“Man is not made to be in water,” says Bob Floerchinger.

Now don’t take this to mean that Floerchinger thinks people should stay out of the water. To the contrary, the aquatics program supervisor at the new Waynesville Recreation Center would love to see more people in the water.

But the statement does reflect his coaching and training philosophy. Besides being an aquatics supervisor, Floerchinger has started the Smoky Mountain Aquatic Club (SMAC), a year-round, regional swimming program under the auspices of United States Swimming (USS). The USS is the national governing body for amateur swimming in the United States.

SMAC members range in age from 6 to 62, and Floerchinger has programs designed to fit all ages, abilities and aspirations. Younger swimmers are placed into color-coded groups based on their abilities.
The white group is for beginning swimmers. “They don’t have to be great swimmers to start with, to be on the team. We’re going to teach them stroke techniques and conditioning,” Floerchinger said.

Any child who can swim one length of the pool on his or her stomach and one length on his or her back is qualified.

“Most of the kids who have completed the second level of the rec’s swim program would qualify,” he said.

The white group meets four times a week for an hour. Fifteen minutes are spent out of the water and 45 minutes in the water. The white group focuses on technique.

The next level is the red group. The red group spends an hour in the water and 15 minutes out. Their time is divided between technique and conditioning. The red group is further subdivided, depending on skill level. Swimmers who need it will get more technique training. As technique improves, more emphasis is put on conditioning. Swimmers ready to graduate from the red group will be spending 25 percent of their time on technique and 75 percent of their time on conditioning.

The next step up the ladder from the red group is the black group. This is the level where Floerchinger begins training those swimmers who are interested in swimming competitively. This is where his training philosophy really kicks in. “It’s pretty demanding. It’s hard to be in the black group and be involved in a multitude of things,” he said.

The black group meets six times a week and spends 90 minutes in the water and 30 minutes out.
The next step is the gold group, for swimmers 13 and older who are definitely dedicated to the sport of swimming. This group spends two and a half hours nearly every day at the pool -- half-hour out and two hours in the water.

This is where swimmers learn what Floerchinger means when he says “man is not made to be in water.” Floerchinger believes that water is a great equalizer. Practice can increase skill level in any athletic endeavor, but he feels the direct correlation between effort and achievement in swimming is greater than in many other sports.

Someone with poor hand-eye coordination could spend hours in a batting cage and still not be able to hit a baseball as well as a gifted athlete who spends half as much time in the cage. But the kid who trains the hardest in swimming almost always has the advantage, Floerchinger said. If a swimmer believes in herself, has a good work ethic and trains hard, she will out swim 90 percent of the competition, he said.
Floerchinger said that SMAC will make Waynesville’s summer swim team better. “There will be a lot of kids who will cross over. They will swim in summer league meets and train with us,” he said. “Every kid I have right now, who is training with me will make the all stars, this summer. By going into a year-round program, they will have an edge on summer league swimmers.”

He also believes that SMAC can help high school swimmers. He is presently training Tuscola swimmers William Baker (senior) and Jesse Sorrels (freshman). While Baker will be winding up his high school swimming career this year, Sorrels is just beginning his.

“If he [Sorrels] stays with it, he could be a dominant swimmer on the high school scene for the next four years,” Floerchinger said.

SMAC is in its first year and Floerchinger is anticipating growth. He estimates between 60 and 80 members in a couple of years. “One hundred would be nice,” he said. But he points out that it only takes eight to 10 good swimmers to have a strong team.

Floerchinger plans on scheduling swim-meets within a six-hour drive of Waynesville. Atlanta, Lexington, and Cincinnati, along with sites in the Carolinas, Virginia and Florida, were mentioned as potential meet locations. He would also like to target one major meet each summer.

Floerchinger is a competitive swimmer and it is easy to see the fire when he begins to talk about competing, but he feels he has a well rounded program at SMAC. Kids are not pushed into competing. When they reach the red group they can participate in meets if they want to, but they’re not forced. The goal is to make them strong-er swimmers and increase their comfort zone in the water, he said.
According to Floerchin-ger, swimming is a great sport for building self-esteem and self-confidence. It could be the ideal situation for kids who have had a bad experience in a team sports setting. There is no bench-sitting in swimming -- everyone participates. And everyone who works will improve, and the improvement can be documented in black and white. More work will translate into faster times and kids can see the improvement for themselves, he said.

The master’s program also offers a variety of choices. Swimmers can train for competition, triathletes can hone their swimming skills and fitness swimmers can learn stroke techniques and how to create a personal work out program.

To find out more about SMAC and/or the aquatics program at the Waynesville Recreation Center, call 456.2030 or stop by the new facility on Vance Street.

 

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