Ep 62 - Jennifer LaMont

In this last episode of the year, we have Jennifer LaMont, the CEO of ASCA. Join us as we talk about how the year has been for ASCA, their current programs, and what's coming in the new year that we will be excited about.

Transcript

Transcript 

00:00:04 Introduction 

This is the Your Sports Resource Podcast where each week you'll learn actionable strategies that you can implement so the operations of your club support your staff and the direction of your organization. We are committed to excellence in youth sports leadership. Let's get started. 

00:00:25 Renata 

Hello and welcome to the Your Sports Resource podcast. My name is Renata Porter and today for our very last podcast of the year 2023. We have Jennifer Lamont, the CEO of ASCA. Jennifer is a seasoned and successful leader with over 30 years of experience heading member-driven advocacy organizations, she is the first female CEO of ASCA and has been in that role now for what, 2 1/2 years right? Two and 1/2 years. 

00:00:57 Jennifer 

Yeah.  

00:00:58 Renata  

All right. Welcome. We really appreciate you joining us. 

00:01:02 Jennifer 

Thank you. I'm so glad to be here. Yeah, let's end the year with a bang. 

00:01:08 Renata 

Right. That's right. All right. Well, let's just kick off the conversation about like, how's the year gone? How's it been? What exciting things have happened in the world of ASCA? 

00:01:20 Jennifer 

So yeah, I'm so glad to be here to talk about it because I feel like, we're doing so many things. We're trying all the time to add member benefits and the biggest challenge, honestly is to just get coaches to know about them. And to use them because they're just not used to so much being, you know, in one place at their fingertips, which is what we really have tried to do, we switched over to a whole new website, a whole new data management system. It's been about a year and a half I guess. And there are so many things. Once members log in, they have access to one of the things I'm most excited about is bringing Russell Mark on board. 

00:01:57  

And they have access to an incredible data library as well as a video library. He puts his videos that he's been shooting out and about visiting clubs, he puts the videos in there and does analysis and it's just gold, you know, and coaches once they see it and go into it, they're just like, how did I not know this was here? This is amazing stuff. So yeah, so that's one of the biggest things that I'm really excited about. But just so many resources that are now available to coaches. 

00:02:18 Renata 

Yeah, yeah. 

00:02:25 Jennifer 

Just by virtue of being an ASCA member, we have really tried not to nickel and dime like we just like it's available the mediator program, the ambassador program, the like I said, the libraries, the talks, library, everything in there, you just have access to just by being an ASCA member. So that's a lot of what we've been building over the last year. 

00:02:41 Renata 

Oh great. So, they just go when they log in, they can just, they can see everything's available and take their own time to either, like just do what's been uploaded for general knowledge of their interest and then they can also do courses, right? Is that what you mean?  

00:02:59 Jennifer 

Yeah. So, there's also courses available, which is another exciting area that we've gone into in the last year. So, we're starting to create new courses. 

00:03:07  

The first year that I was in the position, we really focused on updating our certification courses. 

00:03:13  

So levels one through 5 completely redone on the online versions as well as the in-person versions, and Russell does level 2, but all the levels have been redone and then we're now in the last year we were adding courses as you are familiar, Renata because you have done one of our courses. So we do have a course on organizational leadership. 

00:03:31 Renata 

Yes, yes. 

00:03:34 Jennifer 

And you can talk a little bit about that. But yes, that's one of the things you've been hearing that coaches wanted. So, we appreciate partnering with you to bring that information. 

00:03:44 Renata 

Great. Yeah, we did a course on communication and leadership. So that was a lot of fun. Just challenging. I've never done anything like that before, so it was really challenging. So but really exciting. So, I wanted to ask you, a lot of times when I look at social media, whether it's swim swam or just on Instagram or LinkedIn when coaches are talking about specific topics, there's a lot of times where there's that tug of war between I don't know, ASCA should be doing this, or USA Swimming should be doing this. Can you just kind of explain your view or your perception of where the lines are between ASCA, ISCA, USA Swimming, and all the organizations like mine, you know? 

00:04:31  

How do you feel? They all work together and where are the lines there? 

