Enter SWAT

SWAT has expanded into the Madison swim market.

SWAT is the Southwest Aquatic Team.  I think that's what the acronym stands for.   Southwest refers to southwest of Milwaukee, I think, not SW Wisconsin.  SWAT is actually east of Madison.

The Head Coach at SWAT, Shane Ryan, is the former Head Coach at MWY, and then YDC;  he oversaw the merger of the different YDC Swim Teams -- MWY, MEYO and Lodi -- into one.  He was my son's coach for years after we moved over from BAC following a year with Jerrod (I think that was his name) who just wasn't a good match, especially after having had Charlie and Cheezer at BAC, who were great

I digress.

Shane and Michael Hanson will be coaching in Madison.  It will be interesting to see how many YDC parents leave for this new team (some who can have left YDC already for BAC or MSS, but these teams have limited room).

Everyone who leaves is taking their extra swim fees that would have gone to the Y with them.  In addition, most of them are not financial hardship cases, so they were paying membership dues to the Y as well.  Maybe I don't see the big picture, but it seems to me that an Executive Director of a non-profit who makes decisions that drive away people who support the institution monetarily is not necessarily making the best decisions for that institution.

One of the swimmers tweeted a picture of the westside Y pool as it existed during dryland practice yesterday, when the pool is open for general lap swimming.  Empty.