I know this guy, who knows this guy... Well, let me phrase it this way. Swim News is reporting that the The Times Online is reporting that:"British Swimming is prepared to pay up to £200,000 a head per year for six world-class coaches in the wake of Bill Sweetenham's departure as performance director and in preparation for a home London 2012 Olympic Games, according to sources close to some of those being targeted. ...
... The current budget for elite coaching in all three home nations in Britain tops £500,000, when all posts in England, Scotland and Wales are taken into consideration, with Sweetenham the only one to earn a six-figure salary, though even that is not what he might command working elsewhere. ..." [Link]
Here is a snippet from the actual Times Online article:
"... Sparkes said that British Swimming has a “finite budget” but it is prepared to pay what is necessary to attract world-class coaches. Market forces dictate that leading coaches in the US and Australia demand a higher wage. The present budget for elite coaching in all three home nations in Britain tops £500,000, with Sweetenham the only one to earn a six-figure salary. ..." [Link]
Now, my pithy response: Britain so wants to storm the 2012 aquatic events that they are willing to pay "mad bank" for a coach with "haxzor skillz" to make it happen. I am not so sure that this is the best way to do it. Swimmers are primarily the result of DNA serendipity rather than JUST hard work and good coaching.
There is a swimmer's "graveyard" that exists between the nebulous planes of "great" and "outstanding." (I exist in the etherial plane of "slow") In that "graveyard" are the bodies of those that worked just as hard as Michael Phelps and had a great coach but fell short by perhaps once place or by a fraction-of-a-second or bad luck.
Building more pools or filling up those empty pools in Great Britain could help find them the next "Michael Phelps" rather than buying a mercenary coach. Click here to see a beautiful pool in London that is EMPTY [Link]
2 comments:
I agree with you 100% about the route to Olympic gold being through mass participation rather than better management of what currently exists. A few hundred thousand pounds a year spent on creating venues for age group swimming, media publicity, better entry and mid level coaching, and subsidies and travel for upcoming elites would pay out far greater dividends, even if it would be eight to twelve years down the road. I think this delay in getting results, however, is the reason politicians don't normally choose this way.
Wow, and you said it better than I did too.
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