Storm Forecast for January 15th, 2025

A Sermon on WHY – Building a House On Rock

Building  A House on the Rock

I’ve made a habit of some long sermons in the past, this one is probably past preachy, but please note that I’m not passing an offering plate afterwards.  Sorry if this gets a bit too on-the-nose.   It’s also 800+ words, so if you’re not in the mood—skip forward.

I grew up a Methodist boy in rural West Virginia, with close relationships with my Sunday School Teacher (my father, who made us all memorize the Books in order) and our pastor.  One of the pieces of the New Testament that we referenced often was about the strength of one’s faith, Matthew 7:24-27.  I’m not going to actually quote Bible phrases in the newsletter, but the gist of the message was that having a strong faith and foundation is like building your house on the rock.  Those with the strong faith will be able to weather any storm, those without the faith are building on sand and when pitfalls happen, the foundation will be washed away.

What could I possibly be talking about in the context of swimming?  A swimmer’s “why” is their foundation.  It’s their reason for being on the team.  It’s the reason they either push through a hard set or retreat to the bathroom.  It’s the reason they finish strong in a 200 when they see someone charging, or why they get passed with 10 yards to go.  For our 10&U swimmers, a swimmer’s why is almost always because it’s fun, because their friends are there.  Very rarely is it competition based.  Sometimes, the why is tied to a parent.  “My mom swam, and she wants me to swim,” or “mom and dad want me to learn X.”  Those are the swimmers that we seek to redirect quickly, to make it their sport.  A sport based on doing things solely to please others will not end in a happy story.  Any failure on the path equates to disappointing themselves and their parents and meets become extremely anxious situations.

As swimmers get older and we try to introduce them to the competitive side of the sport, we hope that they start to develop more of an independent why.  They might love the peace of the water in an otherwise anxious world.  They might like the endorphins that come from a hard set.  They might even like the idea of just racing, all the time.  Many are still doing it because that’s what their friends are doing.  But, when the going gets hard and their friends are swimming hard and pushing themselves, it becomes clear that their why and that of their friends are different, and they begin to struggle with the sport.  In most of those cases, parents will intervene with outside goals (ie, bribery).  The hope is that with enough carrots, the horse will keep plowing.  That becomes a dangerous game, and oftentimes an expensive one.  We cannot manufacture the why for our swimmers, we can only hope they find it naturally.  Anything a coach or parent does to try and create a why for the swimmer is in essence building a foundation on the sand.  When a plateau happens, or when a friend passes them, or when the slog of two-a-days come…it won’t be us swimming.  It won’t be our sport, and if we don’t guide them to their own why, the sport will become one of frustration.

I’ve seen other coaches in the area try to instill their own why into swimmers.  They push children to form rivalries with other kids they’ve never met, or to come up with some phony “take no prisoners,” approach to the sport.  It oftentimes works, briefly.  But at some point the swimmer will always wisen up and realize that this isn’t enough to keep them going long-term. 

College swimming is filled with resentment and burnt out swimmers.  Some swimmers will never get faster than they were in high school and if their why was built on getting faster, they’re done.  Some realize that their why was entwined with the network they created on their club team, and that can’t be created overnight at a new place.  Others realize they were doing this sport entirely to make their parents happy and with mom & dad not on campus, they can’t find a reason to keep pushing.

Honestly, I never found a good why as a swimmer.  It caused frustration with my parents and coaches, as they recognized unrealized potential and a financial drain.  Soccer became my love in high school, swimming was way down the list.  Looking back, I’m 100% OK with that.   

This is all one big, long way of saying—you and I are not in control when it comes to the swimmers on our team.  We can give our best opinions and guidance, but it’s not our sport.  It’s on us to help them find a healthy, productive, long-term why that’s based on a process and not a result or comparison.  We must make sure our swimmers are in the pool for the right reasons and for their own reasons.  If we help them develop this strong foundation, they’ll be able to withstand the floods and the winds of the sport and come out stronger on the other side.

A Palate Cleanser – Training Trips!

This summer, we’re planning not one, but TWO different trips for our summer-registered swimmers.   You’ll see more details on the website in the next few days, but here are the broad strokes:

Senior/Performance Training Trip – Estimated for the timeframe of June 23-30^th, Senior swimmers are headed to Virginia Beach, VA.  The plan is to fly down, train long course, and do a lot of team bonding in the process. Lead coach for Questions: Coach Lake

Mini-Camp – We’re going to try something new this year, with a smaller scale camp for our Cyclone, Tsunami, and Typhoon swimmers.  The event will be June 20-23 in Indianapolis.    We’ll be partnering with Ashwaubenon Swim Club and taking some vans to the Indy suburbs.  We’ll stay in the dorms of Butler University and get about 6 practices in (both LCM and SCY) while exploring what Indianapolis has to offer.  Lead coach for Questions: Coach White

Event Odds & Ends

Winter Classic

From officials, coaches, and families—I don’t remember a meet we’ve hosted that’s gotten so much unsolicited positive feedback.  Thanks to EVERYONE for helping put together a top-class swim meet.

Edgerton Rising Stars Dual

Entries are now in for the Edgerton Rising Stars meet.  We’ve adjusted the start times just a bit, starting a little later.  We’ll likely not see heat sheets until the day of.

Stoughton Meet

Entries are in!  Warning: we went heavy on the 200IM/400IM/500FR.  There will be some experiments for this one!

Blind Shot Evening

We’ve scheduled an evening for the parents at Blind Shot Social Club.  It should be a blast!  Come make some new friends.

BAC Groundhog Meet

Any day now, we’ll get meet information from the host.  Any….day…

Practice Changes

Upcoming Events & Meets

Dryland Promo Code: SWIMFAST24