Palm Beach Sub-JO - 2/17/2007 to 2/18/2007

Session Report

Session: 1 8 & Under

Day of Meet: 1 Starts at 08:30 AM Heat Interval: 15 Seconds / Back +15 Seconds

1 Girls 8 & Under 100 Medley Relay
2 Boys 8 & Under 100 Medley Relay
3 Girls 6 & Under 25 Freestyle
4 Boys 6 & Under 25 Freestyle
5 Girls 7-8 25 Freestyle
6 Boys 7-8 25 Freestyle
7 Girls 8 & Under 50 Freestyle
8 Boys 8 & Under 50 Freestyle
9 Girls 6 & Under 25 Backstroke
10 Boys 6 & Under 25 Backstroke
11 Girls 7-8 25 Backstroke
12 Boys 7-8 25 Backstroke
13 Girls 8 & Under 50 Backstroke
14 Boys 8 & Under 50 Backstroke
15 Girls 8 & Under 100 IM
16 Boys 8 & Under 100 IM
17 Girls 6 & Under 25 Breaststroke
18 Boys 6 & Under 25 Breaststroke
19 Girls 7-8 25 Breaststroke
20 Boys 7-8 25 Breaststroke
21 Girls 8 & Under 50 Breaststroke
22 Boys 8 & Under 50 Breaststroke
23 Girls 6 & Under 25 Butterfly
24 Boys 6 & Under 25 Butterfly
25 Girls 7-8 25 Butterfly
26 Boys 7-8 25 Butterfly
27 Girls 8 & Under 50 Butterfly
28 Boys 8 & Under 50 Butterfly
29 Girls 6 & Under 50 Freestyle
30 Boys 6 & Under 50 Freestyle
31 Girls 8 & Under 100 Freestyle
32 Boys 8 & Under 100 Freestyle
33 Girls 8 & Under 200 Freestyle Relay
34 Boys 8 & Under 200 Freestyle Relay

Session: 2 9 & Over

Day of Meet: 1 Starts at 12:00 PM Heat Interval: 15 Seconds / Back +15 Seconds

35 Girls 11-12 200 Medley Relay
36 Boys 11-12 200 Medley Relay
37 Girls 13 & Over 200 Medley Relay
38 Boys 13 & Over 200 Medley Relay
39 Girls 10 & Under 200 Freestyle
40 Boys 10 & Under 200 Freestyle
41 Girls 11-12 200 Freestyle
42 Boys 11-12 200 Freestyle
43 Girls 13 & Over 200 Freestyle
44 Boys 13 & Over 200 Freestyle
45 Girls 9-10 50 Breaststroke
46 Boys 9-10 50 Breaststroke
47 Girls 11-12 50 Breaststroke
48 Boys 11-12 50 Breaststroke
49 Girls 11 & Over 200 Breaststroke
50 Boys 11 & Over 200 Breaststroke
51 Girls 9-10 100 IM
52 Boys 9-10 100 IM
53 Girls 11-12 100 IM
54 Boys 11-12 100 IM
55 Girls 13 & Over 200 IM
56 Boys 13 & Over 200 IM
57 Girls 9-10 50 Freestyle
58 Boys 9-10 50 Freestyle
59 Girls 11-12 50 Freestyle
60 Boys 11-12 50 Freestyle
61 Girls 13 & Over 50 Freestyle
62 Boys 13 & Over 50 Freestyle
65 Girls 9-10 50 Butterfly
66 Boys 9-10 50 Butterfly
67 Girls 11-12 50 Butterfly
68 Boys 11-12 50 Butterfly
69 Girls 11 & Over 200 Butterfly
70 Boys 11 & Over 200 Butterfly
71 Girls 10 & Under 100 Backstroke
72 Boys 10 & Under 100 Backstroke
73 Girls 11-12 100 Backstroke
74 Boys 11-12 100 Backstroke
75 Girls 13 & Over 100 Backstroke
76 Boys 13 & Over 100 Backstroke
77 Girls 11 & Over 500 Freestyle
78 Boys 11 & Over 500 Freestyle

Session: 3 9 & Over
Day of Meet: 2 Starts at 08:30 AM Heat Interval: 15 Seconds / Back +15 Seconds

79 Girls 13 & Over 200 Freestyle Relay
80 Boys 13 & Over 200 Freestyle Relay
81 Girls 11-12 200 Freestyle Relay
82 Boys 11-12 200 Freestyle Relay
83 Girls 9-10 200 Freestyle Relay
84 Boys 9-10 200 Freestyle Relay
85 Girls 13 & Over 100 Freestyle
86 Boys 13 & Over 100 Freestyle
89 Girls 11-12 100 Freestyle
90 Boys 11-12 100 Freestyle
91 Girls 9-10 100 Freestyle
92 Boys 9-10 100 Freestyle
93 Girls 13 & Over 100 Breaststroke
94 Boys 13 & Over 100 Breaststroke
95 Girls 11-12 100 Breaststroke
96 Boys 11-12 100 Breaststroke
97 Girls 10 & Under 100 Breaststroke
98 Boys 10 & Under 100 Breaststroke
99 Girls 11 & Over 200 Backstroke
100 Boys 11 & Over 200 Backstroke
101 Girls 11-12 50 Backstroke
102 Boys 11-12 50 Backstroke
103 Girls 9-10 50 Backstroke
104 Boys 9-10 50 Backstroke
105 Girls 11 & Over 400 IM
106 Boys 11 & Over 400 IM
107 Girls 11-12 200 IM
108 Boys 11-12 200 IM
109 Girls 10 & Under 200 IM
110 Boys 10 & Under 200 IM
111 Girls 13 & Over 100 Butterfly
112 Boys 13 & Over 100 Butterfly
113 Girls 11-12 100 Butterfly
114 Boys 11-12 100 Butterfly
115 Girls 10 & Under 100 Butterfly
116 Boys 10 & Under 100 Butterfly
117 Girls 11 & Over 1650 Freestyle
118 Boys 11 & Over 1650 Freestyle

Palm Beach County Spring Sub-Jo, February 17 & 18, 2007

Sanctioned By:
USA Swimming and Florida Gold Coast Swimming Association – Sanction #021707
PC10

Sponsored By:
Aqua Crest Swim Team

Location:
Aqua Crest Pool-2503 Seacrest Blvd., Delray Beach, FL- (561) 278-7341.

Directions:
From the South: I-95 North to Woolbright Road exit. Take Woolbright Road east to Seacrest Boulevard. Make a right on Seacrest Boulevard and go through three lights. The pool is on the left just after the third light.

