RETRACTION: Screw Discipline, Embrace Partying
We've written about the subject of discipline on a traveling team before and, from the sound of our articles, you'd think we were pretty conservative travelers. You'd think that all the teams we've been on have advocated going to bed at ten p.m. the night after competitions are over. You'd think we were boring. This is not so.
We thoroughly advocate partying. Swimming is hard. Swimming requires not just some, but all Friday nights to be spent at home on the sofa, contemplating Saturday morning's training session. More often that not, it requires foregoing Saturday night festivities as well. Swimming means that you can't stay up at watch the Daily Show and Colbert Report because they're on at eleven and you have to get up at five. Sometimes, being a swimmers sucks. So when you can, you should live it up.
Michael Klim decided that it was time to stay up a little past his bedtime after the World Swimming Championships in Melbourne this year. Timed Finals covered the details of the party he hosted, as well as his means of getting around an Australian team function and the punishment that followed, so I needn't relay the details here. The short version is that Klim decided to get the world's best swimmers together at a local nightclub so that they could celebrate having taken part in one of the premier events of their swimming careers. In doing so, he (apparently) told Australian officials that it was a family matter that prevented him from attending an Australian team dinner, taking place on the same evening.
I am not sure what the Australian management's policy is in regards to parties, but I know what it was like between 1998 and 2004. Those guys weren't allowed to do anything without the consent of their coaches. Attending a party was enough to be dismissed from the Australian team indefinitely. Hosting one would have you brought before the Prime Minister. This, may I add, was a rather different culture to that of the German team during the same period of time who apparently advocated that their swimmers drink red wine. Often.
And now for Swimwatch's first poll. Since our email address is democracy@swimwatch.net, it would be stupid of us not to embrace voting every once and a while:
There are reports that Klim lied to his team in order to be free to host his party. While swimmers shouldn't lie to their coaches, they shouldn't be put in the type of position where they're required to. The three best coaches I've ever known were in complete support of what we called "after match functions"; the only stipulation they put on our post-swimming festivities was that we not hurt or embarrass ourselves. With these two criteria in mind, it was still very easy to have a great time.
So now it's your turn. Swimwatch wants to know about the best and worst swimming parties you've ever attended. Or heard about. We'll add our input in the comments, too. Where did they take place? Why were they so good? Why so bad? Do you have photographs? Are those photographs on Flickr? Can we see? Add your anecdotes in the comments. The best story gets a Swimwatch premium membership. No; seriously.
We thoroughly advocate partying. Swimming is hard. Swimming requires not just some, but all Friday nights to be spent at home on the sofa, contemplating Saturday morning's training session. More often that not, it requires foregoing Saturday night festivities as well. Swimming means that you can't stay up at watch the Daily Show and Colbert Report because they're on at eleven and you have to get up at five. Sometimes, being a swimmers sucks. So when you can, you should live it up.
Michael Klim decided that it was time to stay up a little past his bedtime after the World Swimming Championships in Melbourne this year. Timed Finals covered the details of the party he hosted, as well as his means of getting around an Australian team function and the punishment that followed, so I needn't relay the details here. The short version is that Klim decided to get the world's best swimmers together at a local nightclub so that they could celebrate having taken part in one of the premier events of their swimming careers. In doing so, he (apparently) told Australian officials that it was a family matter that prevented him from attending an Australian team dinner, taking place on the same evening.
I am not sure what the Australian management's policy is in regards to parties, but I know what it was like between 1998 and 2004. Those guys weren't allowed to do anything without the consent of their coaches. Attending a party was enough to be dismissed from the Australian team indefinitely. Hosting one would have you brought before the Prime Minister. This, may I add, was a rather different culture to that of the German team during the same period of time who apparently advocated that their swimmers drink red wine. Often.
