of sportsmanship: The best athletes keep their emotions in check and perform at an even keel, win or lose. Parents demonstrative in showing displeasure during a contest are sending the wrong message. Encouragement is crucial — especially when things aren’t going well on the field.

• Having different goals than your child: Brown and Miller suggest jotting down a list of what you want for your child during their sport season. Your son or daughter can do the same. Vastly different lists are a red flag. Kids generally want to have fun, enjoy time with their friends, improve their skills and win. Parents who write down “getting a scholarship” or “making the All-Star team” probably need to adjust their goals. “Athletes say their parents believe their role on the team is larger than what the athlete knows it to be,” Miller says.

• Treating your child differently after a loss than a win: Almost all parents love their children the same regardless of the outcome of a game. Yet often their behavior conveys something else. “Many young athletes indicate that conversations with their parents after a game somehow make them feel as if their value as a person was tied to playing time or winning,” Brown says.

• Undermining the coach: Young athletes need a single instructional voice during games. That voice has to be the coach. Kids who listen to their parents yelling instruction from the stands or even glancing at their parents for approval from the field are distracted and can’t perform at a peak level. Second-guessing the coach on the ride home is just as insidious.

• Living your own athletic dream through your child: A sure sign is the parent taking credit when the child has done well. “We worked on that shot for weeks in the driveway,” or “You did it just like I showed you” Another symptom is when the outcome of a game means more to a parent than to the child. If you as a parent are still depressed by a loss when the child is already off playing with friends, remind yourself that it’s not your career and you have zero control over the outcome.

FIVE SIGNS OF AN IDEAL SPORTS PARENT

Let’s hear it for the parents who do it right. In many respects, Brown and Miller say, it’s easier to be an ideal sports parent than a nightmare. “It takes less effort,” Miller says. “Sit back and enjoy.” Here’s what to do:

• Cheer everybody on the team, not just your child: Parents should attend as many games as possible and be supportive, yet allow young athletes to find their own solutions. Don’t feel the need to come to their rescue at every crisis. Continue to make positive comments even when the team is struggling.

• Model appropriate behavior: Contrary to the old saying, children do as you do, not as you say. When a parent projects poise, control and confidence, the young athlete is likely to do the same. And when a parent doesn’t dwell on a tough loss, the young athlete will be enormously appreciative.

• Know what is suitable to discuss with the coach: The mental and physical treatment of your child is absolutely appropriate. So is seeking advice on ways to help your child improve. And if you are concerned about your child’s behavior in the team setting, bring that up with the coach. Taboo topics: Playing time, team strategy, and discussing team members other than your child.

• Know your role: Everyone at a game is either a player, a coach, an official or a spectator. “It’s wise to choose only one of those roles at a time,” Brown says. “Some adults have the false impression that by being in a crowd, they become anonymous. People behaving poorly cannot hide.” Here’s a clue: If your child seems embarrassed by you, clean up your act.

• Be a good listener and a great encourager: When your child is ready to talk about a game or has a question about the sport, be all ears. Then provide answers while being mindful of avoiding becoming a nightmare sports parent. Above all, be positive. Be your child’s biggest fan. “Good athletes learn better when they seek their own answers,” Brown says.

And, of course, don’t be sparing with those magic words: “I love watching you play.”

Continue reading »]]> Dr. Alan Goldberg

STEP SEVEN:  YOUR CHILD IS NOT HIS PERFORMANCE-LOVE HIM UNCONDITIONALLY.  Do not equate your child’s self-worth and lovability with his performance. The most tragic and damaging mistake I see parents continually make is punishing a child for a bad performance by withdrawing emotionally from him. A child loses a race, strikes out or misses and easy shot on goal and the parent responds with disgust, anger and withdrawal of love and approval. CAUTION: Only use this strategy if you want to damage your child emotionally and ruin your relationship with him. In the 1988 Olympics, when Greg Louganis needed and got a perfect 10 on his last dive to overtake the Chinese diver for the gold medal, his last thought before he went was, “If I don’t make it, my mother will still love me”.

