Club Coach's Recommendation Criticized -- High-School Season Being Skipped In Favor Of Club Competition

A year ago, the Metro League had three champions and eight top-six finishers at the state girls swimming championships. This weekend, one top-six finish might be a surprise.

Five of the league's top swimmers (LeAnne Cadag of Seattle Prep, Jill Olson of Ballard and Nicole Bernard, Aletta Haff and Megan Storey of Blanchet) and a standout freshman (Jamie Tannhauser of Blanchet) are skipping the high-school season to focus on swimming at Ballard-based Shilshole Aquatic Club. The swimmers say they are making an individual decision because competing for both club and high-school teams leaves them exhausted, but several area coaches say Shilshole Coach Doug Rusk is behind the girls' move.

Rusk recommended in a recent Shilshole newsletter that national championship-caliber swimmers skip the high-school season. Rusk's recommendation, part of a question-and-answer column, encourages lower-level swimmers to compete in high school and emphasizes that "the choice to swim or not to swim high school has to be an individual one."

It also stresses, however, that "for swimmers who are able to achieve success at the Senior Regional level and beyond, I believe it's (high-school swimming) a waste of time and energy."

Rusk's swimmers tailor their training so they can peak at the March senior national championships, and Rusk says the November high-school championships force them to peak twice. "If our high-school system were in the spring, I wouldn't have any problem with it," Rusk said.

Cadag and Haff say they based their decision on the Metro League's long winter season and made up their minds before Rusk wrote his letter. Some league coaches doubt that, and note that Rusk is the only Seattle coach who discourages swimmers from competing in high school. "If you wonder why these kids all over the city aren't swimming, it comes down to one person," Seattle Prep Coach Mike McCloskey said. "If you trusted him as your coach, how could you read that (letter) and swim high school?"

Rusk worries that high-school workouts could hinder his swimmers' development and block their path to the Olympic trials in 2000. That notion draws scoffs from other coaches.

"To say high-school swimming ruins Olympic chances is a ridiculous generalization," said Lakeside Coach Tom Pardee, who also coaches 10- to 13-year-olds at Cascade Swim Club.

When Patrick Fowler, a Bellevue Club and Seattle Prep swimmer, set a national high-school record in the 100-yard breaststroke in February, McCloskey looked at the accomplishments of previous high-school record-breakers. Six of eight boys and six of eight girls record-holders went on to win Olympic medals.

While club swimming helps athletes reach individual goals, high-school swimming gives them school spirit, a team environment and recognition from peers.

"I loved the team spirit we had," said Haff, a junior at Blanchet. "I miss it now."

Last season Haff attended three practices daily - morning and evening workouts at Shilshole and an hour each afternoon at Blanchet. Finishing homework was a strain, she said, and she was tired all winter. She blames Metro's season, different from most leagues' fall season, for causing four months of high-school/club overlap during the toughest months of club swimming.

Nonetheless, leaving her high-school team was difficult. "It's still fun to be around all your friends and be a kid," Haff said. At club meets, "you can't make yourself look immature. Focusing is the big thing. It's a different kind of fun, more of a mature fun."

Club and high-school events sometimes conflict, and the WIAA forbids swimmers from skipping a high-school workout or meet to attend a club event. As a result, club and high-school coaches agree, preseason communication is a must.

"For the kids not to be hurt, you want all the coaches to get together and ask, `What can we do that can benefit the kids the most?' " Pardee said. "You're coming to my workouts, but I make sure that what you're doing complements what Doug is doing."

Bellevue Club Coach Bob Miller lets Fowler skip his morning workout and train at Seattle Prep three days a week.

Rusk says that he tries to work with high-school coaches and that some do not cooperate with his practice plans.

But other coaches, both from high schools and clubs, say Rusk causes problems.

"Doug has always put pressure on his kids not to go to high-school workouts," McCloskey said. "If I have them do sprints, he says it's too much sprinting. If I have them do longer sets, he says it's too many. He's always got to have the say."

Rusk thinks he deserves that say.

"Most of the kids have been on a competitive swim club since they were 6 years old," he said. "They've put in all this work and developed into a high-level swimmer, and then the high schools inherit these high-level swimmers."

Rusk is not the only coach who wishes his top swimmers could swim only club. But because of what high-school swimming provides, he is the only one who recommends they do so.

"We try and encourage our kids to get the little recognition they can get from their high-school chums," said Miller, the Bellevue Club coach. "I think the kids need that recognition from their school chums."