MISSION STATEMENT: The BLAST SWIM TEAM program is dedicated to developing, through team swimming, athletes of all ages and abilities to their highest level of personal achievement, both as competitive swimmers and as future contributing members of society.
A Brief History and Description of the
Blast Swim Team
By Coach Bill Babcock
The Blast Swim Team was formed during the last week of August of 2005. The idea to form the team came from many parents and the founding coaches\owners of the team, Emmett Smith and me. Parents had approached me during the 2005 summer season and indicated that if I would start my own team they would join immediately.
The name “BLAST” was chosen for the team because we coaches wanted the team name to reflect the joy and enthusiasm that we have when we are coaching our favorite people [swimmers] in our favorite sport [competitive swimming].
We held a splash party for the new program on Sunday August 21 and our first practice on Monday, August 22 in the five lane 25 yard pool at Kehoe-France Northshore. During the first week we had about 60 swimmers come out to see what the new team was all about. Katrina arrived Monday, August 29, and scattered the group over most of the United States.
We reformed in late September and continued the process of creating a team and were conditionally approved as a USA Swim team in late October, 2005. USA Swimming, in their mission statement lists three objectives: 1. Build the base of swimmers, 2. Promote the sport, 3. Achieve competitive success. The Blast Swim Team set out to accomplish these objectives in our first year as a team.
1. Build the base of swimmers – In our first year the Blast has grown from a geographically scattered group of evacuees on August 29, 2005 to over 170 USAS registered swimmers in mid-October of 2006. I have lived in Louisiana since 1976 and in Covington since 1993. I started many of these swimmers out in swim lessons at my home in Covington or at Kehoe-France and brought them up into competitive swimming. The relationships that I have with many of the families on the team go back to their children’s early pre-school swimming experiences. I am even now experiencing the “grand coach” effect of teaching the children of many of my former swimmers from other teams that I have worked with in Louisiana. This is a priceless blessing.
Another attraction of our program is we are not a stepchild program of a larger health club. Many serious competitive swimming parents and their children had deep concerns about the way USAS teams are treated within the health club environment. They were looking for a program that puts the swimmers and their interests first and not be an advertised profit center of a health club.
In May of 2006, at the invitation of the Beach Club in Metairie and again at the request and interest of swimming parents on the Southshore about expanding our program, the Blast added the six lane 25 yard pool at the club as a training facility. The Blast has 43 of its 171 registered swimmers training at this facility. Thirty one swimmers in this group are new to the sport and 12 transferred over from other teams.
In early October, 2006 we were fully approved as a USAS team, having meet all the requirements for USAS teams within the prescribed amount allowed by USA Swimming.
2. Promote the sport – The team set out to promote the sport in several ways.
First, we consistently submitted pictures and articles about the team’s successes to the local news media. The team has over 25 articles and pictures that have appeared in the local St. Tammany Parish\New Orleans Metro news media since December, 2005.
Second, we offered and promoted an American Red Cross Coach’s Safety Training program in May of 2006. We plan to run the same course again in May this year so more local coaches can become USAS certified.
Third our webpage, www.blastswimteam.com, contains much information promoting the sport. News articles, links to other swim sites, USA Swimming information are all featured as well.
Fourth, both the Northshore and Southshore facilities have offered training sites and competitive meet venues for many high school and grade school programs. On the Southshore, Jesuit, Dominican, Archbishop Rummel and Country Day School have used the Beach Club facility as an alternative site to the badly damaged UNO Pool. The Northshore facility has been the training site for the Covington High Swim Team and this fall, the fledgling Archbishop Hannan Swim Team. Both facilities have hosted grade school and high school swim meets. The support by the Blast program and the facility hosts has been instrumental in the success of these high school teams.
3. Achieve competitive success - We worked hard and well this year and the team had unprecedented success for a first year team. We finished sixth in both long course and short course state championships and along the way we won 28 individual and relay state championships, set a state relay record, placed two swimmers on the Louisiana Zone Team and had a swimmer achieve and be recognized for attaining a National Top 16 time. The team placed second in both 8 & under regional championships, winning an additional 21 individual and relay championships at the meet.
A key factor in our program’s successes is the enthusiasm generated by our swimmers, parents and coaches for the sport of swimming and the BLAST team. This enthusiasm shows in our spirit at meets and other activities. People from other teams asked about us, where we are from? and what we are about? Our parents and swimmers share their enthusiasm for the team with their friends in the sport both on their current team and swimmers and parents from other teams that they know.
Facilities:
The Blast Swim Team trains in a five lane 25 yard outdoor heated pool on the campus of Kehoe-France Northshore and at a six lane 25 yard heated pool on the grounds of the Beach Club in Metairie.
At the Northshore facility, we have over 120 active Blast swimmers in our program that practice between 3:15 and 7:15 pm. The Covington High School Swim Team also train at this pool. Our summer program added an additional 50 – 70 summer swimmers from the West St. Tammany & Hammond area.
At the Southshore facility, we have close to 50 swimmers training regularly, plus the facility is the primary training location for several local high schools including Jesuit, Dominican and Archbishop Rummel. The training times for the Blast are between 4:00 and 6:00 pm.