STEP EIGHT:  REMEMBER THE IMPORTANCE OF SELF-ESTEEM IN ALL OF YOUR INTERACTIONS WITH YOUR CHILD-ATHLETE.  Athletes of all ages and levels perform in direct relationship to how they feel about themselves. When your child is in an athletic environment that boosts his self-esteem, he will learn faster, enjoy himself more and perform better under competitive pressure. One thing we all want as children and never stop wanting is to be loved and accepted, and to have our parents feel good about what we do. This is how self-esteem gets established. When your interactions with your child make him feel good about himself, he will, in turn, learn to treat himself this very same way. This does not mean that you have to incongruently compliment your child for a great effort after they have just performed miserably. In this situation being empathic and sensitive to his feelings is what’s called for. Self esteem makes the world go round. Make your child feel good about himself and you’ve given him a gift that lasts a lifetime. Do not interact with your child in a way that assaults his self-esteem by degrading, embarrassing or humiliating him. If you continually put your child down or minimize his accomplishments not only will he learn to do this to himself throughout his life, but he will also repeat your mistake with his children!

STEP NINE:  GIVE YOUR CHILD THE GIFT OF FAILURE.  If you really want your child to be as happy and as successful as possible in everything that he does, teach him how to fail! The most successful people in and out of sports do two things differently than everyone else. First,, they are more willing to take risks and therefore fail more frequently. Second, they use their failures in a positive way as a source of motivation and feedback to improve. Our society is generally negative and teaches us that failure is bad, a cause for humiliation and embarrassment, and something to be avoided at all costs. Fear of failure or humiliation causes one to be tentative and non-active. In fact, most performance blocks and poor performances are a direct result of the athlete being preoccupied with failing or messing up. You can’t learn to walk without falling enough times. Each time that you fall your body gets valuable information on how to do it better. You can’t be successful or have peak performances if you are concerned with losing or failing. Teach your child how to view setbacks, mistakes and risk-taking positively and you’ll have given him the key to a lifetime of success. Failure is the perfect stepping stone to success.

STEP TEN:  CHALLENGE, DON’T THREATEN.  Many parents directly or indirectly use guilt and threats as a way to “motivate” their child to perform better. Performance studies clearly indicate that while threats may provide short term results, the long term costs in terms of psychological health and performance are devastating. Using fear as a motivator is probably one of the worst dynamics you could set up with your child. Threats take the fun out of performance and directly lead to your child performing terribly. implicit in a threat, (do this or else!) is your own anxiety that you do not believe the child is capable. Communicating this lack of belief, even indirectly is further devastating to the child’s performance. A challenge does not entail loss or negative consequences should the athlete fail. Further, implicit in a challenge is the empowering belief, “I think that you can do it”.

STEP ELEVEN:  STRESS PROCESS, NOT OUTCOME.  When athletes choke under pressure and perform far below their potential, a very common cause of this is a focus on the outcome of the performance (i.e., win/lose, instead of the process). In any peak performance, the athlete is totally oblivious to the outcome and instead is completely absorbed in the here and now of the actual performance. An outcome focus will almost always distract and tighten up the athlete insuring a bad performance. Furthermore focusing on the outcome, which is completely out of the athlete’s control will raise his anxiety to a performance inhibiting level. So if you truly want your child to win, help get his focus away from how important the contest is and have them focus on the task at hand. Supportive parents de-emphasize winning and instead stress learning the skills and playing the game.

STEP TWELVE:  AVOID COMPARISONS AND RESPECT DEVELOPMENTAL DIFFERENCES.   Supportive parents do not use other athletes that their child competes against to compare and thus evaluate their child’s progress. Comparisons are useless, inaccurate and destructive. Each child matures differently and the process of comparison ignores significant distorting effects of developmental differences. For example, two 12 year old boys may only have their age in common! One may physically have the build and perform like a 16 year old while the other, a late developer, may have the physical size and attribute of a 9 year old. Performance comparisons can prematurely turn off otherwise talented athletes on their sport. The only value of comparisons is in teaching. If one child demonstrates proper technique, that child can be used comparatively as a model only! For your child to do his very best he needs to learn to stay within himself. Worrying about how another athlete is doing interferes with him doing this.

