Coach Stu's Column

September 2011

Reflections on the USMS

Convention in Jacksonville, Fla.

 

By Stu Kahn

“The winning host of the 2013 One-Hour Postal event is the Davis Aquatic Masters, ” said Heather Hagadorn, chair of the U.S. Masters Swimming Long Distance Committee.

Then after a brief pause, she added: “That team has been getting a lot of attention this weekend.”

Heather was making her report on Saturday morning to the entire USMS House of Delegates, announcing the teams that had been selected as upcoming event hosts and was reflecting on the number of times DAM had already been mentioned during the convention..

After 15 years on the sidelines, DAM was front and center again.

The attention began, as expected Thursday morning, when as the Coaches Committee Vice Chair, I was alongside Chairman Craig Keller as he convened the annual meeting of 28 committee members.

That same night I was unexpectedly selected by Chairman Keller to run an impromptu dryland presentation on the hotel roof for 80+ delegates.

Friday at 5:15 a.m., 4 other coaches and I were on-deck at a nearby high school for the morning masters practice, again in front of over 80+ delegate-swimmers.

Later that same morning, presenting in his absence and with only a few days notice, I had the House of Delegates podium for 10 minutes to read short bios and present plaques to all of the 2011 Kerry O'Brien Coaches of the Year.

Not more than 15 minutes after that, DAM was happily announced as the recipient of the 2011 USMS Club of the Year . Taking the stage once again and hijacking the microphone, I thanked, on behalf of our entire DAM membership, the awards committee and USMS for their prestigious honor.

Following that, I paid our respects to the previous COTY award winners and then recognized the other DAM coaches throughout our history who've helped build the program to its current level. In the audience was Mike Collins (DAM Head Coach from 1990 to 1997), to whom was paid particular tribute. Also, a promise was made that long into the future DAM would continue to support, contribute and participate to our fullest with USMS policies and programs.

And then, lastly, on Saturday night, at the Gala Dinner for the United States Aquatic Sports (USAS) featuring award winners from USA Diving, USA Synchro, USA Water Polo, USA Masters and USA Youth, I took the stage one more time. I had the honor of presenting the USMS Coach of the Year Award to the 2011 recipient, Chad Durieux, a young coach from Rose Bowl Aquatics in Pasadena.

Honors such as these are always memorable, but this one was even more so.

Here's the rest of the story.

After presenting Chad with his gift certificate from Colorado Timing Systems and COTY plaque from USMS, we had our picture taken with the President of USMS. But, instead of walking off the stage with those two, I retook the plaque from Chad and returned to the microphone.

Announcing that it was truly an honor to be associated with USMS and that it was the most respected, emulated and successful adult sports organization in America, I then furthered the announcement by saying that even great programs such as ours, occasionally ‘skip a groove.”

Then I read the actual engraving from the plaque:

“Presented to Francesca Romera,

Hyatt VIP Manager

For her outstanding dedication and effort.

From the Miami-Dade Firefighters Assn.,

May 2, 2010.

Apparently, USMS had forgotten to bring the 2011 COTY plaque, and it wasn't until 2 minutes before the ceremony that this was even discovered. Trying to avert a major PR snafu, I exited quickly to the hotel front desk. There I got the attention of the one of the desk clerks, and after explaining the situation, I offered my credit card in return for any off-the-wall plaque she might find available. Being told there were none on hand, and leaving dejectedly, my cause was taken into further consideration, whereupon the clerk disappeared and returned with the aforementioned item.

The only caveat was that the Assistant Night Manager was starting work at 10 p.m., and the plaque HAD to be returned before that time.

My final comment then to USMS and all the other USA Aquatic Sports Delegates was, “Gotta go, folks. I have 5 minutes to return the plaque and get back my VISA.”

 

P.O. Box 921, Davis, CA. 95617 530-757-7946 E-mail: admin@damfast.org

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