The "Hard Training" Excuse

By David

Swimwatch has just received the following email.

To whom it may concern:

I just was made aware of your printing an e-mail, I sent to meet organizers, in Missouri, back in February. I am not sure where you got ahold of my e-mail, but you do not have all of the facts. Numerous coaches complained. I was the only one who hit the, "reply all", button. In the Florida LSC, which I have coached in for 25 years, the deadline is the deadline!

I appreciate rules and deadlines. Unfortunately, coaches who make mistakes, do not. Jay Fitzgerald and I are friends, and he had no problem with my objection. It was another South Florida Coach, who could not enter his two swimmers correctly, by the deadline. The meet organizers did offer time trials, which I supported.

Also, concerning my teams performance, we were the only ones not wearing fastskin suits and before each prelim session, we came in early and worked out, 7,000-8,000 meters. Keep up the informative work, but please research the facts more carefully in the future.

Larry Shofe

Head Swim Coach

Sarasota YMCA Sharks

Most of the email is confusing and has little relevance to the original Swimwatch Missouri story. For example:

1. Shofe says he does not know how Swimwatch got hold of his email. In the next sentence he says he “hit the reply all button.” Well, puzzling as it may be, that’s how we got his email. He sent it to us.
2. Shofe says that coaches who make mistakes don’t appreciate rules and deadlines. That’s just rubbish. Most of us make plenty of mistakes, which never diminish or change our respect for rules and deadlines.
3. I appreciate Shofe’s advice that he and Jay Fitzgerald are friends. What has that got to do with the rest of the United States swimming in the Missouri Meet? I have no idea.
4. We appreciate hearing that Shofe has coached in Florida for 25 years. What has that got to do with the rest of the United States swimming in the Missouri Meet? Again I have no idea.

None of this is all that interesting. The paragraph about his team’s performance though is worth a second look. He says they were the only team not wearing Fastskin suits and prior to each preliminary session they worked out 7,000 – 8,000 meters.

That’s just not true. All but one of our team did not swim in Fastskin suits. At that stage, I think, only Rhi owned a Fastskin suit. More importantly, we spent the meet sitting next to Michael Phelps. He swam most of the meet in his Speedos; understandable given that he was clearly in the middle of his preparation for the Pan Pacific Games. I find it arrogant to suggest that others beat Shofe’s team only because his swimmers didn’t wear Fastskin racing suits; they weren’t really trying. Shofe’s perception of reality appears to be only in his own mind.

But the really interesting bit is the 7,000 – 8,000 workouts. I’ve heard hundreds of coaches make this sort of excuse. The implication is their team would have swum much faster but were in the middle of hard training. I can assure any coaches who'd like to make this excuse that they would not give a darn how far my team had swum prior to them beating us. A win's a win, and so is a loss.

If it is good enough to turn up, then swim the race as a legitimate event and accept the result. Do not, by implication, diminish the performance of those who beat you by inferring you could have swum faster; that you may have even won the event.

Some time ago I received an email from a swimmer I coached prior to her going to college. He said his college coach always used the “we’re in hard training” excuse, especially when “we got our asses handed to us” by our rivals. It is an excuse borne out of weakness. It is self important and demeaning to others. At the Missouri Meet, Michael Phelps was also obviously in the middle of hard training and never felt the need to make the “7,000 meters” excuse. He also broke a world record, didn’t he?