Office Hours - Communication

Ahoy!

Wow, time flies! I apologize for not being more timely with my posts. I'll do better in the future.

Creating this blog was one attempt to improve communication with parents. It will help only if I post on a regular basis, and if you check in on a regular basis.

I am at the pool from open to close almost every day. However, I'm in the water for many of these hours and on the lifeguard stand for many more. I've published my cell phone on the website - 402.505.2438 - to make it easier to get ahold of me in the evenings after 9 PM. (It's never too early or too late to call!)

Additionally, beginning this week, I've added two Office Hours a week. I will be sitting in the pool office during these hours accepting phone calls and welcoming drop-in visitors. The hours will be posted each week on the THIS WEEK AT B-T calendar. (My schedule varies from week to week.)

I'm also available by email at aquatics@brownell.edu. You can always see if I'm at the pool because my teaching schedule is posted online for each session. You can check this session at www.btaquatics.org/spring2008.htm.

I hope this helps! I want to hear from you if you have questions or concerns, or compliments.

And speaking of concerns...

You are all somewhat the victims of my past coaching experience. Most of my coaching has been with senior level swimmers for years. When you coach senior (ages 15+) athletes who are experienced swimmers, interaction with parents is very minimal. The relationship is between the athlete and coach. The limited communication with parents usually consists of conversations regarding travel arrangements or training expenses. (As as matter of fact, once swimmers got their drivers licenses, I could go years without even speaking to some parents.)

In addition to my predisposition to focus only on the child and to not communicate much with parents, our no-level swimming system, while very efficient for scheduling and very effective in helping children learn to swim, does not have report cards or advancement tests of any kind. I'm passionate about two things: drowning prevention and competitive swimming. I'm focused on teaching children to float on their backs and then everything else I do is geared toward getting them on the swim team eventually. That's why stroke technique is so important in our program.

I've heard all kinds of horror stories from adults of the years about the misery of not "passing" swimming lessons or a particular level. Learning to swim is sometimes stressful and there is no reason to add this additional pressure. You keep practicing until you learn how to swim...however long that takes. We have a WHAT NEXT flyer posted on the website to help you know the progression for your child. www.btaquatics.org/WHATNEXT.pdf

The third "problem" affecting communication is that our program is in high demand. We are completely sold out and have a fairly long waiting list should someone cancel. In my attempt to accomodate more swimmers I scheduled lots of classes and scheduled them back to back.

In doing this I lost the opportunity to have casual communication with parents between lessons. This blog was my attempt at replacing that communication with a more "formal" approach. I'm going to continue to post information that will be helpful as you as you watch your children learn to swim. (Previous posts have included helpful hints in watching and evaluating your child's progress.)

I need and value input from parents. I welcome anything that helps me help your children. It is especially important to hear from new parents and from parents of children learning with our new coaches. We have some very good new staff members and they are developing into great coaches. They need to hear from you too.

I appreciate hearing from parents and I hope the new office hours will make it easier for you to communicate with me.

Please check back here soon for more information.

Keep swimming for good times!

Jeanie