00:04:36 Jennifer 

So, it's interesting you asked because I have been saying from the beginning whenever I talk to others well, members or other organizations that offer, like the ones you just listed that offer resources for coaches. My attitude is that if you are offering something for coaches, let's all work together in the community. Let's not work against each other. 

00:04:53  

Let's work to complement each other so that you know if you're offering something that's going be beneficial for coaches, then I'm all for it. And you know, we'll all work together. So, but there are, you know, I will say that coming in, I was asked the question many times when I first started. What do you think about USA Swimming now doing Coach certifications like isn't that taking away ASCA's whole reason for being? 

00:05:18  

And first of all, that is not ASCA's whole reason for being. ASCA has been very instrumental and been the main point for certifications and we still do offer them, like I said, we revamped them all. We still do offer the best, in my opinion, the best certification, but we do so much more like we are the professional organization for coaches. 

00:05:38  

So, we offer a variety of resources of support programs, and awards programs to inspire coaches, and we are so much more than the organization that offers certifications. That being said USA Swimming has started offering certifications, the first group that they created are the ones that are mandatory right?  

00:06:03  

So right they have explained to me that you know based on all kinds of new rules and laws, and USOPC, and Ted Stevens act. They have to have very specific training. 

00:06:11  

That, you know, covers their liability basically. And then so that was the first round. Now they are starting to branch out into some other optional certifications. But again, I say that you know we I still believe ours are the gold standard of certifications and they're all out there and if coaches. 

00:06:13 Renata 

Right, right. 

00:06:32 Jennifer 

They're all optional as far as you know what we offer and then what they're starting to offer. And it's all good for coaches in the end, so you know that's how I look at it. I also feel like, you know, USA Swimming can't do everything. They certainly have limited resources. Every organization does. So, I believe they should also be looking to us to say, you know, we do, we talk regularly like you guys offer that and we'll offer that.  

00:06:58  

And we're trying to get to that place where we're complementing each other, not offering the same, you know, but we're providing more by having the two of us work together. 

00:07:06 Renata 

Yeah, I love that. I love the symbiotic type of atmosphere. I know it sounds woo-woo when I use the word symbiotic, but I agree. I think there's. 

00:07:15  

Clubs need so much help, right? And they need and teams and coaches need so much help and I think that sometimes, like even if, let's just say all three of us put out the same course or program. How I present it would be different than how you would present it, how USA Swimming would present it. 

00:07:35  

And I think when the coaches have a diverse opportunity to have access to different types of learning. It only helps the industry and I think there's plenty of room for all of us to be in this space and learn and share. You mentioned support programs. Can you go into that a little bit like what? And outside of your courses and stuff like that? What do you mean by support? 

00:08:01 Jennifer 

Yeah. Yeah. So well, one of the programs that we started this year was our club support with Frank Bush. So, Frank Bush has a long history in the sport at all levels of the sport. And he's retired. So, he's come on board.  

00:08:22  

And he and Russell have a workshop that we're offering, so that's one area that we do. And of course, you do club support and so does USA Swimming. So that's a perfect example of what you're talking about. Everybody comes at it from a different little angle and it's all valuable. 

00:08:34  

But we offer programs like our mentor program. I'm really proud of our mentor program. It's very popular. We're in our third year of it now and it's where we pair a gold, silver and bronze coach, which is not our idea by the way, CSCA does it.  

00:08:54 

It's a proven model that both organizations take it, it works. So, we have and it's true, coaches love it. It's, you know, 3 levels of experience in a triad and they meet once a month on Zoom over a year and we give them prompts and we meet with them periodically, bring them all into a Zoom together. And it's just a great way for coaches to find that support because it's just such a small group and they're able to really get to know each other. 

00:09:21  

And really get vulnerable and share and get advice. And like I said, it's not typical mentor mentee. The young coaches are teaching as much to the older coaches as vice versa. And then you got your mid-career in there. So that's one of the programs that I think is a great program that supports coaches. 

00:09:40  

Our ambassador program is where we have volunteer coaches out around the country who are the point people. So that's another way where, you know, you may not see me out on deck. I can't be everywhere or our staff even, but we that's our way to scale up you know and have representatives so to speak out and about who can talk about our programs, who can point people in the right direction. 

