Yesterday I spent the day at Sport & Fitness in McLean, VA, for the USMS/ASCA Levels 1 & 2 Coach Certification class. Bill Brenner, USMS Coaches Chair, Mel Goldstein, Head Coach of Indy Aquatic Masters, past president of USMS and frequent contributor to USMS Swimmer, and Frank Marcinkowski, head coach of Fairfax masters, a 800+ member club, were the instructors for the course.
A good time was had by all. I learned a lot. Level 1 covered mostly administration of clubs, theory of coaching, risk management and insurance. That part was of great interest to me. I have a dream of starting a marathon swimmers masters team, but am afraid of litigation. Guess what? You only need 3 people to start a club. Plus, as long as one USMS member has line-of-sight of the swimmers, insurance will cover you. Even in open water! Mel told us how he bought the lifeguards at his pool USMS memberships, so that way if he has to get in the pool for instruction, he’s still covered since the lifeguards are members. Further, he repeated many times that he’s in the “swim business” and told us we can make a living being in that business. He had a small team of synchro swimmers who needed to rent the pool, but couldn’t afford the insurance. So he bought them all USMS memberships and charges them the equivalent of one lane per week. He’s done the same for a small water polo team so they could use the deep end to practice doing whatever it is water polo players do.
Level 2 covered strokes, including starts and turns, and how to correct errors. That was a great experience. I have a better than average (I think) grasp on freestyle, especially the Swim Smooth way, but those other strokes? Would have no idea how to fix them. Now I have some idea. And I got some drills. An incredible drill that I think I might have my triathletes do is the paddle drill. Instead of hooking the swim paddle to your fingers and wrist (which I don’t advise, by the way), have them hold it by the fingers, so that it covers the rest of their hand and some of their wrist. Result? If the swimmer doesn’t enter the water flat and pull back properly, the paddle may flop out of their hands. Further, if they pull correctly, they’ll really feel it on their forearm, which is excellent biofeedback.
I have to take both tests, which are take-home open book tests, so I hope I don’t screw that up. I send that in with my ASCA membership fees and a short 4-6 weeks later, I’ll be an official Level 2 ASCA Masters coach! And the best part? The local LMSC and my team will refund me the cost of tuition!