High School/Club Swimming

High School/Club Swimming

Swimming high school and club seems to present a challenge every year for those swimmers who choose to do both.  Every year I deal with conflicts between high school and club swim expectations and this year (though it is not the first) I was on both sides of the conflict. For many families this is a true battleground. 

When I first got into coaching I started as a high school swim coach.  I had absolutely loved my time as a high school swimmer and I wanted my high school swimmers to have the same experience.  My team had very few club swimmers but we had enough for me to learn what the battle as between high school and club swim.  High school swimming is all about the team, your school and fun!  Most schools cannot offer the type of training that can be done with your club because the lanes are congested and you have a large variance in abilities.  As a result, I worked with each of the club swimmers on my team to come up with a practice schedule that worked best for their training in club and also gave them the full high school swimming experience.  It was not easy for them all, but we managed to make it work.  Because of the requirements of club swimming I only required my club swimmers to attend one practice a week. Now this year I am an assistant coach of a high school team so the control I have is very limited when it comes to administrative duties. This year my high school team required 3 practices/meets a week.  In my opinion this can put a strain on your overall training, but the truth is it is not impossible to find a balance for both the high school experience and maintaining your club training.  Lately, I hear some schools expect even more from their swimmers and have varying expectations. Some of these expectations, which I will not mention specifically, in my opinion are beyond unrealistic and are actually detrimental to the club athlete. 

What it comes down to is that each swimmer needs to make a decision on what their expectations are for their overall swimming goals/expectations. 

One thing I noticed this year, and one of the biggest misconception about swimming, is that if you do not swim for high school you will never get noticed by colleges.  I am here to tell you that is completely untrue.  The truth is college coaches are paying more attention to what swimmers are doing at Sectionals, Junior Nationals, etc. What someone does in high school weighs very little on the college recruitment process and the truth plenty of swimmers swim for colleges without ever swimming on their high school team.  This does not mean the swimmers who swim in high school have no shot of getting noticed by a college, but the likelihood is very slim. 

The reality is club swimming is all about the individual.  Club swimmers are focused on much larger more individual goals than just swimming well for their high school team.  This does not mean they should not be able to get the enjoyment out of swimming for their high school and skip the whole experience;  they simply have different overall priorities.  As a result, I suggest that club swimmer take the time and discuss with both their high school and club coach their schedule, expectations and goals.  If reaching your goals is going to be hampered by swimming high school, which 95% of the time is not the case when both coaches have the best interest of their swimmers in mind, you really need to weigh your options.  I would never suggest not swimming high school.  I enjoyed it too much and think it is the experience that helped make me who I am.  But I also have to emphasize that you need to go into high school swimming with a clear understanding of what your overall goals and expectations are from the sport.

Disclaimer: These are my opinions and are not to be a reflection on anyone other than myself.