00:10:01 

Who can answer questions or send questions or concerns back to us at headquarters so that we can address them. So that's another one. And like I said, the resources on our website are another one where coaches can go and tap in. And then we do our regional clinics, So, we're in person doing clinics. We do about 3 or 4 a year. 

00:10:27  

Iin addition to the World Clinic, which we have been ramping up every year into a bigger and better event, we had a great event in Dallas this past year and we're looking forward to Orlando coming up in 2024, but the regional clinics are another way where coaches can come together in person. 

00:10:45  

Share in a somewhat relaxed environment, get to know each other where it's different than obviously different than if you're taking a course online or something like that. 

00:10:53 Renata 

Yeah. Are the coaches really open to sharing from your perspective? Because I find maybe I should wait for you to respond, but I find that sometimes. They are really reluctant to open up and share for whatever reason. 

00:11:12  

I mean I can assume. It's because they don't want to look like they need help, or that they feel like nobody will help them. But you know, I find that once, like, I can really encourage them to open up and go find a mentor or, kind of work with other coaches. 

00:11:27  

Or open up to us and be truthful and honest so we can help them, that they're like, why the heck did I wait so long? So, do you see any struggle with coaches trying to open up and share and work with each other to help each other in the industry? 

00:11:47 Jennifer 

Well, I would say that is true generally speaking. And, I feel like bringing them together in a small group, and that's the key, those relationships. Really building that relationship of trust. So whether it's in a small mentor group or whether it's in a one-on-one conversation over time where you're developing that relationship. 

00:12:09  

Like, that’s how coaches then will share and talk and be vulnerable. And get the help that they need. But yeah, I do agree with you that it's tough. I mean, let's face it, coaches are competitive. 

00:12:21 Renata 

Yeah, sure, I'm tired. 

00:12:22 Jennifer 

And it's hard to be really competitive and then admit to your competition or fellow coach, you know. So yeah, it is a challenge. I mean, I feel like I see it sometimes. I see it in those clinics in those small group settings. I see those relationships being built. 

00:12:42  

But it takes time. It's over a few days. It's over the social as well as the coffee as well as like, you know, you kind of have to bond a little before you start sharing. 

00:12:52 Renata 

In 2024, we are going to launch a new platform that we hope the coaches will take advantage of, and essentially, it will be a group just for them and it's along the lines of like a Facebook group but it is a private platform operating like Facebook. You can post, and you can ask questions. You can join groups and all that kind of thing, but it's private. There are no ads. It will only be for coaches and we're hoping that the coaches will drive it. We don't want to get in the middle of it. I mean, obviously, we'll probably post like, hey, we have this coming out this coming out. 

00:13:34  

But really we want them to be able to get online and share because we know there are WhatsApp groups and there are some Facebook groups with Facebook. You also have parents in there and you also have board members in there. So, people are a little afraid to share.  

00:13:51  

And then our only requirement other than you know behaving yourself is that we're not going to allow anonymity. So, you're going to have to own your name and comment and share. 

00:14:07 Jennifer 

That will keep your comments under control. 

00:14:09 Renata 

Yeah. Well, I just think that listen, there are times when people need to express their honesty, and I want them to do that. How do you learn? How do you grow if you're not honest, right? 

00:14:20  

But it's just how you go about that, and we were thinking that if we have a closed system that's coaches only, they'll be verified by us that their coaches and they drive their own conversation that it'll just provide another avenue for them to talk. That's our idea of we're hoping that's going to work. 

00:14:41 Jennifer 

We actually had to do some more on our website and it hasn't really taken off yet, although I feel like we haven't really pushed it out there enough, but it's part of the built-in feature of our website where coaches can go in and once they've logged in as members, go on to a board, a community where they can. I'm glad to see the more the merrier. Like, let's all see what we can do to, you know, see what hits and what really helps. 

00:15:07 Renata 

Right. Excuse me. So, for me on this podcast and even in front of clients, especially a lot of my conversations with boards, sometimes they're through no fault of anybody's. There's a bit of turnover with coaches and boards don't tend as their parents, not tend to really understand that, you know, they just, they get irritated and feel there's a problem. And why is it taking so long to hire somebody a lot of times I have conversations that are about listening. You have to understand two things. 

