by Dan Anderson
Question: So it feels like my athletic director doesn’t even know we have a swim and dive team. I end up doing most of the meet schedule, they never come to any meets and our team doesn’t get any recognition within the school. I get we aren’t the most popular sport, but a little attention would go a long way. How to I make some progress in this area with my AD/school? –Ignored
Ignored,
I wish I had a good answer for you. I have to admit that I have had great athletic directors my entire career so my answer to your question is not really coming from first hand experience. I have worked under six different AD’s in my career. Some were more attentive than others and a couple knew nothing about our sport. But I never felt totally ignored by them.
Even with the great support our program has, I still rely a great deal on my assistant coaches, friends, parents and volunteers to run our program. We basically take as much off of our AD’s plate as possible. For example, I have one person who is responsible for lining up our officials and tableworkers for every meet. This person also is in charge of our timing system keeping it up to date and working well. Eventually this position worked it’s way into a paid position and it really took a huge burden off of my shoulders as well as our AD. Whatever you can do to make your AD’s life easier and not make yours more difficult I would explore.
I would attempt to foster a good relationship with your AD’s secretary as they do much behind the scenes work. Get to know the head engineer (custodian) at your school as they can help with alot of your pool needs. The upside is, in a way you will have more control over your program.
As for scheduling, most of our schedule is locked in by our Conference. However, I don’t want my AD scheduling other opponents and invitationals. I want control over that. I had one AD years ago who thought we needed to completely fill up our schedule with 16 meets. Personally, I felt that was too many as it interfered with our training. So I found the invites that fit my needs and I found a few non conference duals which fit competitive needs. I would much rather have a more hands off AD in that situation.
I know it is not pleasant when your program is ignored but there are some benefits over having a micro manager looking over your shoulder. I would suggest you identify the services you absolutely want your AD to provide, have a sit down with them and work that out. Then enjoy the freedom you have to run your program the way you want to. If you get pushback, well then you can ask the AD to take on more responsibility.
I guess in the end you can’t really make someone care. Either they do or they don’t. Unfortunately many high school swim coaches find themselves in a position like you are in. Keep working hard and find people to help you out. Nurture your program and your athletes and you will have a successful program.
As far as recognition is concerned, introduce yourself to the sports editor of your local paper. Invite him or her to an exciting meet. They may be uncomfortable writing an article because they don’t understand our sport. (Imagine writing an article on cricket or rugby). I know coaches who write their own arictics for the local newspaper. If possible, recognize your athletes and team in your school’s morning announcements when they do something special. Eventually the recognition will come.
Hope this helps,
Dan