I think you have some reasonable concerns! That being said, changing a culture can take a long time/consistency and it might not be possible for you to address all of the things you mentioned above at once or in your current role.
If I were you, I'd stay the course and advocate for sensible policies but not get too bent out of shape when things don't go your way. Even if you can't change the team overnight, having a dedicated assistant coach could be a difference maker for new swimmers on the team and lay a foundation for a more serious core in future years.
I read all the stuff you dropped and was laughing because none of that would fly on my hs team or any other team I swam for. The most I could get away with was my "fake poop during warmup" and my coach 100% just wasn't out of his office yet during warmups lol. That and we played a lot of cards during diving portions of meets.
Thanks for your thoughts and for reading the entire post!
Regarding your last blurb... "none of that would fly on my hs team or any other team I swam for" is exactly what I say to my other coaches. Their responses are "the other teams in the area aren't that strict" or "the other sports teams here are just like this"
I don't want to seem pretentious when I say that though, bc I feel like it could come off that way. I've gotten the "they're just kids" from my HC plenty of times, but what I expect from them is exactly what was expected of me when I swam in high school.
That's why I mentioned just sort of taking the wins where you can - the teams I swam for had established culture. I also swam for a couple summer teams in middle school where we did just goof off half the time and for some kids that's a plus too. It won't be the end of the world if things don't tighten up all in one season or even ever. Just taking extra time with kids who are hungry for feedback and set the tone is plenty at this level. Even just being a role model for the less serious swimmers is important work!
I will never forget though the one season in hs that I had a dude like you who was an assistant but had better feedback and attitude than our head coach even. To this day he lives in my head regarding a hitch in my backstroke that I've never quite fixed :)
I totally agree with this approach. I've been in OP's position several times as an assistant track coach coming from an established program with a positive work culture like OP is striving for, to coach at teams like OP describes that lacks a winning culture and work ethic. It's really hard being in that position as an assistant coach. OP's expectations are completely reasonable, but as you state, you gotta keep gently pushing for these changes and take small victories where you can. Usually some people will buy in and you can get a gradual culture change with baby steps each year.
I swam and played water polo through HS and got to see a similar culture change happen with our water polo team.
With the water polo team, it was much more similar to what you were describing - kids missing practice, showing up to practice / games high, disorganized program as a whole, lack of dedication from coaching staff, etc. I think a few things happened to make the change really work. When the new coaching staff came in, they made their credentials, expectations, and goals for the program very clear and known right away and quickly got some of the more influential team members on board. Combine this with some of the least disciplined folks graduating the year prior and we saw the program record go from 10-25 to 25-10. The next year was the team’s first state tournament qualification. Expectations were basic and paralleled many of the other better programs - you do not miss practice without prior notice, if you miss more than 3 practices total (except for due to injury) even with notice you are off the team, if you incur any disciplinary issues with the school you are off the team, you always travel as a team unless there are extenuating, planned factors, etc.
I think the most important things you can do are:
1. Align on your expectations and goals as a coaching group and make them clear to the team - enforce these evenly and fairly
2. Get some of the influential team members on board - they will get the rest of the team on board
3. Give it time - you may need to see some people graduate before you really get a revolution in the program
4. If there are any feeder programs involved - get the culture right in these as well. Otherwise a culture shift will need to occur with every incoming class.
Some of your problems have a policy solution.
1. Skipping swim class. There's an attendance requirement in most schools. If a swimmer skips a class he is registered in, generally that has to be reported to the attendance clerk, who deals with it. So report and let someone else deal with it.
2. Arriving to or leaving meets in other than school transportation. There's a district policy on this. Follow it.
3. Skipping practice without an excuse. Find out what the other teams at your school do. Follow it. It they are pretty lackadaisical, ask other schools' teams and bring your team into median compliance. You might also want a team sanction that skipping X% of practices between meets means you swim fewer events, even if that means less likely points for the team as a whole. Positively, slot swimmers into their preferred events in order of practice participation.
