October 5, 2009

Dear Parents and Swimmers,

I am very excited to be on the pool deck again as your coach for FKSC.  The unique circumstances of Mark’s departure allowed me the opportunity to observe the team for sometime before I took over as head coach.  I am privileged to work with such a strong, talented team.

My philosophy of swimming is that a swimmer should enjoy coming to practice, expecting to work hard, and leave with a sense of accomplishment.  At practice all coaching staff should be respected.  Respect can be a simple as listening to the task, applying the directions, and waiting for the next instruction.  Parents should feel free to observe practice, but refrain from giving instructions, corrections, or coaching the swimmers.  Parent interjection creates a confusing environment for the swimmers and reduces the authority of who is the coach.  At swim meets, the coach has to be the last word to the swimmer before getting on the block, and the first words to the swimmer at the conclusion of the race, before the swimmer re-enters the water for the cool-down.  The appropriate time for the parents and team mates to congratulate (not criticize) the swimmer is after a  proper cool-down swim.

This swim team, like most swim teams, is a family.  Many of you have been together since the beginning of this team 7 years ago.  I am proud to be apart of this family.  It is important to remember there are times when family members may not get a long, but they resolve their issues.  A broken family can be very destructive.  I have an open door policy and view criticism and suggestions as opportunities to change for positive movement forward.  With this in mind, please voice your concerns to me either before or after practice.

Meet intentions are should be given to Aimee, Kelli, or me no later than 12 days before the meet.  Intentions are not the events you want to swim.  Parent or swimmer should state which day(s) they will attend.  The coach (and maybe the swimmer) will determine which events to swim.  Once you have stated your intention to go to the meet, you will be financially responsible for the meet/coaching fees whether or not you attend the meet.  Meet entries will be electronically sent to the host team 10 days prior to the meet (FGC Policy), unless otherwise stated in meet information.  Intentions can be given verbal or via e-mail to JACSWIM@HOTMAIL.COM.

Here are a few sites that may be helpful to you for finding information about FKSC, swim meets, and educational tools.  I plan to keep the keyswimming web-site up-to-date and active.  It should reflect meets, practice schedule, and other information.

Keyswimming.org,

FGCSWIM.org

USASWIMMING.org

The meet bid schedule for 2010 is due Oct 13, 2009.  I will review the schedule and bid for FKSC to host meets for 2010.  The award announcement is in November 2009.  Hopefully we will be selected.  Hosting a meet is a commitment from the entire team and everyone will be required to help.  In the mean time, here are the remaining meets for 2009 and proposed meets for the first four months of 2010.  I do not believe a team should go to every meet on the Florida Gold Coast Schedule.  Preparing and training with a goal in mind is why I have chosen these meets for our team.

*Qualify:  YES means you must have a “A” time or better to attend this meet.  Time standards can be found on the FCGSWIM.org web site.  In some cases, Junior Olympic cuts are “A” times.  Please check the web-site to see if you qualify.

Through hard work many of the swimmers who bagged groceries at Winn Dixie, the team was able to raise funds for the beautiful records board at Jacobs Aquatic Center.  Aimee Volland has put in hours of work researching and printing records for the board. Records will be obtained from competitions at meets (not swim offs at practice).  We have several empty spaces!  If you are looking for a personal goal, here is a great opportunity to set one.

Coach John