About our LSC (Past and Future)

This past weekend, our LSC had our Coaches and House of Delegates Meeting.  These meetings take place in the Fall and Spring.  For those of you who do not know, I sit on the Executive Board for Missouri Valley as the Age Group Chair.  Jolisa does as well, as the LSC Treasurer. 

The evening before this meeting, I met with our Senior Chair and Coach Representative to talk about the state of our LSC.  We had some great discussion about how we are making improvements in conducting better Championship Meets and how this is helping swimming.  We talked about how the stability in coaching staffs over the past two years in the ‘power teams’ has helped with consistency. 

On the flipside, we also talked about where our LSC ranks among others in USA Swimming when it comes to performance.  This PDF shows a series of charts outlining all of the LSCs in the country, the # of swimmers in each, and the number/percentage of swimmers achieving certain time standards within the LSC (from Olympic Trials Cuts to B standards).  The chart then yields a national average for each time standard.  If an LSC is below the national average for achieving a certain standard, the box for that standard is highlighted in red.

In every single category but one, our LSC was below the national average for percent of swimmers achieving all time standards.  In short, this data shows that Missouri Valley Swimming is below the national average.  As a coach here and as an active member in our governing body, I take this to heart.

I presented this information to the swimmers on Saturday morning, not to make them feel bad, but to challenge them in the way they approach their swimming... to make them aware of reality... to let them know where we stand in USA Swimming.  I told them that without any concrete data, I would guess AAAA is probably above average on an LSC level for achievement.  After all, in two years time we have certainly over-achieved as an organization.  However, we need to continue to push ourselves to achieve more as individuals, as AAAA and as Missouri Valley -- and then leading by example can rub off LSC-wide.

For AAAA, we have always set lofty goals and aimed for the stars.  Let’s continue to do so.  I challenge our team to work harder, become involved at the LSC level and aim to make Missouri Valley an over-achiever instead of an under-achiever.  We have great families, great swimmers and a killer coaching staff on AAAA, so we are already off to a great start!

If you are interested in becoming involved with an LSC committee or becoming an official, please let me know. 

Coach Patrick