ISCA -- International Swim Coaches Association

I had the pleasure of speaking with Clearwater Aquatic Team and Hall of Fame Coach Randy Reese last week at the Orlando Sectionals Meet.  We talked at length about our sport, and what the future may hold for athletes and coaches.  We both agree that on many fronts the future of our coaching profession can be (and should be) better than its past; and as part of this assessment we have to realize it is up to us -- as coaches -- to create our community the way we'd like it to be.

Here are a few ideas we spoke about:

1.       Coaches and Teams should be able to create a more viable financial situation for ourselves by having more control over the meets we run.  In some ways, we simply need to be creative within the current “rules” of USA Swimming and our LSCs; and in other ways we need to take initiative to challenge the status quo, and change things into what we’d like to see. 

2.       Coaches tend to have a hard time building pools, which is the number one source of revenue for our teams.  Where does one start?  What is entailed?  It’s a huge job.  But with new pools, we can hire coaches and attract swimmers – and expand our programs. 

3.       Health insurance for coaches and coach’s families is important to have, but many teams do not offer comprehensive health insurance packages to their coaching families.  There are many reasons for this, and they all make sense, but it doesn’t change the fact that we must go outside of our teams for health insurance.  How many coaches do you know do not currently have health insurance?   More coaches need to make health insurance a priority.

All of this leads me to the point of this blog post:  Every coach who has not checked out the International Swim Coaches Association should really make it a priority to do so.  Randy Reese heads the Executive Committee.  

The ISCA costs $75 per year to join.  Here is the website link: http://swimisca.com/

Here is part of what you get:

1.       $75 off the cost of ISCA’s 4^th annual Coaches Convention in Late August, held in Clearwater Florida.  Here is a membership link: http://swimisca.com/product/coaches-subscription/

2.       Member-exclusive pool pricing.  Do you want to build a 25M x 25Y pool?  Here’s how you can do it for $372,000.  Don’t think that’s cheap?  Ask around.  Randy is building one himself right now, and my team is looking forward to using it when we attend his CAT meet in December.  Here’s the link to learn more about what ISCA can offer you in terms of help building a pool: http://swimisca.com/build-a-pool-exclusive-pricing/

3.       Member-exclusive insurance coverage.  Get an insurance quote right now by following this link: http://swimisca.com/members/insurance/

4.       Much more….check the top link.

There are many perks of memberships, which you can read more about by clicking through the website.  I am not currently a member (although I probably will be soon), and I have nothing to gain by posting this except to let everyone know about ISCA, which seems to be doing some great things for coaches. 

At the price of $75 per year, this should be a no-brainer for coaches around the world!