caveman12 wrote:Yes, but most alumni on this site learned to love this sport during their athletic days. I guarantee that most alumni on this site are just trying to stay current with this level of competition and not reliving their days as an athlete. As you know, DIII swimming is not exactly analyzed on ESPN, this is one of few options to know what is going on.
If I were to relive my athletic days, I would be one of those pathetic Master's swimmers still out there competing at a USS ABC Open Meet. As a former D3 competitor, I'm on this site to talk about the MIAC, discuss swimming related-issues, win Fantasy Swimming Titles, and keep in touch with my friends. Growing up as strictly a club swimmer (I swam high school my freshman year, and have a letter jacket like most of you), I have a different perspective. Chapel is right, high school swimming gets a lot of publicity, which is one of the reasons why I'm having to defend my perspective right now.
Throughout this process, I've spoken about my times because I am proud of what I worked for as a swimmer. Swimming was the only thing I was confident of back then, and it was the vehicle with which I was able to get into college and eventually get my degree. Swimming has always been important to me, as evidenced by the fact that it is my career choice. I am now driven to help kids reach their potential as well. I have regrets athletically, and that certainly comes out in my posts.
You have attacked me on numerous occasions, and I have merely pointed out that I speak from an informed perspective, in terms of my athletic achievements, and my career achievements. It's unfortunate that you have chosen to disrespect that and still feel the need to pick fights wherever and whenever you see that I have posted on this site. What's even more unfortunate is that you don't see the position you are in right now. You see, the better I am, the better I make you look as a high school coach. You have even attempted to downplay the swimmers I coach because they have set records, but they're only 10 and that's easy (note that the same 10 year-old is now 12 and recently broke 6 more records this season).
My suggestion is that you cease burning bridges with your colleagues. I have parents ask me for my help when deciding whether they should swim high school or not. I would like to continue to send good swimmers to you, so I suggest you up your game. I need to be sure that they will be well taken care of and not be doing things to screw up their stroke technique or worse, get injured lifting weights that their 12 year-old body wasn't ready for, or spend an inordinate amount of time using a power rack when it clearly isn't helpful to them.
Not all swimmers are sprinters, and sprinting the crap out of them hurts them in terms of their long-term potential, and makes it very difficult for them to continue their progress from season to season. This isn't college swimming, and you need to recognize that the way you were trained in college isn't appropriate for high school swimmers. Do some research, read up on the websites available to you, pick the brains of successful coaches around you, and choose a more well-rounded, current approach to coaching. That is, if you care about your job.
caveman12 wrote:Bad evidence, all these swimmers are either in or will, more than likely, be going to DI schools.
You're right, you do see many swimmers opting out of high school season and training with their club team year-round, but mostof these swimmers are DI caliber. You don't see this nearly as much for DIII, especially not in the MIAC. Although I do argree with this HS list not being a complete representation of all MIAC recruits, it is a lot better than your arguing for.
Mac asked for evidence of top tier swimmers that chose to swim club instead of high school. I provided the fastest swimmers I could think of and there certainly are more on that list. I only need to provide enough to prove that the list is incomplete, and I have done that. You are correct that there are not as many D3 athletes that choose this path but in this case, we're also discussing athletes that may have had the opportunity to swim D1 but chose to swim D3. I was one of those athletes.
Given Mac's list of top MIAC Recruits, he was clearly uninformed about this fact. Prior to the rule change, there was a higher percentage of athletes that chose to swim club instead of high school. You don't have to be one of the fastest swimmers to stick with club. You only have to look at the quality of the high school coach and program and compare it to your club program and make a decision based on what's best for you. Most club coaches are career coaches, and we are certified as well. If your high school coach sits on his ass and watches movies on his cell phone while you swim a set on your own, you may want to stick with club.
Things went downhill for him after Tupac died.
