The Joy of Coaching

A lot of things can go wrong when there is a pool with 100+ kids aged 6-18 actively being kids. Summer swim meets were and will continue to be the highlight of my childhood, but I never knew the amount of work that goes into running them. There is a head coach, 2 assistant head coaches, 3 assistant coaches, and me the coach-in-training, with 4 of us who were actively involved in swimming events in the meet. As this meet was a time trials, the first meet of the season where only our team swims to get times for the following meets, it was surprisingly chaotic. I have to say, between swimming and trying to get the little kids to their events without them breaking down in tears or missing their events; the job is almost impossible even for 7 knowledgeable highschoolers, college kids, and an adult.

As my first time as a person incharge of handling the bussing around of children I was surprised to say I thought I did fairly well, except of the fact that I am still figuring out so many names. The experience was interesting, I had to handle a frog situation (there was a frog swimming in the pool with little kids screaming, "FROG, it's a frog in the pool." I had to scoop it out and release it into the wild.) and then I had to help a girl who was anxious and had begun to cry, turns out she just needed a little encouragement from a coach and a smile from her dad. That is the best part of the job, knowing there are a bunch of little faces that look up to you for encouragement and as a role model. Which is mainly what motivates me to ignore the blazing heat, wipe my sweat, and remember why I am doing it in the first place.

When I was six years old, another teenager did the same thing and somehow made swimming fun and introduced me into the wonderful world of swimming. I am trying to repay the team for what they've given my life, by hopefully passing down the love of the sport and helping provide the community with an extracurricular sport that helps keep the kids out of trouble and learn how to be a part of a team.

A little froggy that looks like the one I had to save from a bunch of screaming kids.