Swimming World Showcases the Showcase Classic

PHOENIX, Arizona, January 19. RECENTLY, Swimming World had the chance to speak with National Age Group Association (NASA) organizer Doug Fonder as he strives to create a new innovative swim meet.

Fonder is preparing the Showcase Classic, a swim meet scheduled to be held in Coral Springs, Fla., from April 6–10. Fonder is searching for "participation from U.S. and foreign age group teams that would like to compete. We would like this to be a world event if people want to participate. We would like to open this meet so kids can meet kids from all over the world, and correspond [via social networking sites]. With Facebook, they can now stay in touch and grow friendships."

When asked about why NASA began, Fonder stated: "A group of us got together and talked. We all thought that with younger kids, there was a missing link that all other youth sports had. A lot of [the other sports] had single age group activities and national events for younger kids."

He continued to mention that baseball has as many as seven different national championship events from Little League to the AAU to the Dixie League. With swimming "the farthest you can go [as an age grouper] is a Zone meet, and only the eastern zone has a winter meet. For the 12-and-under age grouper, your [short course] season can be over before early March. With long course starting earlier, this is great for preparing kids for international competition later in life. However, most teams can not get into a long course pool until early June. This leaves a gap of activity, and that is the gap we are trying to fill."

Fonder continued: "We felt if we had something to carry kids until April, then more kids would remain motivated for the next season."

When asked about his long term goals for NASA Fonder pointed out "What we felt was that as the interest built up with teams, we would try to have clinics. At that point, we would bring in a coach that is real experienced and create a backstroke camp, breaststroke camp, so as they grow they can mature. Right now, we are planning to do it as a team travel [meet] and give younger kids a change to learn the ropes."

Fonder continued to talk about the importance of youth travel, "We want to teach them how to travel, how to be in a room with other kids, how to go to sleep at night, and how to do all this without the shadow of their parents. We want them to be ready when they go to their senior meets. We want them to learn how to take care of their money, to carry it with them and not lose it."

Fonder made it clear "The most important word we want to inject into is that swimming is fun and fast swimming is that much more fun."

He mentions the importance of United States Swimming and states "We are not in this to interfere with USA Swimming; we are here to be a complement. We are going to hold our meet after the state age group championships. We would like to eventually become a vehicle for communication [among coaches] and [utilize social networking] so we can learn a process for how the best age group kids are being developed in the country, and if there are similarities we can find. We hope to be a real resource center."

While there is a lot to be learned for the coach, Fonder states "We are going to try to interject as much fun and pageantry in the event as we can to really make it neat for the kids. There are meets out there where you look for fast swimming; this is going to be fast swimming and equally a lot of fun."

To find out more about the Showcase Classic and more information about NASA, please click here.

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