STEP THIRTEEN:  TEACH YOUR CHILD TO HAVE A PERSPECTIVE ON THE SPORTS EXPERIENCE The sports media in this country would like you to believe that sports and winning/losing is larger than life. The fact that it is just a game frequently gets lost in translation. This lack of perspective frequently trickles down to the youth sport level and young athletes often come away from competition with a distorted view of themselves and how they performed. Parents need to help their children develop realistic expectations about themselves, their abilities and how they played, without robbing the child of his dreams. Swimming a lifetime best time and coming in dead last is a cause for celebration, not depression. Similarly, losing the conference championships does not mean that the sun will not rise tomorrow.

Continue reading »]]> Why Swim, If You Can’t Win?
By Noah Whiteman, Age 11

If I was told I would never win a race again, then I would still swim.  Winning a race depends on who shows up, but one thing that will be there every time is the clock.  Beating your times and dropping time is a great feeling.  Winning feels nice and all, but so do four second drops in fifties, eight second drops in hundreds, and thirteen seconds in a two-hundred IM;  if those aren’t enough to make someone exited, then I’m not sure if winning could do it either.

Swimming is also a good way to stay in shape, without having any valid excuses.  If it rains, who cares?   When the pool is closed, we do dry land.  If it’s too hot, then take a cold shower.  If it’s too cold, then take a hot shower.  Swimming can work all of your major muscle groups, and can help you perform well in other sports too.  According to scientific studies, children who swim tend to do better in school.  I believe that they are right.  One person in my class, not counting myself, swims.  That person and I got called out by our toughest teacher in front of the whole class about how well we did on our mid-terms.

In conclusion, I would rather swim than not swim.  Swimming is a very well rounded sport, and it is great for staying in shape.  It can also build self-confidence, it helps you perform well in other sports, and studies have shown it boosts brain power.

Continue reading »]]> Dr. Alan Goldberg

INTRODUCTION:  If you want your child to come out of his youth sports experience a winner (feeling good about himself and having a healthy attitude towards sports), then he needs your help! You are a vital and important part of the coach-athlete-parent team. If you do your job correctly and play your position well, then your child will learn the sport faster, perform better, really have fun and have his self-esteem enhanced as a result. His sport experience will serve as a positive model for him to follow as he approaches other challenges and obstacles throughout life. If you “drop the ball” or run the wrong way with it, your child will stop learning, experience performance difficulties and blocks, and begin to really hate the sport. And that’s the good news! Further, your relationship with him will probably suffer significantly. As a result, he will come out of this experience burdened with feelings of failure, inadequacy and low self-esteem, feelings that will generalize to other areas in his life. Your child and his coach need you on the team. They can’t win without you! The following are a list of useful facts, guidelines and strategies for you to use to make you more skilled in the youth sport game. Remember, no wins unless everyone wins. We need you on the team!

STEP ONE:  When defined the right way, competition in youth sports is both good and healthy and teaches children a variety of important life skills. The word “compete” comes from the Latin words “com” and “petere” which mean together and seeking respectively. The true definition of competition is a seeking together where your opponent is your partner, not the enemy! The better he performs, the more chance you have of having a peak performance. Sports is about learning to deal with challenges and obstacles. Without a worthy opponent, without any challenges sports is not so much fun. The more the challenge the better the opportunity you have to go beyond your limits. World records are consistently broken and set at the Olympics because the best athletes in the world are “seeking together”, challenging each other to enhanced performance. Your child should never be taught to view his opponent as the “bad guy”, the enemy or someone to be hated and “destroyed”. Do not model this attitude! Instead, talk to/make friends with parents of your child’s opponent. Root for great performances, good plays, not just for the winner!

STEP TWO:  ENCOURAGE YOUR CHILD TO COMPETE AGAINST HIMSELF.  The ultimate goal of the sport experience is to challenge oneself and continually improve. Unfortunately, judging improvement by winning and losing is both an unfair and inaccurate measure. Winning in sports is about doing the best you can do, separate from the outcome or the play of your opponent. Children should be encouraged to compete against their own potential (i.e., Peter and Patty Potential). That is, the boys should focus on beating “Peter”, competing against themselves, while the girls challenge “Patty”. When your child has this focus and plays to better himself instead of beating someone else, he will be more relaxed, have more fun and therefore perform better.