From the North: I-95 South to Woolbright Road exit. Take Woolbright Road east to Seacrest Boulevard. Make a right on Seacrest Boulevard and go through three lights. The pool is on the left just after the third light.

Dates & Times:
Session 1 - Saturday, February 17, 2007. Warm-up at 7:30 AM Meet Start at 8:30 AM
Session 2 - Saturday, February 17, 2007. Warm-up at 11:00 AM Meet Starts at 12:00 PM
Session 3 - Sunday, February 18, 2007. Warm-up at 7:30 AM Meet Starts at 8:30 AM

Pool:
Competition will be Short Course Yards, 7 Lane course will be used.
Continuous warm-up and warm-down will be available. Daktronics timing system will be used.

Eligibility:
Open to all 2007 USA Swimming registered athletes residing in Palm Beach and Martin
Counties and foreign athletes with proper travel credentials that have been invited by USA Swimming, who have not achieved a Junior Olympic time in the event in which he/she is entered in.

Swimmers with a disability are welcome to eneter this meet. The coach or entry chairperson must alert the the meet director, as to the need for any special accommodations or seeding arrangements at the time the enrty is submitted.

Meet Referee:
Joe Ansell

Meet Director:
Glenn Meeder 561-313-9267 or gmeederjr@aol.com

Rules:
Current USA Swimming Rules and Florida Gold Coast rules will govern this meet. Safety rules as outlined as outlined by USA swimming and as recommended by the referee will be in effect.

THE FGC DECK ENTRY POLICY IS IN EFFECT FOR THIS MEET. THE POLICY CAN BE FOUND AT http://www.fgcswim.org/

Entry Deadline:
All entries must be received by Friday, February 9, 2007.

Please submit electronically by email to nzdaw@yahoo.co.nz using an appropriate Hy-Tek attachment. Confirmation for electronic entries will be sent via e-mail. If you don’t receive a
confirmation for your electronic entries in 24 hours, please call David Wright at 561-703-2858.

A TMII meet events file will be e-mailed to all of the Palm Beach and Martin County FGC registered clubs and can also be found at http://aquacrestswimteam.blogspot.com/
for teams using TMII.

Errors in entries submitted electronically are the responsibility of the applicant. Submission of electronic entries certifies that all swimmers entered in the meet are USA Registered.

Entry Fees:
$2.00 per individual event and $4.00 per relay. Non Electronic entries double. $2.00 swimmer surcharge.


Seeding:
YLS Multi course seeding wll be used for this Meet. All events are timed finals.


Awards: Individual Events:
1st-8th Ribbons

Relay Events: 1st-3rd Ribbons

Events which are listed 11 & Over will be awarded separately - 11-12 / 13-14/ 15 & over

Events which are listed 13 & Over will be awarded separately - 13-14/ 15 & over

Concessions:
Refreshments/Hospitality for coaches, officials, and meet volunteers available the entire meet

Admission:
$2.00 Each session

Heat Sheets: $2.00

Meet Information & Results:
Psyche Sheets and Time Lines, and official results will be e-mailed to each participating club and will be posted at http://aquacrestswimteam.blogspot.com

Gidday

Hello, Aqua Crest members and fans! Soon, we'll be uploading information about the Sub JO meet.

Not Every Revolutionary Situation Leads To Revolution

By David

Scott at Timed Finals recently discussed how we could better promote the sport of swimming. At the risk of over abbreviating his argument, here is a summary. The full article drew a lot of responses, including one from Gary Hall Jr.

“I mean seriously, does anyone care about this sport? While “mainstream” media hounds Britney Spears as she neglects her child, swimmers and swimming sit here doing what we always do - get up early, go to bed early and be model citizens.

But in defense of the public not caring, we are boring, aren’t we? The biggest news of the year in the eyes of the public? Ian Thorpe retiring. Someone leaving the sport dwarfs everything else. Seriously, no other story in swimming came close?

Call me what you want, but it is time we take stock and figure out how we can take this sport mainstream.”

Amen. You can say that again.

One of swimming’s problems is its overwhelming niceness. I once coached a swimmer who was moderately rebellious. Every time Toni said anything controversial I’d get a frantic phone call from Swimming New Zealand suggesting a program of media training. She didn’t need media training. She handled the media better than they did. It was the message they didn’t like and wanted to control.

There is nothing wrong with niceness. It’s just not very interesting. A fair number of today’s best swimmers have been media trained into oblivion. Every question is answered with a well rehearsed phrase. You know the sort of thing, “I just wanted to do my best,” or “Coming first was such a surprise,” or “I owe it all to my coach or the timekeepers or the referee.”

New Zealand is a classic. No one says anything anymore. A few years ago when the “rebellious” Toni was competing, the national television channel in New Zealand used to call regional swimming championships to find out if Toni had entered. If she was, they would have cameras set up to cover the meet for the 6.00pm national news.

Toni was sponsored by a local strip club. Public interest in that was sufficiently high it was one of the leading stories in USA Today and Japanese deep-sea fishermen visiting New Zealand would get into taxis and ask to be taken to the club that sponsors “that Olympic swimmer”.

Rhi Jeffrey has just started training here and contributing to Swimwatch. She’s refreshingly direct. And long may it last. I suspect it’s one of the qualities that made her good in the past and will do so again. I bet there are plenty out there who would love to see it beaten out of her. A local Florida reporter called me the other day to arrange an interview with Rhi and among the questions she asked me was, “Will you be able to control her?” Good God woman, that’s the last thing I’d ever want to do.

Swimmers like Rhi are good for swimming. John McEnroe, Dennis Connor, Muhammad Ali, Jimmy Connors, Terrell Owens didn’t promote their sports by being nice. They promoted it with a quality called personality. So when swimming has personalities; when Sabir Mohammed ripples his fantastic abs and sends World Cup crowds wild, when Mark Foster wants to do a few weights and drink an Australian beer with his name on the can, when Gary Hall wears his flashy dressing gown, don’t be too quick to rush to judgment. Don’t do a “Craig Lord”.

Gary Hall Jr., robed and ready

Take heart though, the signs are good; you are already being fairly rebellious – you’ve just read SwimWatch.

What A Tanged Web We Weave...

By David

This week New Zealand’s largest Sunday newspaper, the Sunday Star Times reported that:

“New Zealand's top swimmers have been short- changed after a row between Swimming New Zealand and government sport funding agency Sparc. Administrators from both organizations are at loggerheads over performance enhancement grants which are the livelihood of many top Kiwi athletes. It appears a misunderstanding has left swimmers out of pocket and, in some cases, struggling to make ends meet.

