Swim Fitness Articles

You Be the Coach - Best Relay Lineup

You be the coach:
Eight of your swimmers want to swim on a mixed medley relay at the upcoming meet. You can only use your four best swimmers regardless of their age or gender. Who do you put on the relay and in which order? Why did you select them?

Florence - Student Beautician
Marc - Web developer
John - Adult Movie Star
Jack - Sports Massage Therapist
Perry - Lawyer
Ben - Pediatrician
Penny - Project Manager
Beatrice - Socialite

The only real choice I see is to go with this lineup:
1. Back - Marc, the web designer
2. Breast - Ben, the pediatrician
3. Fly - Perry, the lawyer
4. Free - Penny, the project manager

As a web designer, Marc wants instant gratification and wants to go first. As a constant web surfer he has wonderful streamlining needed coming off the walls and for the underwater portion of his backstroke race. He is always up on current technique. His only fear is that they will start caffeine testing at Masters meets. His reaction time starting off the blocks is legendary.

Ben, the pediatrician, has the patience to swim the slowest stroke but can also can move very quickly in an emergency. He handles stress very well and will do a solid, focused swim as long as his teammates hide his pager.

Perry, the lawyer, is known for his aggressive work in the courtroom and has an intense desire to win. He will build a lead and absolutely tear up the competition. He doesn't do free.

Penny, the project manager, always does what it takes to get the job done on time and in budget and will ensure her relay wins. She will stay up the night before making a PowerPoint presentation and a MS-Project plan for the other relay members showing their individual assignments and what splits they need to achieve, which the rest of the team (including you, the coach) has learned to barely tolerate because she throws a heck of a margarita bash at her place to celebrate after the big meet.

But the real reason is that the team's top swimmers are missing. The team's best backstroker, Jack, is busy giving a little massage to Beatrice, the social butterfly. This is making Florence very jealous as she thinks Jack is cute and does not realize that Jack is expecting payment for his services. And in turn, Florence is giving a free style and blow-dry to John, the actor. This is making Beatrice furious at Florence as she is dating John. Florence doesn't realize that John has told all of the guys on the team both the size and brand name of Florence's implants just from a quick feel. Jack thinks John is very attractive but John thinks that Jack gives him the creeps and doesn't want to be around him. So this is one ace relay lineup that just isn't going to happen.

Why would a coach watch soap operas when they deal with all of this on a daily basis?

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