STEP THREE:  DO NOT DEFINE SUCCESS AND FAILURE IN TERMS OF WINNING AND LOSING.  A corollary to TWO, one of the main purposes of the youth sports experience is skill acquisition and mastery. When a child performs to his potential and loses it is criminal to focus on the outcome and become critical. If a child plays his very best and loses, you need to help him feel like a winner! Similarly, when a child or team performs far below their potential but wins, this is not cause to feel like a winner. Help your child make this important separation between success and failure and winning and losing. Remember, if you define success and failure in terms of winning and losing, you’re playing a losing game with your child!

STEP FOUR:  BE SUPPORTIVE, DO NOT COACH!  Your role on the parent-coach-athlete team is as a Support player with a capital S! You need to be your child’s best fan. unconditionally! Leave the coaching and instruction to the coach. Provide encouragement, support, empathy, transportation, money, help with fund-raisers, etc., but… do not coach! Most parents that get into trouble with their children do so because they forget to remember the important position that they play. Coaching interferes with your role as supporter and fan. The last thing your child needs and wants to hear from you after a disappointing performance or loss is what they did technically or strategically wrong. Keep your role as a parent on the team separate from that as coach, and, if by necessity you actually get stuck in the almost no-win position of having to coach your child, try to maintain this separation of roles (i.e. on the deck, field or court say, “Now I’m talking to you as a coach”, at home say, “Now I’m talking to you as a parent”). Don’t parent when you coach and don’t coach at home when you’re supposed to be parenting.

STEP FIVE.  HELP MAKE THE SPORT FUN FOR YOUR CHILD.  It’s a time proven principle of peak performance that the more fun an athlete is having, the more they will learn and the better they will perform. Fun must be present for peak performance to happen at every level of sports from youth to world class competitor! When a child stops having fun and begins to dread practice or competition, it’s time for you as a parent to become concerned! When the sport or game becomes too serious, athletes have a tendency to burn out and become susceptible to repetitive performance problems. An easy rule of thumb: If your child is not enjoying what they are doing, nor loving the heck out of it, investigate! What is going on that’s preventing them from having fun? Is it the coaching? The pressure? Is it you?! Keep in mind that being in a highly competitive program does not mean that there is no room for fun. The child that continues to play long after the fun is going will soon become a drop out statistic.

STEP SIX:  WHOSE GOAL IS IT? Step 5 leads us to a very important question! Why is your child participating in the sport? Are they doing it because they want to, for them, or because of you. When they have problems in their sport do you talk about them as “our” problems, “our jump isn’t high enough”, “we’re having trouble with our flip turn” , etc. Are they playing because they don’t want to disappoint you, because they know how important the sport is to you? Are they playing for rewards and “bonuses” that you give out? Are their goals and aspirations yours or theirs? How invested are you in their success and failure? If they are competing to please you or for your vicarious glory they are in it for the wrong reasons! Further, if they stay involved for you, ultimately everyone will lose. It is quite normal and healthy to want your child to excel and be as successful as possible. But, you cannot make this happen by pressuring them with your expectations or by using guilt or bribery to keep them involved. If they have their own reasons and own goals for participating, they will be far more motivated to excel and therefore far more successful.

Continue reading »]]> By Jeff D. Opdyke

Sometimes parents see what they want to see. And in doing so, they miss a lot.

Case in point: my long-held belief that my son, now 14 years old, loves soccer.

Turns out, I was wrong. After the fall season ended, he announced his retirement.

He finally told me that while he enjoys the game, he isn’t as passionate about it as I am. I had just assumed he was because…well, because I wanted to believe it.

The whole experience has been unsettling, and it has forced me to ask myself some difficult questions: Was he putting in all those hard hours just to please me? Did I ignore obvious signs that he wasn’t having as much fun as I thought he was? And might he have loved the game, if only I hadn’t pushed him to do it more and better?

I don’t know all the answers, and I probably never will. But I am convinced of one thing: We parents so often want to believe that our kids share our passions that we’re unable — and often unwilling — to accept the truth, even when it’s in plain sight.

It’s embarrassing now, but I’ve written frequently about my son and soccer. I’ve described his talent and passion for the game. And I’ve talked about the sacrifices the family was making so he could pursue his soccer-loving dreams: the endless travel, the out-of-state soccer camps, the time we all spent away from home to attend his practices (two nights a week) and games (as many as four in a weekend).

