By David

Last week’s Swimwatch post was critical of the New Zealand Age Group and Junior Championships. Our concern about the two events should not be mistaken as dissolution with all aspects of junior swimming in New Zealand. This afternoon I went to an event called the Auckland Junior League. It’s a recent Auckland Swimming Association initiative. The idea was to introduce a swimming competition that would act both as a low key “fun” introduction to competitive swimming and a bridge between non-competitive swim schools and competitive clubs. And it seems to be working. The races are all 25 or 50 meters. There are heaps of relays. Team participation is emphasized. The meet only takes an hour. Normally I have an intense dislike of the word fun. It’s so fake; the antithesis of its real meaning. In this instance though the swimmers I coach and who were competing for the Murawai Surf Club seemed to be enjoying themselves. Dare I say it; they were having fun. For American readers the League is the equivalent of a Florida Sizzler meet. Both are good programs, both work.

While the Junior League in New Zealand is a good concept, it’s what happens when things become more competitive that is in need of attention. In Auckland that means Level 3 meets for swimmers beginning their competitive careers, Level 2 for intermediate swimmers and Level 1 for swimmers who are expected to qualify for Auckland Championship and Swimming New Zealand’s national events. Each level has an inter-club swim meet each month. Most certainly the whole thing is one level too many. There are not enough swimmers to support the three Levels. The number of swimmers at an average Level 3 meet is so low, young swimmers end up running from the conclusion of one race to the beginning of the next. I’m pretty certain your average Level 3 swim meet is a better test of track skills than aquatic performance. Level 1 meets are a bit of a joke. I’ve been to four so far and most of Auckland’s best swimmers are never there. There is not much point in having something called Level 1 if whoever coaches Ingram, Bell, Hind, Burmester and Palmer considers their charges too important to support the event. Their absence is not a good look. I’m certain the swimmers don’t think that way but someone does. Otherwise they’d be there.
The whole thing would be better reduced to two levels similar to Florida’s Sub-JO and JO levels. The qualifying times required to graduate from the new Level 2 to Level 1 should be the same as the Auckland Regional Championship qualifying standards. Achieving a Level 1 qualifying time would automatically qualify swimmers for the annual regional Championship. Level 2 swimmers would need to wait before being subject to local championship competition; and that would be a good thing. It may even be worthwhile linking qualification for the regional Championship with attendance at one or two Level One meets. I usually don’t support that sort of compulsion but it looks like it’s the only way to get Millennium coaches to attend the Auckland Association’s swimming competitions.

Regional Championships should be the upper limit of age group competition. For all the reasons discussed in last week’s post there is no place for annual age grouping in national competition. New Zealand swimming would be best served with winter and summer National Championships and winter and summer Junior (under 18) Championships. It will never happen of course. The entry fee cash cow of Age Group and Junior Championships is too attractive for national bureaucrats to relinquish; no matter what the swimming merit might be. As many will recognize, our suggestion is based on the competitive structure in the United States. We think their program is better not because it reduces the teenage dropout rate; the American rate is very similar to New Zealand, but because the American system produces a far faster elite athlete. It’s a long time since New Zealand won a meaningful gold medal in swimming. Changing the National Championship structure would be another small step towards correcting that sorry state. With this structure in place there is a chance the country’s best swimmers will survive long enough to win something significant. Right now the best have had a “guts-full” of swimming and are away playing netball or fishing on the Hauraki Gulf by the time they are mature enough to swim for New Zealand.

While we are on the subject of national championships, one other change that is long overdue is the ridiculous rule that New Zealand swimmers must qualify for World Championships, Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games in the finals of the national trials. The rule is as pathetic as it is meaningless. When swimmers that Cameron and her friends wanted on the 2010 Commonwealth Games team didn’t swim fast enough at the trials, the rule was changed in a heartbeat. The impression of expediency over principle was spectacular. Mind you it’s not the first time expediency has governed the path of international swimming in New Zealand. New Zealand is just not big enough to support a sudden death final qualification system. It does not work. For example New Zealand’s best swimmer missed going to the Beijing Games because she had an average swim in the Trials. Tough standards are good but we should allow New Zealand’s swimmers a six months window to achieve the time.

What Lydiard thought may not be all that popular these days. The Millennium coaches would consider they’ve moved on since Arthur’s athletes ran around the Waitarua. However the changes suggested here would meet with his approval. You see they conform to an important Lydiard tenant; keep your athletes hungry, keep them searching for more, keep the tiger in the tank. When you are a national champion at ten there isn’t much more you can do. To continue the unfortunate use of analogies; the horse of ambition has well and truly bolted.