The problem was caused by Sparc changing the criteria for awarding grants. If athletes perform well in pinnacle events they qualify for more funding. Sparc and Swimming NZ initially agreed the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne would be swimming's "pinnacle" event of the year. But Sparc decided the world short-course championships about 10 weeks later would be used as the grant benchmark. The ill feeling ramped up several notches when many of their grants in the following months were considerably smaller than had been budgeted for.

"We trained and trained for the (Commonwealth) Games. That was what we peaked for so we were all pretty flat at our next meet, which as it turned out, was much more important than anyone realized," one swimmer said.”

The whole sad episode is typical of New Zealand’s Cameron led swimming. Here’s the things that stand out to us.

Only Swimming New Zealand and Sparc would agree to the Commonwealth Games being a “pinnacle event”. Sure, it’s a hard meet to win; the Australians and the Brits swim there. However, getting through to a final is a far less difficult task. For depth, the Woman’s NCAA finals being held the same weekend in the USA would leave the Commonwealth Games for dead. Swimming New Zealand wanted an easy meet to be the basis on which they were judged, and that’s dishonest. Honest people provided Sparc with honest tax dollars to support honest world class sport. Selecting the Commonwealth Games as a measure shows no respect for the nation’s investment or the integrity of those in charge.

Fortunately, it seems that someone at Sparc realized the deception and moved the “test” to the World Short Course Championships. That was the proper thing to do. We will never know whether the change was prompted by the realization that Swimming New Zealand had conned them, or whether it was a genuine effort to measure world class performance. I suspect Sparc probably caught on to the North Auckland sting. No one likes being “done like a dinner”, not even Sparc.

The best part of all this is the quote from one of New Zealand’s “elite” swimmers. It is typical of what they are learning in the era of Jan Cameron’s leadership; any excuse will do. “We trained and trained for the Commonwealth Games so we were pretty flat for our next meet.” Your next meet, whoever you are, was the World Championships. What on God’s earth are you doing going to a World Championships, representing a proud little country, feeling “pretty flat”. Why is it only now, when it has cost you money, that you realize the World Championships are pretty important? The fault of course lies in those who lead whoever said this. To Cameron and the beurocrats in Wellington, is this quote what you have brought the sport of swimming to in New Zealand?

Whoever said this need to be told, “If you went to a World Championships, feeling pretty flat, not realizing it was an important event and admit that to us now, I’m afraid you do not deserve to be funded, you have not earned that money. And those who taught you all this should resign.”

Does ESPN Really Know Sports?

By Rhi

They’ve finally done it. ESPN has made my “list”. Not too long ago, they published an article entitled “Boxing’s Knockout Punch”. Along with it is a list of sports that ESPN ranked in difficulty using endurance, strength, power, speed, agility, flexibility, nerve, durability, hand-eye coordination, and analytic aptitude as its standards. In it, swimming is ranked 36th and 45th in distance and sprint respectively. Ahead of swimming are sports like squash, fencing, team handball, diving, and baseball. Now if that’s not enough to put ESPN on every swimmer’s “list,” what is?

ESPN’s list has even been a hot topic on Facebook. There is a group titled “F*** ESPN, Swimming is the Hardest Sport There Is”. In it, there has been talk on the discussion boards that ESPN’s decision is justified! Someone actually argued that baseball is harder than swimming. He said he could easily get in a swimming pool and get into decent competitive shape but swimmers could not hit a baseball; please! The biggest problem is people think “swimming” is getting into a pool and doing a 500 yard easy swim. I don’t think so!

Referring to the standards ESPN used for their ranking system, let’s take a look at why they put swimming 36th and 45th. This is what someone in Facebook said about swimming’s ranking.

“To be fair, swimming does not take that much extra skill other than personal determination. It takes lots of heavy conditioning for long periods of time. It took me about an hour (I think it was actually about 45 minutes) to swim an open water mile freestyle and I don't even know the other strokes.

This was without any training whatsoever. It wouldn't be that hard to learn the basics, and just keep practicing. Although it is a rigorous sport, it does lack in some of the other areas in which the rankings were based. There is no Analytic Aptitude involved at all, Hand Eye Coordination is low, Nerve is basically absent (unless you’re hydrophobic), Agility is rarely an issue, Flexibility is not as important, and the Durability is also less important. (On the Durability comment, this is not to infer easy practices because god knows swim practices are hard, it simply refers to the fact that swimming is a low impact sport so it doesn’t take the same physical toll as others.)

The rest is all there though. Distance swimming is based on: Endurance, Strength, Power, Speed, and hand eye coordination to get off the blocks to start. Sprint swimming takes even less in that it doesn’t require as much Endurance. It is strictly a Strength, Power, Speed sport which leaves it severely lacking in points over the others which were ranked.”

Now, if no one sees a problem with this, get to an eye doctor immediately. Let’s go over each category, shall we?

Endurance is listed on ESPN as “the ability to continue to perform a skill or action for long periods of time.” All of you out there that have had practices that you just wish would end, know that swimming is an endurance based sport. I think swimming stroke after stroke for four hours constitutes performing an action continuously for long periods of time. What is this guy talking about?

Strength is listed as the ability to produce force. In order to get through the water efficiently you need to produce force in your pull and kick. At least this bloke gave us strength.

Power is the ability to produce strength in the shortest possible time. Have you ever heard a swimmer be happy about doing slower times at a meet? Enough said.

The Facebook bugger says that flexibility is not important. Tell that to swim programs that stretch every day and incorporate yoga into their programs. Plus, the more flexible you are in swimming the less injuries you will incur.

And nerve is basically absent? See this guy try telling that to me before my finals swim at the US Olympic trials, or any swimmer before their championship race. A special doctor travels with US international teams just to keep people from getting too nervous. To prevent them staying up all night before their races vomiting.

No durability? ESPN listed durability as the ability to withstand physical punishment over a long period of time. After the first 12,000 I did with David, I wanted to get my shoulders sawed off because I thought it might relieve the pain. Sure, we do not get the living daylights beaten out of us by 250 pound men, but I think we are pretty durable athletes.

Analytic aptitude is the ability to evaluate and react appropriately to strategic solutions. Mr. Facebook says there is no analytic aptitude involved at all. Ask him if he knows how to strategically swim 200 freestyle, or 200 butterfly. He wouldn’t know the half of it. You swimmers out there that have passed people to win in the last length of a race know there is plenty of analytic aptitude involved in this sport.

The only things I agree with this guy on are hand-eye coordination and maybe agility. I mean, we do swim straight for a while before we have to flip turn, but the rest of this is total junk!