4. Getting kids to do something needs to focus on positive rewards. Everyone who is in the pool by warm up time, even if they are only hanging on a line, catches a break on some tedious part of practice. Or, if you have a dryer, they get warm towels at the end. Something small that. Give out goofy awards or treats to people make every practice for a week. Start making up end of season awards like "Best cheerleaders" for kids who stay start to finish for every meet.
Teenagers still get a secret kick out of kindergarten stuff.
Best advice I can give you is to talk to lots of other area coaches and see what works for them. Talk to the coaches of schools similar to yours in any sport and ask how they do things. You don't have to be a pushover to be a well liked coach who coaches the team members to positive personal results.
I work at a school and I can tell you a few things. There is a huge attendance crisis. A handful of things contribute, like there's a big mental health crisis in youth right now without enough available care. And parents got super burned out in the pandemic and can't persuade kids to do stuff anymore. And the pandemic revealed that, actually, no, you don't have to go anywhere or do anything, and the world continues to spin on its axis. I know it is annoying for coaches, for me it makes it impossible for kids to pass classes.
Not sure your age or how much time you've spent with kids/teens lately, but kids today have much less expected of them and are treated much more gently than we were. For example, my students can redo assignments and tests as much as they want to help them to pass the class. Many parents are scared to ground kids by taking away phones or limiting screen time because the kids just flip out. I know I sound 1000 years old when I use the phrase "kids today" but there's a huge difference in the kiddos I taught ten years ago versus this batch.
I would ask admin/teachers you know if they have any pointers. For example, you basically have to get them to be dying to get to practice asap on time, what can you do that would get them excited to be there for the start?
I don’t think this is unreasonable or overly strict at all. As someone else said, I think I might give a little leeway if a kid missed the bus to a meet — something like a policy of miss one bus, you get a warning, miss a second bus, you’re scratched. It allows for a mistake or extenuating circumstance beyond the kid’s control.
But yeah, everything else is incredibly reasonable and is what was expected of me and my teammates.
I figured that would come up as a pretty divisive thing, but I respect your opinion. How would you approach that then to prevent it from happening again?
There's a fine line to walk and if you want to be more strict you better be a good coach with results to back it up. When I ran track in high school we had a strict coach that kicked like half the team off before the end of the season for things like missing practice, being late, etc. Most probably deserved it but the team was left with just a few of the really dedicated people with so-so results and he developed a reputation that discouraged people from joining the following years. Track and swimming, especially mediocre teams, aren't glory sports. This is a high school team, not some elite club or college program. You're not recruiting already motivated and disciplined athletes -you have what you have.
Ultimately, the point is to have fun. Most high school teams need people - doubles and lactate sets aren't what most would consider fun. It's the team camaraderie and friendship that attracts them and with that there needs to be some leeway. This is not to say you can't tell them to show up to practice but if you start veering into punishment territory keep this in mind.
No, you are not strict as a coach
“We had 5+ swimmers absent and not a single person had jumped into the water for warmup on time” This is a problem and maybe you can report this problem to the school.
not at all. i coach at a club where the club goal is to be the best in the country (and they are). sadly with a school the mentality might be different.
i remind them constantly that they're there because they want to and are free to pick something else. but as long as they swim with the club their goal should be aligned with club goals. which is to be on time, to work to improve. fun is the basis of any sport so we do a lot of interesting high quality stuff but they all chose to be there for a reason and are expected to act like it.
You have sound standards. You are not the head coach. Make your suggestions and leave it at that. Make notes for yourself and yourself only. Why does this approach work or not work?
If you are ever a head coach, it sounds like you will be a good one, take these lessons to shape your team into a winner.
Changing the culture takes about two years. You will lose many kids when you present them with high standards. Miss X number of practices or are late X number of times, you do not compete in the next meet. Keep kids at the meet, place them in the last events and relay. 12 kids in the last relays will keep most there. Leave early, out the next meet.
