I have been asked this question a bunch of times by folks interested in starting their own clubs. So, I figured why not just describe the process…here goes.

1) Have a vision. You have to know what type of team you want and then build that team. If your goal is to have a team of adults who laugh and sing and play and swim, then do not be surprised when a serious swimmer who joined to train hard, leaves your team. Conversely, if your goal is to build a serious training club (a la West Side), do not be surprised when people leave who thought they could come in and float around. Have a vision, stick with it and do not compromise. If you stay true to what you want, then and only then will you be happy with the result. If you decide to change your vision midstream, you will be stuck with people who you no longer want to coach (or who no longer want to swim for you) which leaves you with one choice.

2) Get a pool. Start calling all of the pools in your area and be honest with them. I am a coach and I want to start a team whose focus is [see number 1 above]. What are your rates? How many lanes can I get and at what times? Would you be willing to work out a discount if I can bring in memberships to your pool? Etc. Some pools will tell you to f$&* off and some will be open to your ideas. Pick the one that is the most central in your area with the best rates. Get to know the folks at your pool and realize that THEY are helping you out, not the other way around.

3) Be prepared to spend money and possibly lose some when you start. If you have a vision, some people will like it and others will not. Depending on how many like it will determine how many people you get. Starting a Masters team to make a profit is a bad idea. If, some day down the road you make a profit, great for you, but don’t go into this with visions of dollars in your eyes. Know how much you can lose and work backwards from there. If coaching people is REALLY what you are about then the money thing will take care of itself.

4) Create your identity. Now that you have a vision and you have a pool and you have some money to lose, you need a name (preferably one that is cool and that people won’t forget), colors/logo and a website. I bought a domain name ($40 for two years) and bought a year of webhosting ($109) from godaddy.com. The rest of the site is free as I use the free software from wordpress.com. Sure I customized the shit out of it but you can just leave it plain and it works just as fine. So for a total of $149 bucks, I have a presence on the Internerd, and no overhead. If you look around you could do it even cheaper. Register.com offers $9 domain name specials all of the time. So does Network Solutions. There are plenty of free web solutions like wordpress…Movable Type is one and so is eBlah. Both are FREE, easy to install (if you get stuck email me and I will help ya) and run themselves.

5) Get people. Online registration is what its all about these days. Make it easy for your swimmers to sign up for your team and be clear about what information you want. You can use free software like google apps to manage your entire team (get a gmail account and check out their applications…all FREE). Your swimmers will love your organizational skills and will be able to focus on swimming. Check on insurance for your team as well. Most likely your pool has an insurance policy which covers your swimmers but double check to make sure.

6) Kick ass. Now that you have a sweet website and you have some swimmers, start competing! You can register as a USMS club for $30 and show up to any meet as your club! You can also contact your local LMSC chair and talk with them about joining your LMSC, assuming you want to join your LMSC. You can’t compete at National meets and most regional meets without a USMS club number. Get your folks involved in meets (maybe host one yourself) and the word will get out on its own.

7) Keep it real. Don’t ever compromise as a coach to anything other than what you believe in. You should always educate yourself on whats happening in the swimming world and dont ever assume that you know even 15% of what is going on because there is always something new. Though you may evolve as a coach…as you learn and listen…you should always keep your vision. If, one day, your pool is empty…well then you did your best and its time to pack up your shit and get a real job.

That’s it. That’s all. No magic forms, no people you have to call. If you want to do it its just a matter of doing it. See yourself standing next to a group of triumphant swimmers and the rest will sort of come naturally.

[by the way, that's Arizona's head coach Frank Busch whose vision got his team the 2008 NCAA title]