Introduction
Swimming is one of the most popular sports in the world. One can derive pleasure from swimming as well swimming can be carried out as a sport. This article examines the competitive aspect of swimming within United States. Sport clubs are very vital in enhancing competitive sports and consequently this paper will examine the running of Dynamo Swim Club to shade light on competitive swimming in the US.
Types of Clubs
Swim clubs are recognized as the backbone of USA Swimming. Swim clubs are typically divided into three types: the parent governed clubs; the coach owned clubs; and the institution owned clubs.
The Parent Governed Clubs
This is the most common model in the US. This model of clubs is nonprofit and its governance is through a board of directors. The board of directors is predominantly constituted of the parents. The USA swimming national governing body has set up policies which have to be adhered to when setting up a parent governed club (USA Swimming, 2011).
Coach-Owned Clubs
This model represents most of the successful competitive clubs in the US. The clubs falling in this model are privately owned. Private swim clubs are under the jurisdiction of the USA Swimming national governing body (USA Swimming, 2011).
Institution-Owned Clubs
Clubs falling under this category are owned by institutions. The institutions have to meet some specific conditions for them to be allowed to operate a swim club. The institution owned clubs are as well under the jurisdiction of the of the US swimming national governing body (USA Swimming, 2011).
Dynamo Swim Club
The Dynamo swim club was started in 1964. It is an example of a parent governed club; “it is operated and owned by Dynamo Parents Club Inc” (Dynamo Club, 2011, p. 1). The club has two swimming facilities, the Alpharette and Chamblee; the club has been quite competitive at various levels of swimming.
The club is governed by a parent club board with Bob Anderson being the current president of the board. The head coach for Dynamo swim club is Jason Turcotte. The club mission statement is “To have nationally recognized aquatic programs that build on a tradition of excellence by teaching and training all levels of swimmers combining individual development with team unity in a family centered organization” (Dynamo Club, 2011, p. 1).
Board of Directors
The board of directors is made up of nine members. The table below gives the names of the board of directors’ names and their responsibilities:
The Coaching Staff
The coaching staff is made up of 16 members out of whom 12 are coaches. The table below gives the analysis of the coaching staff.
Head Coach – Jason G Turcotte
Jason is the 8th head coach of Dynamo and joined the club in 2006. He undertakes the coaching of the SR1 group at Chamblee. He is also in charge of the Dynamo programs and all developments. Before coming to Dynamo, Jason was at Lake Erie Silver Dolphines, Naperville Riptide Swim team, and at Stanford University. He has also coached the Olympic elite athlete.
Lead Coach – Rich Murphy
Rich Murphy is greatly experienced as a coach. He has previously been a coach for the Tigers at Auburn University. Rich also coached the Falcons at the Bowling Green state University acting at the capacity of an assistant coach. His coaching experience is quite great as illustrated below:
From 2001 to 2005, Rich was at Arizona State University. While at ASU, Rich was Head Coach of Sun Devil Aquatics from 2003 to 2005 – a Gold Medal Club as recognized by USA Swimming, at the time. During Rich`s last season with the club, he coached two athletes who were number 1 in the USA in their events (3 events overall) for their age group, he coached a Mexican National Record, and he had athletes set 3 individual Arizona State Records.
On a whole during Rich`s time with Sun Devil (2001 to 2005), he had athletes achieve 2004 Olympic Trials qualification, over 50 Top 16 list-making times, plus 9 individual and 12 relay Arizona State Records. At ASU, Rich was a Graduate Assistant Swim Coach for Arizona State during the 2002-2003 season (NCAA finish: Women – 11th, Men – 10th) and Volunteer Assistant Coach for the Sun Devils during the 2001-2002 season (NCAA finish: Women – 10th, Men – 14th).
Rich is an American Swim Coaches Association Level 5 certified coach (Top 3% of coaches nationally) and is a World Swim Coaches Association Member. Rich has also coached at Palo Alto Stanford Aquatics (formerly Palo Alto Swim Club) and at Los Altos Mountain View Aquatic Club. (Dynamo Club, 2011, p. 1)
Dynamo Swim Club Programs
There are four programs run by Dynamo club: competitive team, swim school/lessons, Dynamo juniors program, and home school program.
Competitive team: this is a program meant for those seeking personal development as well as those seeking to develop as a team at competitive levels.
Swim School/Lessons: this program is meant to offer aquatic lessons. The age allowed to join this program is 6 months and above.
Dynamo junior program: this is a six week session program that is offered for those seeking quality aquatic lessons but not in a competitive level.
Home school program: this program is offered in both swimming facilities of the club. This program is meant for home school swimmers.
Dynamo Group Structure
Member Registration
Club officials have to carry out an evaluation before placing a new member into one of the four programs. There are time slots dedicated to the evaluation activity for people willing to join the club. The evaluation activity involves the person wishing to register engaging in one or more laps of the four competitive strokes.
For those wishing to engage in advanced swimming, the athlete may be required to engage in more swimming. The evaluation will also include the short and long term objectives of the athletes. Typically, the evaluation activity will take between 30 and 40 minutes to be complete (Dynamo Club, 2011).
Corporate Social Relations
Corporate Social Relations (CSR) is quite vital for an organization; CSR makes it possible for an organization to foster a good relationship with the community from which it draws it resources (Blueble, 2006).
Creating a good relationship with the community is especially very significant for an organization whose services are aimed at the public (Krotee & Bucher, 2006). The Dynamo swim club has been engaged in a number of community projects some of which include “Atlanta Food Bank, The Lionheart School, Ronald McDonald House, Camp Sunshine, and Nicholas House” (Dynamo Club, 2011, p. 1).
Conclusion
Swimming is a sport as well as a leisure activity. The USA swimming is the national governing body in the US. Dynamo is a parent governed club. The club has two swimming facilities which are used to run its programs. The club has 16 members in the coaching staff headed by Jason Turcotte.
The club members are offered four programs to choose from. The club has five group structures: home school division; AG3 division; AG2 division; AG1 division; and senior division. The club engages in corporate social relations with some of the past community projects carried out by the club being Atlanta food project, camp sunshine among others.
References
Blueble, E. (2009). Corporate Social Responsibility: CSR Communications. New York, NY: GRIN Verlag.
Dynamo Club. (2011). Home. Dynamo Swim Club. Retrieved from: http://www.dynamoswimclub.com/
Krotee, L. K & Bucher, C. A. (2006). Management of Physical Education and Sport. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
USA Swimming. (2011). Home. USA Swimming. Retrieved from: https://www.usaswimming.org/home