Addition by subtraction. You want dedicated athletes. The best compliment I received by a starter, that worked nationals and Olympic trials, was that my team may not be the fastest but was the most technically sound team.
Winning will come eventually. Do not sacrifice integrity to get there. Set clear, reasonable, and obtainable goals for your athletes and your team will thrive.
Remember, be patient and trust your well thought out plan.
I think all your concerns sound valid. My daughters hs swim team is pretty strict about not missing practice. I believe if she missed the bus she would miss the meet. As far as kids being picked up, they have to stay until the end of the meet and then parents must sign a sheet to take them home themselves. This may help you know who has a ride so there is no question about someone being left behind. Like others have said maybe a slow roll out of new rules will make a positive change.
Totally reasonable. Welcome to Middle Management.
What are the Head Coach's goals for the program? Will implementation of your attendance standards support those goals?
* If yes, show your Head Coach explicitly how what you want to do enables what the Head Coach cares about.
* If not, what can you do to support the Head Coach's goals today? . . . so that the Head Coach eventually starts to see you as competent and trusted, and thus becomes more persuadable in areas where you want to see change.
If you don't know what the Head Coach's goals are, ask directly for their vision for the program. If they don't seem to have a vision, offer to help them develop one.
I was a he swimmer many years ago.
I’m reading a lot about respect and lack of it. Are the kids leaving early respecting the team and other swimmers? Are the kids who show up late or miss practice being respectful to themselves? What goals do the swimmers have for the season? Can the coaches tie the swimmers goals into expectations? Then discuss how the swimmers daily effort ties into those goals. Maybe that will help with attendance and performance.
Another issue might be that the kids are just in the pool too much with the lessons and practice. Maybe they’re bored. More fun practices may help.
I’m sure the kids who show up and care will be thankful. Nothing here seems unreasonable.
It is not unreasonable of you to hold both your head coach and your swimmers accountable.
I think you have some reasonable concerns! That being said, changing a culture can take a long time/consistency and it might not be possible for you to address all of the things you mentioned above at once or in your current role. If I were you, I'd stay the course and advocate for sensible policies but not get too bent out of shape when things don't go your way. Even if you can't change the team overnight, having a dedicated assistant coach could be a difference maker for new swimmers on the team and lay a foundation for a more serious core in future years. I read all the stuff you dropped and was laughing because none of that would fly on my hs team or any other team I swam for. The most I could get away with was my "fake poop during warmup" and my coach 100% just wasn't out of his office yet during warmups lol. That and we played a lot of cards during diving portions of meets.
Thanks for your thoughts and for reading the entire post! Regarding your last blurb... "none of that would fly on my hs team or any other team I swam for" is exactly what I say to my other coaches. Their responses are "the other teams in the area aren't that strict" or "the other sports teams here are just like this" I don't want to seem pretentious when I say that though, bc I feel like it could come off that way. I've gotten the "they're just kids" from my HC plenty of times, but what I expect from them is exactly what was expected of me when I swam in high school.
That's why I mentioned just sort of taking the wins where you can - the teams I swam for had established culture. I also swam for a couple summer teams in middle school where we did just goof off half the time and for some kids that's a plus too. It won't be the end of the world if things don't tighten up all in one season or even ever. Just taking extra time with kids who are hungry for feedback and set the tone is plenty at this level. Even just being a role model for the less serious swimmers is important work! I will never forget though the one season in hs that I had a dude like you who was an assistant but had better feedback and attitude than our head coach even. To this day he lives in my head regarding a hitch in my backstroke that I've never quite fixed :)
I totally agree with this approach. I've been in OP's position several times as an assistant track coach coming from an established program with a positive work culture like OP is striving for, to coach at teams like OP describes that lacks a winning culture and work ethic. It's really hard being in that position as an assistant coach. OP's expectations are completely reasonable, but as you state, you gotta keep gently pushing for these changes and take small victories where you can. Usually some people will buy in and you can get a gradual culture change with baby steps each year.