This is why ESPN is on my “list.” I’d like to see any of those fat “well dressed” ESPN sports r(w)ankers get in the pool and do one of our workouts. Don’t forget to have the ambulance on speed dial, idiots.

Wake Up and Blame the Coach

By David

Several years ago, the New Zealand Government decided to socialize elite sport. They did it through the power of the purse. They set up a government agency called the Hillary Commission (later re-mis-named SPARC). The government then funded the agency and immediately turned every Olympic sport in the nation into social welfare beneficiaries; adverse to risk, pen pushing bureaucrats who spent their time and the sport’s money preparing five year plans and mission statements.

Swimming took a lead from their SPARC masters and developed plans within the sport that increasingly centralized power. SPARC of course approved. They’d have done the same thing. The vehicle NZ Swimming used was the North Shore Swimming Club and their coach Jan Cameron, the ex-wife of Australia’s Don Talbot. Their model was an even more socialist version of the Australian Institute of Sport. And that’s what New Zealand has now. It is pretentiously called the Millennium Institute and absorbs the state’s funding at an alarming rate.

The reasons we don’t like it are;

It is counter to the prevailing free enterprise character of New Zealand society. It has nothing to offer the tough independence that made Hillary, Walker, Loader, Quax, Snell, Halberg albergHHand Dixon household names around the sporting world. Interestingly all those guys made their name before there was a SPARC.

The nation’s fortunes increasingly rely on the ability and success of one coach or, just as bad, one programme. Nothing that Cameron has ever done convinces us that she is a Talbot, Lydiard, Touretski or Schubert.

New Zealand’s results have been worse than when Loader, Simsic, Langrel, Moss, Kingsman and Hurring were breaking world records, winning Olympic medals and swimming in Olympic finals. Cameron’s had millions and she’s had time; too many millions and too much time.

If the state is going to fund the sport of swimming we believe the money should be applied to create a “free enterprise” environment in which any one of the nation’s coaches can become a “General Motors” of swimming. That is the function of government in a free enterprise society. Once a very close friend of Cameron’s, Arthur Lydiard, agreed with that view. It’s what he did in Finland and it worked.

This week we have had another chance to see the product of Cameron’s work. The New Zealand National Championships which also serve as the World Championship trials have been held at the Henderson Pool in Auckland. How did they get on?

Remember when you judge Cameron’s performance you cannot use the standard of a normal swim coach at a normal parent run pool. This person has directed the resources of a nation. This person convinced Swimming New Zealand and a fawning press that she would lead them to swimming’s promised land. In the best traditions of used car salesmen everywhere she sold New Zealand the dream of world class status. She’s been followed, applauded and funded. When you judge Cameron it is entirely appropriate to say, “You offered us the world. Our nation funded you. Did you deliver?”

At this point I want to jump ahead a week and tell you, “No, she didn’t, not by a long way.” I will explain the results shortly. What is important is to tell you about Cameron’s reaction. Was there an apology; any sign of remorse; any indication that millions had been spent on her direction and the results were only 39% of forecast? No there was none of that. Instead Cameron, faster than a rattlers strike, blamed the swimmers. Here is a slightly shortened version of the article; click through to read the entire piece.

HARD WORD FOR TOP SWIMMERS

High Performance coach Jan Cameron believes some individuals are not doing as well as they should be. Corney Swanepoel and Commonwealth Games gold medallist Moss Burmester have been told to harden up. Cameron says it is probably the nerves and stress of a trial situation taking hold; she wants Swanepoel to step up as he has not delivered what he can, and as a young man simply needs to overcome some nerves.

New Zealand needs to ask itself is this the sort of leadership it wants? Is this what Hillary and Lydiard would have done? New Zealand is a fine little country with a proud sporting tradition, created by leaders who accepted responsibility when something went wrong. Cameron has sought to shovel blame on to those whose only mistake was to follow her over the Auckland Harbor Bridge.

Always be suspicious of coaches who use the excuses, “It’s the swimmers fault,” or “We didn’t do too well but the future is looking good.” The last four years have seen Swimming New Zealand perfect a thousand variations of both.

And so to the swimming; here’s what happened.

Prior to the trials Swimming New Zealand confidently predicted they had 18 swimmers ready for the World championship duty – in the event seven swimmers qualified. Of the seven, one was the British, ex-world record holder, Zoe Baker, who hardly owes any of her success to the Cameron plan. Another, Annabelle Carey lives half way down the South Island which in New Zealand is about as far as you can get from Cameron’s Millennium Institute.

Oh, Swimming New Zealand will still send 18 swimmers. They’ll make the numbers up with relays and sick notes. Don’t let that disguise the fact that only five products of the Cameron plan actually made the grade.

Of the seven who did qualify only Dean Kent and Moss Burmester would have made the Australian team. Kent would have been second in the 400 IM and Burmester first in the 200 butterfly. Kent has spent the last three months training with the British squad in Australia.

Of the seven who did qualify none would have won the US trial. Moss Burmester would have been second in the 200 butterfly and would be in the US team.

Eventually, the future is now. Only one New Zealander would have won an individual event in either the United States or Australian trials. Only two would have been fast enough to make the team in either of those countries. Is that a good enough return for the millions of tax dollars and years of unfettered trust placed in the Cameron plan? Swimwatch do not think so. The world class sport we were promised means you win things. Walker, Loader, Snell, Quax and Dixon went off to foreign lands and won races. Of course that was in the days before SPARC and Cameron. Perhaps that’s where we should go again.

And in case you don’t think New Zealand should do something about it, look deep inside and ask your self this. Will New Zealand win a race in Melbourne? If the answer is no or even I don’t think so, it’s time to change.

ASCA Wants To Restructure

By David

In the most recent issue of the American Swim Coaches Association newsletter, the Executive Director, John Leonard discusses the organizational structure of swimming. He argues that LSCs based on geography are outdated and should be replaced with national interest groups. Small clubs should be grouped and organized with other small clubs, medium sized clubs with other medium clubs and “large multi-facility” programs linked to others with the same characteristics. We are told US swimming needs this “new solution."

Before discussing this further I feel I need to explain that Swimwatch hold the ASCA in the highest regard. It is respected and important. Its qualifications and services are without peer in the swimming world. But this article is nonsense.

The case it puts is not helped by some awful writing. For example, the over use of capitals to convey emphasis. If you write well, words offer their own stress. A sentence that has capitals and an exclamation mark diminishes the quality of the entire piece. In the second paragraph we are told, “The cynic might quote the famous line, “Now we are clear, we have found the identity of the enemy and he is us.” This could well be a famous quote. It’s just that I’ve never heard of it. I’ve certainly heard of, “We have met the enemy and he is us.”

