Re: Winter Swim Teams
Date: January 31, 2011 11:36AM
Ya know, I have to laugh at most of what is posted above. Most of what is written about all the above mentioned clubs is not very factual. Sounds like one bad experience and someone walks away spreading negative rumors about a former club. I own the Potomac Marlins and I personally know all of the coaches you are blasting above. You're all talking out your butts! Let me clear up a few things for everyone.
1) No club is perfect, including RMSC and CUBU. No matter what you hear, every club has issues with coaches and parents. Every club has great coaches, good coaches and weaker coaches. Every club has pain in the ass parents that cause many of the issues you all hear about. They want to think they know better. Some of these parents actually take their kids to swim practice on their own to try and work on their kids strokes and often times they do more harm than good even though their intentions are noble...Let your coaches coach! If you have issues, TALK to your childs Coach and try to work it out before leaving and spreading negative rumors.
2) Every club at the age group level is teaching the same things. Some do it better than others but almost every club out there is similar in what they are doing with kids 10 & Under. Go talk with the coach and watch a few workouts to see if the program is a good fit for your child. If you think it is, have your child participate in a few workouts. Do this with 2-3 different clubs, then make your decision. Please don't listen to some bone head on a blog with an ax to grind!
3) Where the separation of clubs occurs is at the Senior level. After all, aren't your kids in the sport for the long haul? Some of the above mentioned clubs have their age group kids swimming too much too soon and although they can produce fast age group swimmers, these same swimmers often get burnt out very early and quit the sport. If your 12 year old is swimming 2 hours a day 6 days a week (which some of these young kids are doing in some above mentioned clubs) what are they going to do when they are senior swimmers and really need to train that much to keep improving? Some kids are swimming more in High School than they are allowed to swim in college...what do you think will happen to that athlete when they go off and swim in college doing less work than they did in High School? 9 times out of 10 they get slower...what fun is there in that? Choose a club that has your child's best interest at heart and is more conerned about your child improving every year vs. getting everything they can as early as they can to boost a coaches ego and then they get forgotten about as they get older and slower. It happens and is something parents don't think about. Potomac Marlins and Machine are both great clubs in this regard. (there are others too)
4) To clarify some of the above comments re: Potomac Marlins...If you did your homework you would know that Potomac Marlins has sent 4 swimmers to Olympic Trials, 5 swimmers to USA Senior Nationals, over 30 swimmers to Jr. Nationals and Sectionls both. So how can you say that Potomac Marlins does not produce quality swimmers? Do your homework before bashing my clubs quality please.
The CUBU Coach that started coaching with us 10 years ago has gotten better not worse and his swimmers absolutly love him. The kids are his primary concern and he teaches great stroke technique. He can be a little rough around the edges at times but no one can question his integrity! I can say the same about the rest of my staff as well.
Questionable coach behavior on deck at meets?? Are you kidding me? My staff is one of the most knowledgable and well respected out there. This is not me saying that, this is what I am being told by fellow PVS coaches! If you knew what I know about some questionalble coach behavior on one of the above mentioned "Best Clubs" you'd pull your kids out and get as far away as you could. Many clubs and many sports have their skeletons in the closet that just are not public knowledge yet.
The Marlins are a technique oriented club. Yes, we did drift away from that several years ago at two of our locations but the sign of a great club and leader is recognizing that and making changes. I did this. My staff is one of the better staff's in the entire area now. I addressed these concerns with my staff and my team parents and the changes have been made and things are way better. We are once again producing top quality age group swimmers with great looking strokes and a committment to their long term success in the sport.
PM has an extreemly LOW incidence of injury. 99.9 % of all injuries reported to our staff have stemmed from other sports related injuries or school gym class, NOT from swimming with poor technique. Again, unknowledgible parents making assumptions. Get your facts straight before commenting publicaly.
Someone mentioned above that my club has fallen off over the years. This was true but it is not true now. Did you all know that CUBU really fell off when Rick Curl left his club several years ago for Austrailia? He recognized that and came home and fixed things. It happens, even to the best of us. Again, we corrected it and are once again a leader in PVS.
Please, do your homework and don't get your info from a bone head on a blog.
If you are looking for a year round USA Swim club, go visit them, talk with them, try them out and make your own decisions and form your own opinions. There are many good clubs with good coaches out there. Trust me, The grass isn't always greener on the other side.
If you are looking into Potomac Marlins, call me and we can talk. My contact info is on our team website at www.potomacmarlins.com