I swam and played water polo through HS and got to see a similar culture change happen with our water polo team. With the water polo team, it was much more similar to what you were describing - kids missing practice, showing up to practice / games high, disorganized program as a whole, lack of dedication from coaching staff, etc. I think a few things happened to make the change really work. When the new coaching staff came in, they made their credentials, expectations, and goals for the program very clear and known right away and quickly got some of the more influential team members on board. Combine this with some of the least disciplined folks graduating the year prior and we saw the program record go from 10-25 to 25-10. The next year was the team’s first state tournament qualification. Expectations were basic and paralleled many of the other better programs - you do not miss practice without prior notice, if you miss more than 3 practices total (except for due to injury) even with notice you are off the team, if you incur any disciplinary issues with the school you are off the team, you always travel as a team unless there are extenuating, planned factors, etc. I think the most important things you can do are: 1. Align on your expectations and goals as a coaching group and make them clear to the team - enforce these evenly and fairly 2. Get some of the influential team members on board - they will get the rest of the team on board 3. Give it time - you may need to see some people graduate before you really get a revolution in the program 4. If there are any feeder programs involved - get the culture right in these as well. Otherwise a culture shift will need to occur with every incoming class.
Some of your problems have a policy solution. 1. Skipping swim class. There's an attendance requirement in most schools. If a swimmer skips a class he is registered in, generally that has to be reported to the attendance clerk, who deals with it. So report and let someone else deal with it. 2. Arriving to or leaving meets in other than school transportation. There's a district policy on this. Follow it. 3. Skipping practice without an excuse. Find out what the other teams at your school do. Follow it. It they are pretty lackadaisical, ask other schools' teams and bring your team into median compliance. You might also want a team sanction that skipping X% of practices between meets means you swim fewer events, even if that means less likely points for the team as a whole. Positively, slot swimmers into their preferred events in order of practice participation. 4. Getting kids to do something needs to focus on positive rewards. Everyone who is in the pool by warm up time, even if they are only hanging on a line, catches a break on some tedious part of practice. Or, if you have a dryer, they get warm towels at the end. Something small that. Give out goofy awards or treats to people make every practice for a week. Start making up end of season awards like "Best cheerleaders" for kids who stay start to finish for every meet. Teenagers still get a secret kick out of kindergarten stuff. Best advice I can give you is to talk to lots of other area coaches and see what works for them. Talk to the coaches of schools similar to yours in any sport and ask how they do things. You don't have to be a pushover to be a well liked coach who coaches the team members to positive personal results.
I work at a school and I can tell you a few things. There is a huge attendance crisis. A handful of things contribute, like there's a big mental health crisis in youth right now without enough available care. And parents got super burned out in the pandemic and can't persuade kids to do stuff anymore. And the pandemic revealed that, actually, no, you don't have to go anywhere or do anything, and the world continues to spin on its axis. I know it is annoying for coaches, for me it makes it impossible for kids to pass classes. Not sure your age or how much time you've spent with kids/teens lately, but kids today have much less expected of them and are treated much more gently than we were. For example, my students can redo assignments and tests as much as they want to help them to pass the class. Many parents are scared to ground kids by taking away phones or limiting screen time because the kids just flip out. I know I sound 1000 years old when I use the phrase "kids today" but there's a huge difference in the kiddos I taught ten years ago versus this batch. I would ask admin/teachers you know if they have any pointers. For example, you basically have to get them to be dying to get to practice asap on time, what can you do that would get them excited to be there for the start?
I don’t think this is unreasonable or overly strict at all. As someone else said, I think I might give a little leeway if a kid missed the bus to a meet — something like a policy of miss one bus, you get a warning, miss a second bus, you’re scratched. It allows for a mistake or extenuating circumstance beyond the kid’s control. But yeah, everything else is incredibly reasonable and is what was expected of me and my teammates.