Leonard’s entire proposal is based on the hypothesis that clubs of a similar size have more interests in common than clubs located in the same area.

There is no evidence to support that view. For example, a club not far from us has a similar size and structure. But that’s about all we have in common. Their emphasis is on local high school swimming and local USS meets. Our focus is on national and international events. We have almost nothing in common. While we are structured on the basis of geography we can seek out other local clubs irrespective of size who have interests similar to ours and influence our LSC’s affairs accordingly.

Philosophy and purpose are not determined by size any more than they are by geography. By constructing some sort of apartheid barrier based on size, Leonard’s proposal would reduce our club’s ability to communicate with others with similar interests to our own.

The proposal is shockingly undemocratic. Inevitably the “mega-program” LSC would be seen as the best and most powerful; the medium and smaller LSCs as less important. The ability of the small and weak, no matter how just their cause, to influence national affairs would be reduced into oblivion.

South Florida high school swimming is based on the apartheid of size and it’s a shambles. In every event, Florida produces three state champions. There is no logic or reason for this. A central purpose of a championship series is to find a champion. We’d be far better finding the best regional champions, culminating in one state final; and all based on geography. I imagine the idea originally was that 3000+ schools should not compete with smaller schools; an idea somewhat similar to Leonard’s. But it hasn’t worked. Smaller schools frequently have programs that are the same or better than larger schools. The pity is they never get to meet in the same pool or at the same conference table.

To take Leonard’s proposal to its illogical conclusion, imagine the Olympics being structured according to size. Kenya would never get a seat at the big boy’s table. And yet what are their interests? Their runners can beat the hell out of anything we can offer. Because they are small does not mean their interests and aspirations are not just as large as ours. It’s a bit tough to expect their population or structure of government to reflect ours before they can sit at the same table.

Leonard’s proposal is the beginning of a slippery slope towards a three class society. It is a clear play aimed at making sure the haves keep what they’ve got and get more and making sure the have nots are kept in their place. The good thing about geography is it’s not man made and its devoid of social status; both good qualities to have in your organization.

It is not necessary to put forward the arguments in favor of maintaining a structure based on geography. All the arguments against the apartheid of size support a management structure based on geography. Geography seems to suit most of the elite sports played in this country; NBA and NFL to name two. If it’s good enough for Bill Parcells, it’s good enough for me.

Leonard may not have realized this, but because something’s old does not make it wrong. Elsewhere in this blog and in another context, Rhi Jeffrey is quote as saying, “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it.” That pretty well summarizes our opinion of this proposal as well.

To Learn Or Not To Learn - A Personal View

By Rhi

Senior year of high school; one of the most fun and stressful years of your life. Parties, pushing around freshmen, big-time pranks, but most importantly, applying for college. Most kids are just looking at places that have good to great academics and are in the general area they want to live. Elite athletes not only have to worry about these things but also, is the team good? Are the people on the team a good fit and will they get along with the coach? A good athlete may have known where they wanted to go to college all their lives, just to visit and realize that they hate the team they will have to compete for. Others might think it is the perfect fit and realize too late that they were wrong. Does college really have to be the next step for the elites after high school? All you parents out there, DON’T KILL ME!

There has been much talk lately on swimming forums about Amanda Weir and if her decision to go pro was the right one. People have called her decision to leave USC to train at home with Swim Atlanta “quitting”. There have been examples about how she left UGA and now USC as well. People are frowning upon this and making it seem like Weir is ruining her life. What say college was not the right choice for her in the first place? Maybe she was content where she was at Swim Atlanta but society was indicating that college was the next step. Who is to say that staying where she was comfortable and succeeding is wrong? Now, I am not here to say what is right and wrong for Amanda Weir. I am simply using this as an example.

Before I left for college, I was a pretty successful swimmer; in my eyes at least. Granted, I had no individual Olympic gold medals to boast, but my times were top 20 in the world in the years running up to the Olympics. I was fortunate enough to have found a coach whom I really got on great with. He really knew how to get me to succeed. In the four years leading up to Athens, I only missed six practices. Swimming was fun! After World Championships in 2003, I talked to my parents about what was to come in the next few years. I wanted to stay in Florida with my coach and find someone to sign with, even if it was not for a lot of money. I was happy where I was and I was successful. My parents had a different opinion. They wanted me to go to any college I wanted for free! A free education and education was of the utmost importance. I took one trip to USC to appease them. I liked it well enough, and signed a letter of intent just a few short weeks later. I was going to be an NCAA swimmer, but not for too long.

My first year of college, I screwed up. I screwed up big time; big enough for me to miss my first NCAA championships. I didn’t go to class, I didn’t study. I just didn’t want to be at school. After messing up my first semester and being chewed out by everyone, I realized I didn’t have a choice. I wasn’t going anywhere. I decided to not attempt to spite my family for making the college decision for me, and try to make the best out of my situation. I started studying and worked hard in the pool, and by the beginning of February of my sophomore year, I was finally swimming well and doing well in school again. Until news came that would ultimately make my decision about not wanting to be at school anymore final. Mark Schubert was leaving USC for a position at USA Swimming. Of every coach I had met over the years, the only one I wanted to swim for other than my club coach was Mark Schubert.

Summer came, and by then my love for swimming at USC had diminished greatly. Things didn’t have the same “go hard or go home” attitude. I ended up spending most of my summer at home in Florida, miserable with mono, but it helped me to realize where the people that loved me most and wanted me to succeed were. I remember my Mom telling me she was so sorry she coerced me into choosing college as my path. I knew I needed to be back where I was comfortable and supported to succeed.

I guess what I am trying to get at with this is “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it”. If an athlete is succeeding where they are, why change? Look at the swimmers like Katie Hoff and Kate Ziegler. Granted, I’m no Katie Hoff, but I hope to be on that level. And what about education? I’ve been in classes with 40 year olds before. Education will always be there, the Olympic dream might not.

SwimNews.com Incurs the Wrath of SwimWatch

By Jane

Every now and then, you'll see some typos on SwimWatch. We'll have written "and" instead of "an" or "tow" instead of "two", but we try very hard to eliminate errors from our work before it's uploaded, and if we find a mistake after a post is live, we take the time to correct it.

This said, I find it very frustrating to read article after article where mistakes are just as common as commas. Take the sixth paragraph of this SwimNews article by Craig Lord:

Meantime, it took a 4:06.89 to get into the final with Manaudou but behyond her and her cao, the most striking thing about the heats was the effect the Olympic and world champion is having on French women's middle-distance.