And now for Swimwatch's first poll. Since our email address is democracy@swimwatch.net, it would be stupid of us not to embrace voting every once and a while:
There are reports that Klim lied to his team in order to be free to host his party. While swimmers shouldn't lie to their coaches, they shouldn't be put in the type of position where they're required to. The three best coaches I've ever known were in complete support of what we called "after match functions"; the only stipulation they put on our post-swimming festivities was that we not hurt or embarrass ourselves. With these two criteria in mind, it was still very easy to have a great time.
So now it's your turn. Swimwatch wants to know about the best and worst swimming parties you've ever attended. Or heard about. We'll add our input in the comments, too. Where did they take place? Why were they so good? Why so bad? Do you have photographs? Are those photographs on Flickr? Can we see? Add your anecdotes in the comments. The best story gets a Swimwatch premium membership. No; seriously.
30 Comments:
I gave up prom and a bunch of other parties in order to swim. No one better mess up my after-swimming-meet-parties!!
This is kind of weird, but I got through a few training sessions over the years by visualising how much fun the party would be after the meet that I was training for. Hey, man. Whatever gets you through, eh?
One of the best after meet parties I remember was held in a fairly small tent on a beach. I think there may have been only one other person invited
Midnight movies in Palmerston North after the NZ Secondary Schools Championships. Went four times and was asked to leave the theatre twice. Both times for rolling candy down the wooden floor.
David
Awwwwww T.M.I!!!! I definitely don't want to see pictures of that :P
This is an ooold story. There was a party at the poneke football club in wellington after a nationals there in 1995... a certain Auckland swimmer was passed out in the bathrooms and got rolled into one of the urinals by his teammates who then proceeded to pee on him.
oh an no pictures sorry :/
2 different ones. my sophomore year of hs, our school scheduled homeocming the same night as districts, so the 20 or so finalists, we pooled our money together and got a massive navigator limo and rolled into homecoming, without tickets, and they let us in for free due to a scheduling error. and half of prom court was from the swim team. or last summer before rec. league championships, sadly before, one kids girlfriends' threw a party in which some pine crest swimmers attending. it ended with me standing on a coffee table saing, "I'm Donald Sutton, I'm 13 feet tall and goofy, blah blah blah blah blah." needless to say donals suttong is tall and goofy and i was a wee bit inebriated.
-robertnole
I see two people have voted to attend "boring funciton" instead of "biggity big ass party." How... stupid.
Can we find the three people that voted they'd rather attend a boring team function and burn their houses down? :)
Old NZ Swimmer, was the person who passed out David? LMAO
Those are the people who are all chipper on the plane ride home the-morning-after and who want to go swimming upon return.
Those people are no fun whatsoever.
Haha, I know this story too and it wasn't David. I don't know if I should say who it was, but his first name is similar to that of your boyfriend, Rhi :)
I was one of those lame people that voted that I'd rather go to a team function than a party.
There are always a few squares in the bunch. I'm just not a partier, sorry. I haven't been to a proper one since I was 19 (aside from Wedding receptions if that counts).
But I don't necessarily have problems with post meet parties. In fact I support allowing the swimmers to hit the town and let loose after all the stress and pressure of a big meet and weeks of hard training.
However, from what I've read online in the Australian papers it appears Klimmy held the party prior to the Duel in the Pool. That meet was considered to be an extension of the World Championships commitment and the swimmers' tour of duty was not over. There was only one off day between the championships in Melbourne and Sydney. USA Swimming also mandated it's swimmers to participate in all team functions through the end of their commitment(i.e. The Duel).
So Klimgate may not be so cut and dried as the Overlords of Aus Swimming ruling by oppresive diktat. His dishonesty about it was futile and foolish. There was no chance it would ever go unnoticed given that it was a well publicized party of his own creation.
He knew about this conflict well in advance but pressed on with his plans. As an experienced and respected swimmer of stature he should have known better. Remember, this is someone who initiated and coordinated the party not merely a swimmer deciding to attend one.
I also read that many of the Australian swimmers did let loose and party. But they did so after the conclusion of the Duel in the Pool.