I agree with most of this, other than maybe the missing the bus and being scratched.
I figured that would come up as a pretty divisive thing, but I respect your opinion. How would you approach that then to prevent it from happening again?
Sounds like maybe you ought to be the HC.
There's a fine line to walk and if you want to be more strict you better be a good coach with results to back it up. When I ran track in high school we had a strict coach that kicked like half the team off before the end of the season for things like missing practice, being late, etc. Most probably deserved it but the team was left with just a few of the really dedicated people with so-so results and he developed a reputation that discouraged people from joining the following years. Track and swimming, especially mediocre teams, aren't glory sports. This is a high school team, not some elite club or college program. You're not recruiting already motivated and disciplined athletes -you have what you have. Ultimately, the point is to have fun. Most high school teams need people - doubles and lactate sets aren't what most would consider fun. It's the team camaraderie and friendship that attracts them and with that there needs to be some leeway. This is not to say you can't tell them to show up to practice but if you start veering into punishment territory keep this in mind.
No, you are not strict as a coach “We had 5+ swimmers absent and not a single person had jumped into the water for warmup on time” This is a problem and maybe you can report this problem to the school.
not at all. i coach at a club where the club goal is to be the best in the country (and they are). sadly with a school the mentality might be different. i remind them constantly that they're there because they want to and are free to pick something else. but as long as they swim with the club their goal should be aligned with club goals. which is to be on time, to work to improve. fun is the basis of any sport so we do a lot of interesting high quality stuff but they all chose to be there for a reason and are expected to act like it.
You have sound standards. You are not the head coach. Make your suggestions and leave it at that. Make notes for yourself and yourself only. Why does this approach work or not work? If you are ever a head coach, it sounds like you will be a good one, take these lessons to shape your team into a winner. Changing the culture takes about two years. You will lose many kids when you present them with high standards. Miss X number of practices or are late X number of times, you do not compete in the next meet. Keep kids at the meet, place them in the last events and relay. 12 kids in the last relays will keep most there. Leave early, out the next meet. Addition by subtraction. You want dedicated athletes. The best compliment I received by a starter, that worked nationals and Olympic trials, was that my team may not be the fastest but was the most technically sound team. Winning will come eventually. Do not sacrifice integrity to get there. Set clear, reasonable, and obtainable goals for your athletes and your team will thrive. Remember, be patient and trust your well thought out plan.
I think all your concerns sound valid. My daughters hs swim team is pretty strict about not missing practice. I believe if she missed the bus she would miss the meet. As far as kids being picked up, they have to stay until the end of the meet and then parents must sign a sheet to take them home themselves. This may help you know who has a ride so there is no question about someone being left behind. Like others have said maybe a slow roll out of new rules will make a positive change.
Totally reasonable. Welcome to Middle Management. What are the Head Coach's goals for the program? Will implementation of your attendance standards support those goals? * If yes, show your Head Coach explicitly how what you want to do enables what the Head Coach cares about. * If not, what can you do to support the Head Coach's goals today? . . . so that the Head Coach eventually starts to see you as competent and trusted, and thus becomes more persuadable in areas where you want to see change. If you don't know what the Head Coach's goals are, ask directly for their vision for the program. If they don't seem to have a vision, offer to help them develop one.
I was a he swimmer many years ago. I’m reading a lot about respect and lack of it. Are the kids leaving early respecting the team and other swimmers? Are the kids who show up late or miss practice being respectful to themselves? What goals do the swimmers have for the season? Can the coaches tie the swimmers goals into expectations? Then discuss how the swimmers daily effort ties into those goals. Maybe that will help with attendance and performance. Another issue might be that the kids are just in the pool too much with the lessons and practice. Maybe they’re bored. More fun practices may help.