Now, perhaps Lord will notice these mistakes and correct them, but I've noticed this kind of rushed, unedited work appear on SwimNews before. Often, the mistakes are never fixed. I know what it's like to hurry through a blog post or article, publishing a piece that I'm passionate about quickly because I'm excited to see it hit the web.

When reading Lord's pieces, however, I often get the sense that he is writing frantically, speeding through a subject on which he has a strong opinion. I may be wrong, but I do not believe that Lord reads his work before he sends it to his website, which happens to be one of the oldest and most popular swimming news sites around.

SwimWatch doesn't pretend to be objective; however, SwimNews does. It is pitched as a journalistic venture, but nearly all of the posts are written by Lord and appear to be heavily influenced by his own prejudices and beliefs. For example, I get the distinct impression that Lord does not have much time for short-course swimming (many good short-course results are followed by reasons why the swimmer in question will now do well long-course). He has even less time for the American collegiate scene (the 2006 Women's NCAA champs, featuring the likes of Mary DeScenza, Hayley Peirsol and Kara Lynn Joyce) garnered only results lists on SwimNews, while the coinciding Commonwealth Games were given over thirty entries.

I was at those NCAA championships, and I promise you that overall depth and standard of swimming was as high or higher in Athens, Georgia than it was in Melbourne, Australia that week. Yes, the Commonwealth Games had some amazing performances from people like Leisel Jones, but a competition like NCAAs deserved more than the three entries that it was afforded.

I still visit SwimNews regularly, as Lord has some great connections and writes about some interesting topics. However, I'd never go as far as to call SwimNews the web's leading swimming site. To achieve that goal, the editorial staff needs to edit its work more carefully, and suspend their subjectivity far more than they do right now.

Dark Secrets

By David

This week US Swimming introduced “background screening” for all 10,000 swim coaches in the land. In the words of US Swimming:

“The screening criteria are designed to identify violations of Section 304.3.4 of our Code of Conduct. The National Board of Review will develop implementing rules to determine which violations will result in total ineligibility, probationary membership or other restrictions based on the severity of the crime. In order to maintain your 2007 USA Swimming coach membership in good standing, coaches are required to complete the new USA Swimming Background Screening process.”

The night before last, I completed the enrolment process. Right now someone is searching for any violations of Section 304.3.4. For people like me, who have lived in a variety of countries the search, I’m told ominously, is world-wide. I’ve read Section 304.3.4 and have never done any of that stuff. But what say something goes wrong.

Mistakes happen; I was held for two hours in Puerto Rico once because some guy with my name from New Zealand had been passing dud checks in Texas. No amount of explaining that we had different birthdays or that I’d never been to Texas made any difference. Finally they rang someone in New Zealand and I was allowed to go.

God, I hope they never discover that I didn’t mind Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction but really struggle with endless ads for the treatment of erectile dysfunction. Nothing ruins a good dinner more than those horrific commercials.

I hope they don’t find out I was mean to Mary-Ann the day after senior prom. It was a wet, cold day in Wisconsin. John and I were bored. Let’s play a joke on Mary-Ann? John rang her and tearfully explained I’d been killed in a car accident and would she like to come to the funeral home to pay her last respects. We drove around to her place. I covered myself with a rug and lay on the floor of the back seat. Mary-Ann was crying, distressed, upset, all those words. As we pull up outside the Thorp Funeral Home in West School Street I bounced up, “Hi, miracle cure.” Mary-Ann never spoke to me again.

And when I waited tables in one of New Zealand's best hotels, I didn't mean to drop that spear of asparagus down the front of the Canadian Ambassador’s wife's dress. To this day I regret the laser guided accuracy of its track down the center line of her ample cleavage.

The more I think about it the worse I’ve been. I only pushed Billy van Berkam off the track in senior cross country because he pushed me first. Arranging for Vivian Anderson to win the homecoming turkey was all right. She was the best looking girl in the school, or at least I thought so. Democracy’s not that important. I thought defending Stacy Friel was justified. Swimming New Zealand rode roughshod over their own rules to pin a charge of bad behavior on that girl.

Years ago I did drive home, after dinner, when I should have taken a cab. I don’t do it any more – promise.

It’s not a very good list is it? Perhaps, my confession will make a difference. The church says it will:

“Repent ye therefore, that your sins may be blotted out, - ACTS 3:19

Hold on I’ve just got an email from US Swimming;

Dear David,

Congratulations! Your background screening has been thoroughly reviewed and meets the membership eligibility standards set by USA Swimming. TC logiQ will automatically notify USA Swimming that your screening has been approved.

Thank you for your time and cooperation during the screening process.

Sincerely,
TC logiQ, Inc.

Whew, made it, nothing’s gone wrong. Please ignore all the stories in this article. I just made them up.

PS: Swimwatch supports the screening imitative of US Swimming – better to be sure than sorry.

The Humble Glutton

By David

Have you noticed the mysteries of language? Take a simple thing. Each evening when I get home I click onto the Timed Finals website and catch up on the top swim stories of the day.

Work with me here, people. The sandwich becomes relevant...

New Zealanders and Australians would describe this as, "Have a gander at Timed Finals. It's a cracker."

Americans would say, "Go check out Timed Finals. It's great."

And in the UK, "Take a peek at "Timed Finals". It's absolutely terrific, super, whiz bang."

Timed Finals is a good site. Much of it is written by a guy who's served his apprenticeship in the swimming trade; Scott Goldblatt swam for the United States in the Sydney and Athens Olympic Games.

This week I saw the news on Timed Finals that Kevin Berry, the Australian 200m butterfly champion at the Tokyo Olympic Games, had died. His coach, Don Talbot, was reported as describing Berry as a "tough bugger" (American, good guy; British, spiffing chap). That'd be right. He was all of those things. Berry was swimming with Talbot when I went across to Australia to train in Talbot's squad. I learned a lot there; how to swim six miles, that 400 fly was not just black humor; all that sort of thing.

Berry taught me two life long lessons; one good, humility; one bad, gluttony.

Humility; to appreciate this lesson you need to be aware that when I joined Talbot’s squad I thought I was pretty good at this swimming business. I was good enough to be in one of Talbot's faster lanes, a lane that included Kevin Berry. It wouldn't take me long to sort him out, I thought. You have to imagine this, first day, first warm up, certainly first 400 fly. Berry led and I followed somewhere near the back of the lane. About half way down length five two hands rested on my shoulders and I was rocketed backward underneath the speeding Kevin Berry. In that instant a very naive New Zealander was taught a lot about the power of an Olympic Champion. It never happened again. I kept a close eye on where Mr. Berry was and stayed well out of his way.