I thought Klim declined to participate in the Duel in the Pool before the party took place? I think I read this on Timed Finals, but I might be wrong...
I have one. Freshman yr of College we took our team training trip to the god aweful Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. My best friend from school's parents were living there at the time, and they had the entire team over for dinner on New Years Eve. Throughout dinner everyone was passing along to each other that my friends dad bought us a keg of beer and that it was in the garage. So needless to say we all ended up in the garage, and our coaches who were there as well I believe knew about it, but turned a blind eye to it and left back to the training center leaving just out team manager and those who wanted to stay over. Some of those "chipper on the plane ride home" type of people went back with the coaches, while the rest of us continued to have our fun. (we did have one of our only mornings off the next day) After the keg was gone it was about 11 P.M. and we talked our manager into taking us to downtown to kick the new year in style. A couple of drinks, cheers, and high-fives later it's 1:30 A.M. the time when the captains told us to meet back at the van. I had just gone to the bathroom to walk out and see only three others. I ask where everyone had gone and they said back to the OTC. I was freaking out trying to get ahold of someone, finally its last call at the bar and we shuffle outside into the freezing cold of Colorado. Two of my friends are being idiots and running in the street and almost get hit by a car. Guess who was in the car...Our Asst. Coach and his Fiance at the time. Needless to say we packed the 4 of us into a small car and had a very very quiet drive back to the OTC. We pull into the the security gate and just as we do, the van full of the rest of my teammates comes in right behind us. All that was said as we got out of the car was, "This isn't over". Nothing was said abouyt it for a couple days, until we had a team meeting where we were told they were about to fly us back to school and not even finish the training trip or the dual meet we had scheduled for the ride home. Those didnt happen, but the four of us did have to sign a contract saying we would not consume alcohol until the end of the season. I was the only one that followed it. Oh and the van full of my teammates didnt even get talked to. Talk about fair right?
-John
This is an awesome story :) My college team went to the OTC for their training trip this year (after I'd graduated); however, I don't think they came home with any stories like this. As far as the training trip getting cut short goes, that would have been more of a reward than a punishment, right? I mean, does anyone actually like going on those?
Klim was thrown off the team on the eve of the Duel in the Pool.
Scott Goldblatt reported this in a comment on Timed Finals:
"Comment by Scott
Posted on April 4th, 2007 at 17:44
Interesting that further details have emerged… apparently Klim had declined to participate in the Duel in the Pool and thus felt he was exempt from team functions - which does make sense in a way. Klim is also considering retirement because he is mentally tired from the daily grind. He is planning to take some time with his family and make a decision later."
... I knew I read that somewhere... seems to me like a he said / she said sort of deal :\
Maybe so.
But it seems unlikely Australian Swimming would take these measures if it was understood that Klim's commitment did not extend through the Duel like the rest of the team.
BTW, as I said in my first post I'm definitely not anti-fun. Also something in the news last year from down under that I picked up: There is a talented 18 y/o female swimmer called the "new pin-up girl" and "wild child" in Australia who took some criticism last year for "partying on weekends."
Now after the commonwealths and worlds that criticism has ebbed.
Interesting article:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/Sport/
Stephanie-Rice-wins-bronze-in-200m-swim/
2007/03/26/1174761381748.html
Very true! It's amazing what some success will do to nay-sayers.
Rhi
No the old swimmer who passed out in the urinal was not David. He was however there and being as the body in the urinal had just beaten one of his swimmers for the national 400m title, David did not attempt to stop the boys enjoying themselves.
David
John
Good story, very good story.
David
Amazing. Gotta love David.
John,
So, was that considered "the greatest party" or "the worst party" you've ever been to???
It sounds like a bit of both!
I wouldnt say it was the best, or even the worst, but it definitely was one of the most memorable nights of my life.
hi
So did I win the "Swim Watch Premium Membership"?
Yeeaaaah, about that...
Damnit now I have to come up with something, don't I?
:D
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