Respect is taken care of by having the head coach teach the assistant coaches and include them in the decision making process either before or after the fact. There are some things that the age group coaches should not decide, but they should be informed of after the fact. Things like group moves should be in the hands of the age group coaches.

One of the touchiest problems in any swim cub is the amount to pay coaches. I keep hearing the same excuses as to why they don’t get paid more. Not the least of which is, “There isn’t enough money.” There is money out there, and if you don’t believe me give a call to your local gymnastics team.

Most gymnastics teams operate out of converted warehouses or small business parks where they can rent floor space for a tiny amount per square foot. I know some teams that pay about $500 per month for floor space. Imagine paying $500 a month for pool rental with unlimited time! A friend of mine had his 3 girls in gymnastics. The fees just added up higher and higher, starting with the coaches’ fees, because you have a coach.

Then of course there are the special private lessons, because everybody occasionally (every week) needs a little extra help. You have to have a choreographer because someone has to create the dances that you are going to do on floor exercise. Of course you have to have the dance instructor to implement what the choreographer developed and then you have to have the costumes and the music. He spent $700+ a month for 3 kids at the Novice Level!

There’s a lot of money out there, if you have the intestinal stuff to go after it. I sometimes think that if you charged $200/month, maybe people will think your coaching is worth more. I mean really, how much difference is there between a Jaguar and a Ford Escort? They each have 4 wheels, a round steering wheel, glass, doors, insurance, and so on, what is the thing that causes people to value one over the other? Maybe the key is the difference in price.

How many of you host swim meets and have ads for heat sheets? Probably everybody does. So how many times does a coach go out and sell an ad, and how many times when he or she does that do boards say to that coach, keep 50% of the ad because it’s still more money than we would have gotten in the first place? Do you have Swim-A-Thon? Nothing says you can’t go out and do Swim-A-Thon. A guy like me, some old, fat, out-of-shape guy goes out and says, “Well, I’m going to go out and swim with the kids for a while, how much will you give me a lap? $100.” They say, “you ought to be good for 10 meters.” “ Yeah, I think I can do that.” The club can make a piece of that available back to the coach.

Head coaches, include your assistant coaches in contracts. Lock in the important coaches. If there are two coaches on your staff, you are the important coach. If it comes down to survival, and it’s you or somebody else, you may have to be a little selfish at first. As the club grows, you can be less selfish, but make sure that you are taken care of.

Remember who teaches the 8 and unders. Remember who brings Bosco back to swimming every other day. You know Bosco is having a great time and he just loves it. It could be the most important people in your program are the ones that keep the little kids there and that keep new ones coming in.

Changing coaches means changing teachers and new teachers means a possible dilution of the coach’s message. Every time you have to bring in someone new, there’s a good chance that person may not have all the views that you do and may not be on the same page you are on. During the time that you have to teach them the page that you are on, they are delivering a diluted message to your swimmers.

This is important! As the head age group coach, as the person that’s going to set the direction for the development of the young athlete in your program, assistant coaches are an extension of your mouth and brain. If the thoughts and directions that you have are not being delivered to the swimmers through the assistants, you a problem. You are the one that is going to be up the creek. You can fire the other coaches for being ineffective, but down the road, you are going to be sitting in a pool of no swimmers, ineffective swimmers or inefficient swimmers. You are where the rubber meets the road. You are the one who has to be there with your ideals and your beliefs and your teaching capabilities if that club is going to turn around and start going down the right road in the right direction.

Taken from an edited transcript of a presentation that Mike Lewellyn gave at the National Age Group Coaches Conference in April 1999.