I was proud of his accomplishments. For several years he played at the highest level, on traveling teams that roamed our home state of Louisiana and the Southeast. He scored goals, and medals hang from a shelf in his bedroom from the various tournaments he and his teammates won from Louisiana to Florida.

Now, though, I see he was just living my dream, not his. All those sacrifices in truth reflected my desire to see him excel in a sport I adore rather than one that resonated with him.

As one of my longtime friends says, “You’re so happy believing that your kid loves what you love that you get blinded. And if they’re good, it’s even harder to see. You just assume their talent means they love what they’re doing.”

My friend says that because he had loved baseball as a kid, he introduced it to his son at a very young age. His son, in turn, grew up to play the game very well. “I figured he loved it because he was so good at it,” my friend says. “But he was actually good at it because I started playing with him so young. It had nothing to do with his own love for the game.”

And then one day, at about 12, his son stopped playing. “He told me he never really liked it, and he started playing soccer, which he loved. He was a star, even more than at baseball. And more important: He enjoyed it. I had never noticed how much he didn’t feel that way about baseball.”

I suffered from that same blindness. Looking back, I now recognize that my son never really expressed much emotion about soccer, other than frustration, which I wrote off as teenage moodiness because I didn’t want to believe it was the sport.

It’s easy for me to now see that his growing frustration was one of many signs I refused to acknowledge.

He celebrated tournament victories with teammates on the field, but off the field he never talked about the sport. He grumbled about the number of practices and games. He never wanted to go to my games, and wasn’t interested in watching soccer on TV with me. He stopped kicking the ball with me in the yard, and when he got really frustrated at some soccer comment I’d make he’d say, “Dad, it’s not like I’m growing up to be a soccer star, so stop.”

I asked my son where I went wrong and what signs parents should be looking for.

“You didn’t pay attention to the fact that I wasn’t living up to my potential,” he told me. “You saw it — I was jogging when I should have been running, and I began to complain about practice — and you made some comments about it. But you didn’t realize it meant I wasn’t having fun anymore.”

He’s absolutely right.

He also told me I pushed him subtly to accept an invitation to join the best team in the state, even though he was reluctant to do so. Had I not done that (and had he not had such an unpleasant time on that team), he might still be playing today.
Quitting, he said, was hard on him, “because I didn’t want to disappoint you because I know you love watching me play, and you love traveling as a family to my games and staying in hotels together.”

I assured him that I am not disappointed — that I’m happy he acted from his heart rather than from mine. More important, I told him that I’m very happy he has found his own passion: golf.

He came to the game through his friends at school, and he loves the sport. He eagerly signed up for lessons. He’s happy to go to practice and wants to hit the driving range several times a week, even when it’s 30 degrees outside. He wants me to play with him. He talks about golf all the time, and watches it on TV. He practices in the front yard, which he never did with soccer.

In short, he’s finding far more satisfaction in his own sport than he ever did when he was simply trying to please Dad.

Continue reading »]]> Meet Type:
This meet is held at the Rochester Recreation Center and sponsored by Med-City Aquatics. It is a 3 1/2 day Prelim/Finals for 11-12, 13-14 and Timed Finals meet for 9-10 and 8 & Under swimmers with Champ times.

Fees:
$2.50 per entrant, $5.00 per event, plus $10 coaching fee per family. See event limits below. Registrations are due to Lisa Peterson by Monday, March 5.

Order of Events

Event Limits:
13 & 14: 3 individual events/day, 7 maximum
11 & 12: 3 individual events/day, 7 maximum
9 & 10: 4 individual events/day, 8 maximum
8 & Under: 4 individual events/day, 8 maximum
Relays do not count against limits.

Pool Location and Directions:
Rochester-Olmsted County Recreation Center Natatorium 21 Elton Hills Drive, Rochester, MN. Approaching Rochester from the South or North on US Highway 52 take the 19th Street Northwest Exit. If you are coming from the North, take a left turn (East) off the ramp onto 19th Street. After crossing the highway bridge, go straight at the stop light onto Elton Hills Drive. Follow the winding Elton Hills Drive to just before the intersection with Broadway (0.8 mile). The Rec Center is on the left prior to the Broadway intersection. If you approach from the South, exit at 19th Street. Turn right off the ramp onto 19th street. Go straight at the light onto Elton Hills Drive. Follow Elton Hills Drive similarly. Entrance to the pool on competitive days is on the WEST side. PARK ONLY ON THE WEST SIDE OF THE FACILITY PLEASE.

