In the week between the extremely hot champs meet and today, I've spent a good bit of time reflecting on the season. Sure, there were ups and downs along the way, and that last meet was a doozy, but through it all, I have no other conclusion to make than it was a GREAT season.
We saw numerous first-time swimmers grow in the sport and the team. We saw some of our veteran swimmers become real leaders in and out of the water and help their teammates to achieve practice and meet goals. We saw parents jump at the chance to volunteer to help meets run smoothly. We saw families and our community become closer through the support of our young ones. We saw our parents become more invested in our program, including in our boosters, who assist with running our meet concessions.
While we may not have come away with the League trophy, the list of accomplishments of our swimmers can not be overlooked. A win-loss record is a nice thing to tout, but it is not at the core of who I believe we are as a team. If our other goals of sportsmanship, improving self-confidence, improving fitness, increasing a love of sport, bringing the community together, and providing a positive environment for our youth to interact are met, then I would consider our season a success. Our win-loss record reflects a part of who we are as a program, but it does not tell the whole story of what takes place and what we all share between late May and late July. Certainly a championship trophy is nice and is something to be proud of, but it is icing on the cake. I would much rather hear consistently from our parents and parents of swimmers in other programs how impressed they are with the positive attitude and sportsmanship of our swimmers and our parents.
One of the great coaches in the sport, Eddie Reese of the University of Texas, puts it this way: "Winning doesn’t give you class, it just means you won. I
always want my teams to have class, and we’ll go from there. You have
to be good when you win, and when you lose. It’s an indication of who
you are as a person, who you are surrounding yourself with, and the
respect you have for other people and all the hard work they put in." I love this quote because I feel it captures the essence of what I hold to be most important as a coach. I could continue to elaborate on this, but I feel Coach Reese said it best, so I'll leave it with him.
There are certainly areas that continue to need improvement, but I am optimistic we will be able to address these areas and remain in a good position going forward. One area I have already started working with Rec staff on is continuing a relationship between the local schools and our team. This year we found ourselves somewhere we haven't been in a number of years, and that is with a lower number of 8 and Under and 9-10 swimmers. I fully take responsibility for this, as I was not as on-the-ball with getting registration forms to the schools. There are several ideas in the works to make sure this failure in communication doesn't happen again, and that we are on top of things with regards to getting information to the schools in a timely manner before team registration begins.
Along the same line, we had several swimmers join us later in the season as a result of learning about the team during their summer swim lessons. In an effort to strengthen the bridge between the swim lesson program and the competitive programs available in Valdese, the Rec is going to start sending team information for both Xcell and VTST to swim lesson graduates of levels 4 and 5. Hopefully this will help us continue to grow our younger ranks in future seasons and allow for a more consistent flow of swimmers into the program.
I know that many of you have your own thoughts on ways that we can continue to improve the team experience. I enjoyed having mid-season feedback from you all and beginning my "From the Coach" blog posts. I texted everyone on our remind list the link to our end-of-season survey this morning, and I hope you make use of it (Last year we had 41 responses, our most yet, and I would love to have even more this year).
I look closely at your feedback and see how I can work to implement changes or inform you of why we do things as we do. I already have a growing list of things to take to the fall meeting of the coaches and team reps, and it is my hope to get these things addressed or begin working towards a solution that works for everyone. Many of the league-wide changes we have seen over the years that you all have wanted have come as a result of the feedback you provide.
In closing, I meant it on Saturday when I said that you should all hold your heads up high for the effort put forth this season. I am incredibly proud of where we are as a program, and I can honestly say I am proud of each and every one of you. Thank you again for trusting me and the coaches with your children this summer, and I hope it has been as great a season for you as for me. It is my sincerest wish to see you all back with us again next summer as we embark on an even greater season.
