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The Future of Swimming

George Block, Moderator
Panel : Phil Whitten, John Leonard, Bob Gillette, Bob Bowman, and Bill Sweetenham
Notes by Laura Matuzak

Saturday, September 8, 2001

I.                    Using bifocal vision, we must focus on what we are doing to improve and look into the future and find out what we are doing and what will be obsolete in years to come.

A.     Innovation occurs at the edge of disciplines.

B.     Unlikely combinations result in innovation.

II.                 Bob Bowman – The Future of World-Class Swimmers.

A.     Clubs have historically looked for the swimmer of the future.

B.     Looking for specific physical characteristics that have become more pronounced throughout time.

1.      Tall.

2.      Large hands and feet.

3.      Lean.

4.      Naturally strong and flexible.

5.      Intelligent, good scientific knowledge.

6.      Artistic background with art and music.

7.      Very supportive and involved parents.

a)      Willing to allow kids to pursue their endeavors without falling into the trap of pursuing multiple interests.

b)      Girls need to commit to swimming at 10-11 years of age. 

c)      Boys need to commit to swimming later.

C.     Athletes will need to work with a team of people using multiple tools.

1.      Nutrition and supplements.

a)      World Class swimmers need more than three square meals a day.

b)      Use safe and healthy supplements that have been tested for quality control.

2.      Know what the athlete can and cannot handle.

3.      This team of people must interact with each other.

4.      The coach is the coordinator of team support.

a)      Physician to monitor blood tests, general health and over-training.

b)      Nutritionist for basic nutritional advise and supplements.

c)      Physical therapist for message.

d)      Psychologist for biofeedback.

e)      Accountant because the World Class swimmer of the future will be a professional swimmer.  The NCAA won’t work for all World Class swimmers.

f)        Attorney.

g)      Agent.

III.               Bill Sweetenham – The Club of the Future.

A.     We tend to revert to ideas of the past.

B.     Coach Sweetenham is finishing his coaching career by returning to club coaching.

C.     The world has lost its fight with drugs.

1.      The wording has to change:  “If an athlete takes anything to improve his or her performance, then he or she is cheating.”

D.     There is  a trend toward extreme sports.

E.      Swimming needs to change its competition schedule.

F.      Clubs will be multidimensional in the future.

1.      Training.

2.      Technique.

3.      Volunteers.

4.      Parent may be out of the picture as a volunteer.

G.     Clubs will have major sponsorships.

1.      Tie-in with a university or a city.

2.      People will get behind a city-based team.

3.      City representation at the National level.

H.     Foreign athletes in the U.S.

1.      Why do we do it?

I.        Feeder programs.

1.      Mass participation.

2.      Raise sponsorship.

3.      Lobby.

J.       Maximum pool availability at the minimal cost.

K.    NCAA Championships will be short course meters for three years and long course meters during the Olympic year.

L.      Club support.

1.      Financial support from the government.

2.      Visitation from the national body.

3.      National swimmers and coaches on contract and paid a salary – on call for National program.

M.   Coaching specialist areas.

1.      Coach to swimmer ratio will be 8-12:1.

2.      Sports medicine.

3.      Sports science from a university.

N.    Head Coach role.

1.      Coordinator.

2.      Manager.

3.      Facilitator.

O.    Biochemist with immune system knowledge needed.

P.      Competition.

1.      Heats.

2.      “Skins” philosophy.

a)      8-10 make it to the final.

b)      Elimination finals until 2 people are left.

3.      Move away from traditional meets.

4.      Parent-friendly meets.

5.      Meet the needs of the athletes.

a)      Keep them out of extreme sports.

IV.              Bob Gillette – The Future of Technology in Swimming.

A.     Revolution of technical applications to swimming.

B.     Being an innovator is part of coaching.

C.     Computer assisted race evaluations.

1.      Idea in 1978.

2.      Brought idea to Colorado Springs and they had zero interest.

3.      In 1982, became a hand-held devise.

a)      Descriptive race evaluations, like stroke rate.

4.      From 1982-2001, no race results from USA Swimming.

5.      At Senior Nationals, race information is now available.

D.     Group Heart Rate Monitor System.

V.                 John Leonard – The Future of Swimming Facilities.

A.     Plastic and stainless steel pools.

1.      Mobile.

2.      Any size.

3.      Total access to plumbing.

4.      Own a pool, then move it when you need to in order to follow the population trends.

5.      Start with swimming lesson pool, then expand.

B.     Major stadiums with portable pools.

1.      Kiefer and Yamaha are already producing these.

2.      Invest in the facility, rather than the pool.

C.     Swim Meets.

1.      Age Group Meets.

2.      Ban making money at meets.

3.      Different kinds of meets for different folks.

a)      Sprints.

b)      800 I.M.

c)      400 Strokes.

D.     Computer chips in caps.

E.      Aquapacers in kid’s caps.

F.      Circular pools.

1.      Compete by weight class.

2.      No holds barred.

VI.              Phil Whitten – The Future of Drugs in Swimming.

A.     Do nothing that is harmful.

1.      If it is harmful, it must be banned.

B.     If test positive, must be banned for life.       

1.      Rescind awards for life.

2.      Give awards to those who truly earned them.

C.     Not serious about the drug issue in the U.S.

1.      President George Bush appointed Arnold Schwartzneger, an admitted steroid user, as the Nation’s Fitness Counselor.

a)      Used his star power.

b)      Avoided the drug issue all together instead of educating the children about the dangers of drugs in sports.

2.      President Clinton appointed Florence Griffith Joyner to the same position.

3.      George W. Bush used the WWF star and steroid user, the Rock, at the Republican convention as a symbol of athleticism and health.

D.     Designer drugs, genetic engineering and cloning.

E.      NCAA.

1.      There is good news.

2.      A Masters swimmer and lawyer from New Hampshire is establishing a legal defense group.

3.      ASCA to hire a lobbyist to help find funding for NCAA programs and avoid getting them cut.

4.      “How to Save a College Swim Program”  book to be online and out to the public.

5.      Male swimming at the college level.

a)      Tailor the program to meet the needs of boys.

b)      Psychological and physiological needs.

VII.            Panelist Thoughts.

A.     Comment on the professional model for the head coach.  Will he or she be more of a coach or a general manager?

1.      Bob Bowman.

a)      General manager model – involved in collective organization.

b)      Specifically, the coach will be ultimately in charge of the training program.  Only the coach can be in charge of this.  Others can be used to effect training.

2.      Bill Sweetenham.

a)      Coaches who aren’t focused retire and lose motivation.

b)      Senior coach runs the team management.

c)      Enthusiastic staff under the senior coach.

d)      The senior coach recruits expertise for the team.

B.     Comment on the use of technology for remote site coaching and using the internet for distance learning.

1.      John Leonard.

a)      We can’t afford this technology.

b)      The sport must become more popular.

2.      Bob Gillette.

a)      We can get sponsorships for this technology because of the spin-off income.

b)      We are not embracing technology.

C.     Phil Whitten.

1.      What can we do tomorrow at our home clubs to bring boys into the sport and into the value system of swimming?

2.      The psychology of young boys.

a)      Low attention span.

b)      Girls work harder.

c)      Divide training by sex.

d)      Separate workouts.

e)      Reward structure for boys.

(1)   Why is there no NCAA “Man of the Year” award and only an NCAA “Woman of the Year” award?

f)        Boy Power clinics needed.

g)      Focus on the issues of boys.