Time Schedule:
Age: 11-12 and 13-14
Thursday, March 15: Finals warm-up pool opens 3:30 PM, Meet Start: 5:00 PM
Friday, March 16: Prelims warm-up pool opens 7:00 AM, Meet Start: 8:30 AM
Friday, March 16: Finals warm-up pool opens 3:00 PM, Meet Start: 4:30 PM
Saturday, March 17: Prelims warm-up pool opens 7:00 AM, Meet Start: 8:30 AM
Saturday, March 17:Finals warm-up pool opens 4:00 PM, Meet Start: 5:30 PM
Sunday, March 18: Prelims warm-up pool opens 7:00 AM, Meet Start: 8:30 AM
Sunday, March 18: 1650 Finals start at 12:30 PM
Sunday, March 18: Finals warm-up pool opens 4:30 PM, Meet Start: 5:00 PM
Age: 9-10
Friday, March 16: Finals warm-up pool opens 3:00 PM, Meet Start: 4:30 PM
Saturday, March 17: Finals Warm-up pool opens 12:30 PM, Meet Start: 2:00 PM
Sunday, March 18Finals warm-up pool opens 1:30 PM, Meet Start: 2:00 PM
Age: 8 and Under
Saturday, March 17: Finals Warm-up pool opens 12:30 PM, Meet Start: 2:00 PM
Sunday, March 18: Finals warm-up pool opens 1:30 PM, Meet Start: 2:00 PM

Facility:
Eight lane, 50 meter indoor pool with a bulkhead that separates the pool into two eight-lane 25 yard courses. The pool is equipped with lane lines and backstroke pennants. Continuous warm-up will be available in the shallow-end 25-yard course unless it is being used for competition.

Meet Format:
All 8 & Under, 9-10 events are timed finals, 11-12 and 13-14 are prelim/finals with the top 16 advancing to finals.

Relays:
To enter a relay at this meet teams must have one swimmer in the age group (by gender) who is entered and swims in at least one individual event at the meet. A swimmer may not swim the same relay in two different age groups, e.g. swimmers that participate in both the Senior and Age Group Championship meets cannot swim the same relay on both weekends. Example: A swimmer competing on a 200 Free relay in the Age Group meet cannot swim in the Senior 200 Free Relay.

Awards:
Individual Events: 1st – 8th place medals. Relay Events: 1st – 8th place medals. Awards will be presented to the top 8 finishers in each event at award ceremonies during the meet. Certificates will be given to the Top 3 High Point swimmers in each age group and sex.

Continue reading »]]> Meet Type:
This meet at the University of Minnesota is sponsored by Team Foxjet. It is a three day state championship meet for all swimmers with verifiable Senior Championship qualifying times.

Fees:
$2.50 per entrant, $5.00 per event, plus $10 coaching fee per family. A swimmer may not exceed 3 individual events per day to a maximum of 7 events in the meet, excluding relays. Registrations are due to Lisa Peterson by Monday, February 27.

Order Of Events

Time Schedule:
Prelims (Friday, Saturday, Sunday): Deck opens 7am, warm-up 7:15am to 8:45am, competition starts 9am
Finals (Friday and Saturday): Deck opens 3:30pm, warm-up 3:45pm to 5:15pm, competition starts 5:30pm
Finals (Sunday): Deck opens 1:30pm, warm-up 1:45pm to 3:15pm, competition starts 3:30pm

Traffic Note:
Please note that two major construction projects are underway at and near the Aquatic Center. Some of the streets south of the Aquatic Center have been closed or restricted. Entrances on the south side of the University Aquatic Center will be closed. The only access point is on the north side of the Aquatic Center.

Facility:
8 Lane, 25 Yard Indoor racing course with lane lines and backstroke pennants.

