The Message is Missing
It's time to take back the narrative of what makes this sport special
First, a quick plug:
I am hosting a free webinar on Strategic Planning on Wednesday, April 16th at 1:00 pm Eastern. I'll take you through the process I use to lead teams and organizations during a strategic planning event and explain why my method is more effective than strategic planning you may have experienced in the past. I would love to have you join us! Register HERE to receive the meeting link.
Note: This webinar is about strategic planning for your organization: business operations, communication, etc. This is not about season planning for practice groups.
“Words create worlds”
How we speak about something molds how it's understood and how people feel connected to the sport. In swimming, some of the same lines have been echoed for years: It costs too much. It takes up too much time. It's HARD. Sure, there's some truth in those claims. But saying them over and over has built more than just a message—it's built a mindset where swimming can seem closed off, intimidating, and unwelcoming. Not because it is, but because that's the version of the story that frequently gets told.
If the language we use shapes perception, then think about how this plays out in real life...
Imagine you are the parent of a child who is interested in joining a swim team. What's next? How are you being introduced to the competitive team? What are you hearing about the experience, and where is that message coming from?
Imagine the best possible answers to these questions, even if it is not a reality. What do we want them to hear about the program or the sport? How do we want them to receive this information? What great things about being a competitive swimmer do we want them to know?
I went looking for the mission statement on USA Swimming's website—and honestly, I couldn't find it. I must be missing something. But if I can't find it easily, how would a new parent, young coach, or potential member? When I search "mission statement" on the website, I get returns like "How to write a mission statement" or "coach-owned business plan." Does a mission statement currently exist? And if it does exist—why isn't it one of the first things people see?
Going back a few years, I knew exactly what the goal of USA Swimming was thanks to the repeated mantra: Build the Base, Promote the Sport, Achieve Competitive Success. Simple, direct, and memorable. Somewhere along the way, we lost more than a holistic approach to growing the sport in the United States; we lost the driving message from the top.
Let me pause for a second; the above paragraph isn't saying that no one is doing this. Plenty of people and organizations are working their tails off, even now in a significant time of uncertainty for the sport, to promote grassroots initiatives. Excellent programs are developing new ways to bring athletes into the sport and "meet them where they are" regarding their age and development level to ensure that entry is positive and enjoyable. There are groups running swimsuit and goggle drives to help those obtain the most basic equipment for participation.
What is missing is the message from the top, where there has been no consistent message for a few years. A strong message that says, "This is who we are, and this is what we do." This isn't a mission or vision statement that lives somewhere on a website and hardly gets mentioned. This mantra gets repeated - until we reach the point where the message needs to evolve.
So, what would a clear and inspiring message sound like right now? What if we set out to create something that really reflects the best of what this sport gives people? It doesn’t have to be long—it needs to be memorable and repeatable. The strongest messages are short, bold, and repeated until they’re part of the culture. They become the rallying cry that shows people who we are and where we’re going.
This message needs to be positive and amplify the gifts that come with participation. We can't solely focus on the top of the pyramid. We need to solidify and expand the foundation.
But a message only matters if it's supported by action, and that action starts at the base. If we want more people in the sport, we have to give them a much larger door to walk through, and that begins with clear entry points, community support, and a culture that says: "You belong here, and let me show you how amazing the experience is going to be."
The words we use to describe swimming matter as they shape the perception swimmers and parents have about the sport. If we continue to talk about things like high costs and sacrifices, we will lose many current and potential members. But if we shift the words to highlight what makes swimming worthwhile and a true "life sport", we can quickly change many people's negative perceptions.
So, what world are we creating with our words?
Is it a world filled with obstacles and overwhelm? Or is it one of growth, fun, and belonging?
We don't need more buzzwords or mission statements that live on forgotten pages of a website. We need a message that's real and felt, one that's lived and repeated until it becomes the lens through which people experience the sport. And we need that message to start at the top of the sport.
So here's the question:
If we could reshape how people see swimming, what words would we choose to lead with—and what kind of world might we build because of them?
This post hits home because it highlights a truth many of us are living: when there’s no clear, consistent, and inspiring message from leadership, the vacuum gets filled with fear, frustration, and burnout at all levels.
IMHO, the root of the issue lies with those in leadership who either can’t or won’t recognize that they’re the source of the problem. Their resistance to more modern, effective team management isn’t about ignorance, it’s about comfort. They benefit from the current structure (or lack thereof), so they have no incentive to change, even as the rest of us absorb the fallout.
The result? A sport that feels closed off not because of what it is, but because of how it’s presented. When the words used at the top are either outdated, completely missing, or self-serving, they don’t create a world of belonging. They instead create confusion, disconnection, and distrust, the exact opposite of what many coaches on the deck are actively trying to build.
These opposing forces aren’t just causing tension at the local level, they’re holding the sport back as a whole. Grassroots efforts can’t thrive when leadership continues to undermine them, whether intentionally or through inaction. We can’t grow if the people at the top refuse to acknowledge they’re standing in the way. Until they’re willing to take a hard look at their role in the problem, no amount of bottom-up momentum will be enough to create real, lasting change.
So the real question becomes: how do we give those in charge the space to sit in their own discomfort when the system is built specifically to shield them from it? More importantly, are they even capable of change if it threatens their sense of control? Or will they resist to the point of implosion?
Branding 101 stuff, right?
There are thousands of good options.
Agree that words need to have deeds as well.
Plus, when in the pool, head in the water, hearing is hard if not impossible. So, speaking softly in our environment is not going to get the messages to resonate.