Gluttony; before afternoon practice Kevin Berry and one of his mates used to sit beside the pool and have a snack. When I got to know them better I discovered their sandwiches were peanut butter and jelly. Not just ordinary peanut butter and jelly. These sandwiches added a slice of cheese between the peanut butter and the jelly. Kevin said it made all the difference. He even offered me one. There’s something pretty special about sharing a sandwich with an Olympic Champion. This was before the days of steroids and human growth hormones, perhaps, I wondered, peanut butter, cheese and jelly sandwiches would do the same thing. I’d make sure my mother back in New Zealand added this vital item to my diet. And I did.

They were great days. Days when sport was littered with the sort of good keen men Barry Crump would have shot deer with. Just look at some of the other names around at that time, Scholander, Frazer, Devitt and Conrads. Their times weren’t all that special by today’s standards – 2.06.6 for 200m fly – but they were swum in a time when sport was a little more honest.

And, just so this story doesn't read like an essay where the writer lost all sense of direction, I'll bring you back to Timed Finals one more time: those guys have a good site and we're pleased that they appear to like ours, too. Along with SwimWatch, you're not going to be fed any national-federation-filtered rubbish over there. Check it out; give it a gander.

A Greater Love

By David

There is a swimmer on our team who is just a great person. She’s bright, interesting, conscientious and hard working; a thoroughly good person. She can swim too. A month ago she posted 52 for 100 yards and looks certain to swim 48/49 in the next twelve months.

She would be a prize asset to any college team. If you’re looking for a freestyle recruit that would do your college proud for the next four years, let Swimwatch know and we’ll put you in touch.

But this is a love story. You see she has just fallen in love. Not your normal high school fling. This is serious: a deeply emotional, hurtfully joyful serious. Let me explain. Last night James (that’s not his real name, of course) rang to ask how Anne (that’s not her name either) was getting on with her homework. They finished their school conversation just before midnight, but chatted on exploring each others interests and thoughts. You know the sort of thing. Do you like sushi, have you been to see Borat, what do you think of George W. Bush, her new coach, his new car, their lives.

Five happy hours later Anne walked into the pool for morning training still on the phone explaining that she had to go, “I’ve got a set of 8x400s to swim.” Crazy, I know, but in the best sort of way.

I can understand her fascination. James, you see, is an interesting kind of guy. About two years ago he sued his local education authority. They were demanding he stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. He argued it was his Constitutional right to chose whether to stand or not and he won. He was awarded $50,000 and a small footnote in the nation’s constitutional law.

It’s tempting to caution Anne. She may be making a terrible mistake; talking all night to an unpatriotic ungrateful. But would that be right? I do not think so. What is important here? Why did you or your father go off to some war? What is war all about?

My father went to war, the Second World War. He was a tank commander in Italy, at a famous little place called Monte Cassino. The 4th New Zealand Armored Brigade stormed the German fortification high up in the monastery on Monte Cassino. He told me the Germans had been shocked to see tanks operating in the hilly countryside, but they quickly got down to business and seventeen New Zealand tanks were destroyed by their artillery. My father also described the heroism of the Maori New Zealander Ngarimu who, when his machine gun ran out of ammunition, stood and threw stones at the advancing German troops.

My father’s tank was one of the seventeen destroyed that day. All his crew was killed. He survived thanks to the chance passing of an American Red Cross ambulance. His left arm and eye were left bloodless beside the road in Monte Cassino.

He would tell you the reason he fought was so Anne’s new boy friend could choose. My Dad would choose to stand for the Pledg eof Allegiance. He would think James should stand as well. But he would willingly lose an arm and an eye defending James right not to stand if he didn’t want to. You see that’s what makes us different from the Nazis and the totalitarian regimes that followed them. It may be a strange concept; it’s called freedom.

So good luck Anne and James; I hope it works out all through the summer and beyond. Oh, but while I remember: Anne please never talk all night on the telephone again. It does your training no good at all. That’s taking freedom too far!

USC and WSU Get Messed With in Texas

How about this for a hypothesis;

That the actions and decisions of sports administrators can have a material and direct effect on the performance of the athletes in their care; at USC and WSU the actions of administrators have left these two PAC10 programs in disarray.

Let’s look at WSU first:

This team began the school year swimming very well. The only dual meet they've lost this season was to the Number One ranked University of California, Berkeley. Swimmers posted times very close to their bests in dual meets. It looked like WSU was going to make big some moves in the Pac-10.

About three weeks ago, the WSU Cougars beat arch rivals Washington for the first time in half a decade. The Pullman girls were on a high; pretty excited about their performance and their future. About three quarters of the team decided to celebrate with an “undies” party; no sex, no drugs, just some really happy young women enjoying their success.

As is common these days several photographs of the event appeared on Facebook. The girls were dressed in more than they had been, representing their school twenty-four hours earlier and certainly more than they wore every day at practice. According to sources within the WSU swim team, minors were not consuming alcohol. Also, any and all allegations about the consumption of alcohol that reached WSU’s administration was reported by other athletes. Yep, the girls were suspended partly because of hear-say.

The Coach Erica Quam and the Associate Director Marcia Saneholtz were appalled by the incident. The whole team – that’s right, not only the team members who had been at the party – was banned from the following weekend’s Indiana Invitational and suspended from training. Or, if you listen to some accounts, their coaches simply refused to coach them.

Beside the obvious “shoot-the-whole-village” injustice of their mass punishment, the decision was out of all proportion to the girls’ actions… so out of proportion that one wonders whether some sexual hang up influenced their over reaction.

The effect was immediate and critical. A high spirited team fell apart. Their happy “undies” party had become a swimming wake. The Washington Huskies must be wishing the panty party had been before, not after, their dual meet encounter with the Cougars.

Although a hypothesis can never be proven true, it can be verified beyond reasonable doubt. If the hypothesis that began this item is to be verified the results of the WSU team in their next competition should reflect the contempt of their leaders. Did they? Let’s look at the table below.

But before we do, let’s look at USC.

For fourteen years until 2006 USC was coached by Mark Schubert. His record at USC was as stellar as it had been in previous clubs, colleges and national teams. But more important was his distinctive coaching style. He was one of the sport’s tough buggers. With no nonsense clarity he stood alongside the likes of Talbot, Lydiard and Parcells and he loved distance.

His swimmers earned the right to win Olympic gold by working harder, longer and better than others. Schubert, who saw swimming "a war between the fast-food thinkers and the big-picture thinkers," would like to eliminate the 50 freestyle events from competitions and require all young swimmers to train for race distances of 200 meters and above.

He was an extreme example of his philosophy, strong and uncompromising; and then in 2006 he left USC to join US Swimming as the National Team Head Coach.