Relays:
All relays will be swum to completion during the preliminary sessions. There will be no relays swum in finals. To enter a relay a team must have one swimmer who is entered in at least one individual event at the meet. Swimmers that participate in both the Senior and Age Group Championship meets cannot swim the same relay at both meets. Example: A swimmer competing on a 200 Free relay in the Age Group meet cannot swim in the Senior 200 Free Relay.

Clerk of Course:
The Top 24 qualifiers in each prelim/finals event advance to Evening Finals. The top 8 qualifiers will swim in the Championship heat, the 9th-16th qualifiers will swim in the Consolation heat, the 17th-24th qualifiers will swim in the Bonus heat (non-scoring).

Awards:
Senior awards will be given at this meet. Individual Events: 1st – 8th place medals. Relay Events: 1st – 8th place medals. Certificates will be given to the Top 3 High Point swimmers in each gender. MN High Point Championship and Runner-up plaques will be awarded separately for men and women teams. Awards will be given out to athletes 30 minutes after the posting of the final results, barring complications with the results. SWIMMERS MUST COLLECT THEIR AWARDS BEFORE THEY LEAVE THE COMPETITION.

Continue reading »]]> Meet Type:
This is a 2 1⁄2 day meet is hosted by the Rochester Swim Club (ORCAS). There will be two categories of competition for awards: swimmers with verifiable “A” times but not faster (No champ times will be allowed) and swimmers with verifiable B times.

Entry Reports:

• By name
• By event

Pool Location:
Rochester-Olmsted County Recreation Center Natatorium 21 Elton Hills Drive, Rochester, MN 55901 (507) 281-6167
Directions to Rec Center: Approaching Rochester from the South or North on US Highway 52 take the 19th Street Northwest Exit. If you are coming from the North, take a left across the bridge (you are heading East). After crossing the highway bridge, continue onto Elton Hills Drive. Follow Elton Hills Drive to just before the intersection with Broadway (0.8 mile). The Rec Center is on the left prior to the Broadway intersection. If you approach from the South take the 19th Street Exit, veer right and continue through the light onto Elton Hills Drive. Follow Elton Hills Drive for approx 1 mile. Pool is on the Left . Entrance to the pool during competition is on the WEST side only. PARK ONLY ON THE WEST SIDE OF THE FACILITY!!!

Time Schedule:
Friday afternoon session – Warm-ups at 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM meet starts at 5:10 PM.
Saturday and Sunday Morning sessions: Warm-ups start at 7:20 AM to 8:20 AM, meet starts at 8 :30 AM.
Saturday and Sunday afternoon sessions: Will not start before 11:30 AM preceded by a 60-minute warm- up, and a 10-minute break for a coaches meeting.

Facility:
The Recreation Center Natatorium is an indoor eight-lane 50 meter pool with a bulkhead that separates the pool into two eight-lane 25 yard courses. Six inch Competitor lane lines are used and the pool is set with backstroke pennants. Continuous warm-up will be available in the shallow-end 25 yard course during the meet whenever possible.

SEATING:
There are 750 seats located on the West side of the pool. Spectators must sit in the bleachers above the walkway. Only competitors and coaches will be allowed to use the seating on the east side and the ground level seating on the west side of the competition pool. NO FOOD OR GLASS CONTAINERS WILL BE ALLOWED IN THE POOL AREA. THIS INCLUDES THE POOLSIDE SEATING AND BLEACHER AREA.    COMPETITORS MAY BRING SPORTS DRINKS (IN PLASTIC CONTAINERS) INTO THE COMPETITION AREA. SPECTATORS WILL BE REMOVED FROM THE POOL AREA IF FOOD IS BROUGHT IN.

Continue reading »]]> Order of Events

Pool Location:
Hudson Middle School 1300 Carmichael Rd., N. Hudson, WI 54016 Note: This address does not plot in the correct location in most online mapping programs. Please follow the directions below: I94E to Hudson. Take Exit #2, Carmichael Rd. N. Continue on Carmichael 1.5 miles to Hudson Middle School, on right. Use 2nd driveway at 4-way stop sign.

Time Schedule:
Friday Evening Session – Warm-up Start 4:30 pm. Meet Start 5:30 pm.
Morning Sessions – Warm-up Start 7:20 am. Warm-up Ends 8:15 am. Meet Start 8:30 am.
Afternoon Sessions: Will not start before 11:30am preceded by a 45 minute warm up.

