PHOENIX, Arizona, November 20. COACH Bob Gillett requested that we present the following open letter to our readership:
(Bob Gillett is an active swimming coach, presently in Huntington Beach, CA. He was the Founding President of the NCSA (National Club Swimming Coaches Association). He has been a lifetime coach, since 1962.)
Dear Coaches,
I want to encourage you to participate in our effort to re-instate Mark Schubert for the term of his agreement with USA Swimming as the National Team Coach and Director. None of us have ever agreed upon all of Mark's actions (as none of us have ever approved of all of each other's actionsJ), however, he is a great coach and has done much for all of us. He does not deserve the treatment that he has received from Chuck Wielgus, Executive Director of USA Swimming.
I think all of us have supported different coaches in crises at different times of our career. It is the ultimate act of coaching unity to come to the support and aide of a fellow coach in crisis. Coaching unity and team unity are two of the greatest characteristics and joys of sport and our profession. Put the differences in prospective and support this great coach!
I hope this process will lead to some very important conclusions. First, we want the re-instate of Mark Schubert by the Board of Directors of USA Swimming, Inc. Second, this position should gains AUTONOMY, and become responsible to the Board of Directors of USA Swimming and not the Executive Director. Third, I hope that this situation will result in a comprehensive effort to reorganize the coaches' representation in this country. Specifically, we need to more formally organize our representation of CLUB COACHES for results with USA Swimming and the American Swimming Coaches Association. We need to formally organize our interaction between club, college, high school, YMCA and other significant groups of coaches.
In summary, we need your positive action NOW! The USA Board of Directors will meet this week in NY, on Sunday and Monday, November21-22, 2010, in conjunction with the Golden Goggles Award. I encourage you to support COACH Mark Schubert and to help solve this crisis. You can participate in many ways, but two immediate methods are to:
1. if you are a coach or swimmer: go to nationalteamcoach.homestead.com and submit your support; and
2. send an e-mail of your support for Coach Schubert to:
Bruce Stratton, President—USA Swimming, Inc.
bruce@strattoncpa.com