I don’t know who, but someone among the 40 odd sport’s administrators at USC was responsible for finding a replacement. Who did they come up with? David Salo. Now I’m not about to question Salo’s record. He’s coached several very good swimmers. But I can’t think of anyone whose training philosophy is more different to Mark Schubert. They are chalk and cheese, oil and water, left and right, yin and yang. Schubert looks fondly down on a set of 10x400 IMs while Salo thinks 1x25,1x50,1x75 x 5 is reason enough to head home.

Surely someone asked the question, “What is such a draconian change going to mean to the poor buggers swimming up and down our swimming pool?” I guess not, because they hired Salo anyway. Adjusting to a change like that will take the athletes involved a year or more, maybe never.

If it has and this article’s hypothesis can be verified, the USC swim team’s results should have been affected. Fortunately both USC and WSU were swimming this weekend in the Texas Invitational; a big meet, sufficiently big that both schools chose it ahead of the US Open Championships being held on the same weekend. Texas was time to go fast.

Let’s see how they did. We have not included all their swimmers' times but have taken the fastest two or three from each school in each event to see how their best got on. To help you read the table the events in which swimmers swam faster than their best previous time, we’ve colored in red.

University of Southern California (USC)


Washington State University (WSU)

So what does this say? It says that USC’s and WSU’s best swimmers competed in 48 events and swam 8 personal best times. If other swimmers were added the numbers might change a bit but the principle of a meager 17% PB return would not be unduly affected.

The proposition that began this piece is at least partially verified. At USC and WSU, a group of swimmers are trying their very best but appear to have been brought up short by some strange administration.

PS – We had no sooner finished preparing this item than we received the following message. We thought it best included in the article.

“Maybe it is not even about proper training. A big part of what swimmers have to do every time they step on the block to race, or dive in to a practice, is believe. If they do not believe in the program they are competing for, it's tough times ahead.

That is a big problem at USC. Dave Salo's methods are so opposite to Mark Schubert's that it has become very hard to believe that what they are doing in workout every day is right and beneficial. If an athlete has spent their whole life training in a Mark Schubert type of environment, changing over to a Dave Salo environment is like having to change what you were brought up believing in.

Your body at a young age was conditioned to be beat up by yardage and tough sets like 10x400 IMs. Trying to make practices that contain 1x25 1x50 1x75 x5 work is something that is not easy to accomplish. You have to have belief to go along with it. And when the athletic directors at the school choose someone so different from Mark Schubert to replace him, a lot of that belief is lost. At least, that is a big part of what happened with me.”

Lacks Aerobic Fitness

By David

Swimwatch is not about negative stuff. It’s about positive people with positive ideas. We’re the progressives of world swimming; a happy bunch, getting a heap wrong (in some learned opinions), but pushing on, brighter than ever, towards swimming’s promised land.

That’s true until you mention PE teachers. For our American readers, that's "gym teachers." PE stands for physical education. In Britain, I believe they call it "phys ed." But I digress. Have you ever met a more desperate bunch? None of them wants to do their job. They all actually wanted to be world class marathon runners or gymnasts or synchronized swimmers. Failing at that, they become PE teachers and set about extracting revenge on all those who are any good at sport.

They don’t like us. Our presence reminds them of what they failed to be. We are their dream. You might be saying at this point, “Where is your evidence?” Well, there’s plenty.

But before that, there is a serious side to all this. By definition world class sport is a game of brinkmanship; it is living on the edge. The job of a swim coach is to push each athlete to the limit of their being; to within an inch of exhaustion; to a point where to go any further would be over training and dangerous.

Good coaches know this limit. Some sense tells them when to push for a little more and when to ease back and rest. It is an essential skill of world class coaching. Lydiard was a master; gifted at pushing, pushing, always pushing until it was the moment to back off. Every day, world class coaches hold their charges on the knife edge between under training and the abyss of exhaustion.

And just when you’ve got it right, just when the team is in beautiful balance some bloody PE teacher sends the whole school off on a 5000 meter cross country run and anyone running less than 4.30 miles will do 500 “boys” push ups. It’s craziness. In twenty or more schools I’ve gently tried to explain how their rope climbing course or two hours of football and running the lines in the gym is probably dangerous. In every case their unspoken reaction is, “Bloody wimp, I never worried about that when I was in high school!”

“That’s why you’re a PE teacher,” is something you should never say. However, it can be fun to push their buttons.

A better place to get a hearing is the Principal’s office. Here sits a guy whose degree is in pure math and has never caught a football in anger. He’ll see the point straight away. He’ll understand someone who has a legitimate excuse to miss the subject he spent four years trying to avoid as well.

For those of you who still don’t believe, here are one or two – all true – PE teacher stories.

About a month before Jane Copland won the New Zealand open women’s 200m breaststroke title, and three months before she set a national record of 2.30.92 (which stood from 2001 until 2004) in the same event, her school report was delivered. It was all good except for a standout “D” in physical education. Of even more stunning news was the PE teacher’s advice. Jane, she said, “Lacks aerobic fitness.” Sara-Jane Sheehy and Kelly Bentley, the previous and subsequent holders of the women's 200m breaststroke record, probaly lacked aerobic fitness as well. End sarcasm.

Alison Wright still holds the fastest 1000 meter time ever run by a New Zealander. She ran 2.38.54 thousand in 1979 in Berlin’s magnificent Olympic Stadium. At the time it was the fourth fastest time in the world outside the drug soaked eastern block nations. Alison was educated at Hamilton’s Fairfield College and spent four years hiding in the toilets to avoid PE. Her senior year school cross country was won by Alison Morris. The other Alison was second to last just ahead of co-conspirator Mary Ambury; wonderful rebellion; just the way to handle school PE.

Jonathan is one of our most accomplished master’s swimmers; does a solid 2000 meter work out four times a week. At seventeen he was captain of his local swim team. For almost four years at high school he avoided PE with a friendly doctor’s sick note. Just three months before graduation Jonathan was awarded the team’s prize for swimming. Unfortunately the presenter was the PE teacher who had spent almost four years believing Jonathan was a poor soul who suffered mightily from bad health. The next day the Principal called Jonathan to his office.

“Jonathan,” he said, “Do you want to graduate?”

“Yes sir” said Jonathan

“Go to PE, Jonathan.”

Later the same day Jonathan’s Driver’s Education permit arrived in the mail excusing him from PE for the remainder of the year; four years and no PE, way to go.

We have six swimmers in our team who made state finals this year. All of them are excused PE. The moral here is if you want to be any good at sport stay away from high school PE teachers. If you don’t and here is due warning – you may become one.