Facility:
8-Lane, 25 Yard Indoor pool with lanelines and backstroke pennants.

Awards:
Individual Events: Strip Ribbons, 1st-8th. Certificates will be issued for new Champ, A and B times. Awards will be given out to athletes 30 minutes after the posting of the final results, barring complications with the results.

Note:
NO FOOD will be allowed on the pool deck— Only closed bottles of water or Gatorade are allowed. Any swimmer eating on the pool deck will be asked to leave the area and finish eating in the cafeteria area.

Continue reading »]]> Guy Edson, ASCA Staff*

When you read the title above you may think “this article has nothing to do with me and my child.”  But it has everything to do with you and your child, especially children in the developmental groups.

Here is what we are talking about:  The club should have an expense line as part of its regular budget for sending the coach to nationals, even if it is one swimmer who qualifies.  We are saying that the CLUB pays for the coach to go to nationals and that means that part of the dues and fundraising done by parents of developmental (novice) and age group, and slower senior swimmers support the coach going to nationals – especially if it is just one swimmer who has qualified.

A club’s philosophy is represented by its budget line items.  “National Travel” for the coach is one of the most important philosophies a club can adapt.

You may not think that is fair.  It is difficult for newer swim parents, especially parents of young age group swimmers, to understand the importance of sending the coach away to nationals at great expense while all the other swimmers on the team stay at home without their head coach.

In some clubs, the parents of the swimmer(s) attending nationals are asked to pay the costs of the coach’s travel expenses.  This is completely wrong because it loudly says the club does not support national level achievement.  In addition, it ignores the fact that the parents of a child who has qualified for nationals has been with the program a very long time and has paid a substantial amount of dues and volunteered a large number of hours in events and fund raisers.

Why should you support the coach’s travel costs for a national level meet even though the possibility of your child getting there someday may seem so far off, and possibly not even imagined at the present time?

Developing a swimmer at national level means that the peak of the program pyramid is healthy.  In a healthy program pyramid we have the largest number of swimmers at the base – usually stroke school or learn to swim children.  At the next level are the younger age group swimmers who are beginning to compete at meets.  Further up are the advanced age group swimmers, then seniors, then a national development group at the peak.  Even small programs should be aiming at the peak – even if there is one swimmer in one lane working toward that level.  Without a quest for the highest level of swimming, without a peak, there is a loss of incentive by swimmers, parents, and coaches.

It is an important milestone in the development of the swimmer, of the coach, and of the team when the first national qualifier is developed.  This swimmer represents the current “peak” of the program. All parts of a program are important but the peak is of special importance because it is a point that all younger developing athletes can look forward to and work towards.  It provides direction in the program.

Important note:  The club teams that send swimmers to nationals tend to have developmental programs of the highest quality for young children.  A nationally oriented club program means better coaching for your young swimmer.

Suppose the swimmer attends nationals without the coach because no one will support the travel expenses.
This is not fair to the athlete or to the coach.  The athlete has worked for and deserves the attention and professional guidance of the coach.  The coach also deserves the reward of developing such a fine athlete by being involved in the national experience.  Attending nationals is also a very important educational experience for the coach.   By not sending the coach to nationals with the swimmer the club is also sending a message to the athletes that the club is not interested in elite athletes.

What if the swimmer and coach stay home.  This cuts the peak of the program and removes incentives for athletes and coach to become the best they can be.  This is the mark of a team that does not include growth as part of its long range goals, or perhaps does not have any goals at all.  It is a program that will always have young and relatively inexperienced coaches because few coaches will be satisfied working in a situation where they cannot grow.

When the swimmer and coach attend nationals with the financial support and good will of the entire club this is the mark of a program that looks to the future, believes in growth, and believes in rewarding the good work by both the athlete and the coach.  When the coach and athlete attend nationals it is a celebration of team success.  The athlete can return home as the hero and “tell the story” of nationals that will inspire the rest of the team.

When the coach goes to nationals it is not just for one swimmer, it is for the whole team… and, it’s for your age group swimmer.

*This is a re-write of an article that first appeared in Swim Parent News in August 2010.  We have updated and reprinted at this time because we have had a number of phone calls from both Board members and coaches regarding this important question.