00:15:42  

First of all. Why are you rushing in to hire just a warm body? They have to fit for your organization so that takes time.  

00:15:54  

But the other side of that is that. I feel like sometimes we're looking at a mass exodus of this profession and coaches are leaving, right? So, what are some things that ASCA is doing to help find and keep coaches in the industry? 

00:16:11 Jennifer 

Yeah, that's a big question. I mean, our mission is to inspire support and advocate for coaches, and the more we're able to do that and the better we are at doing that, I feel like the more coaches will stay in the profession. So, it's really our reason that's our mission.  

00:16:30  

Is to do all those things that keep them in the profession, keep them thriving and happy, and make the profession a place where you know they feel respected and rewarded, and fulfilled.  

00:16:45  

And as you know, there are many factors that pull strings and pull away and pull coaches away from those ideals so you know it's an ongoing battle. The programs we provide are for that very reason we're getting more involved in advocacy, so we're getting more involved in, like making sure coaches know about their government, like what is the governance of the sport. 

00:17:05  

How can they have a voice? Because it is just the fact that, you know there is a route to have a voice in what you know, all these rules that come down is a way for you to feel like OK, I fit into this bigger picture and I do have a voice.  

00:17:21  

And I'm not just a victim of all the rules and craziness that could possibly come down and also to know why, like a lot of times, you know, it is a federal mandate or something. 

00:17:32  

There are reasons. And if you know the why, then you're more able to accept it and figure out how to affect it if you need to affect it. 

00:17:40  

And that's what I feel like our role is, as well as to help coaches come together as a profession and have a voice in the sport and right, you know, sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn't. But we need to push harder so that the coaches voices heard in the decisions that are made that affect them in the sport because they really are the ones that are the closest to it. 

00:18:02  

I'm not sure how to answer that question we're trying in many ways, you know, and I guess you know now that I think about it like we are trying to reach out to the newer generation, we probably could do more in the future. I feel like we need to reach down to the student level. 

00:18:21  

To talk to them about what a fulfilling career they can go into while we're continuing to make it a fulfilling career. We do have a 30 under 30 program at ASCA that we started a couple of years ago which is a huge investment for ASCA.  

00:18:40 S 

Because it runs 30 World Clinic registrations. Full registrations to any coach under the age of 30 who's never been to a world clinic before, and the whole idea here is that we want to bring in these young 20-something coaches who have no idea what kind of community that they are walking into. There's a great community and the coach or some coach profession. 

00:18:59  

An experience like World Clinic really opens your eyes to all that's out there, all the people that want to support you, the networks you can build, and the resources that are available to you. So we really make a huge investment to bring in those young coaches and hope that they will, you know, their future and that they will tap into the community and become our future leaders. 

00:19:20 Renata 

Yeah, I think the other side of it too, and you kind of addressed this at the past World Clinic in Dallas because a lot of your talks were on leadership. Is that the world of sports has changed quite a bit, it is, it is now elevated more into a business than it ever has before or club sports. I guess I should say. 

00:19:42  

And I think that you know, putting the board aside and their responsibilities of ensuring that they pay well have great benefits. Those kinds of things and they lead. So I'm going to put that aside because we're only talking about coaches.  

00:19:58  

But the other side of it is workers today know they want to be valued in order to provide value and no longer can coaches just wing it as far as leading staff, and I think you know, one of the areas that we work really hard and why you and I, you know, ASCA and Your Sports Resource started to work together is to bring in those leadership practices. 

00:20:20 

To listen, if you are responsible for staff, you have to learn to lead and invest in your staff and I think that's like the biggest gap of what's missing in the coach space of, you know. It's strange to me that there's, maybe it's not strange, 

00:20:37  

But I think that people are still kind of stuck in that old, old mindset of, well, you just learn how to lead and do by osmosis instead of investing in the actual staff and you know, I know when I first started this endeavor about whatever, four years ago. 

00:20:56  

There were several coaches that would tell me, oh, it's too corporate. And how is it corporate to make sure that all of your staff understand how they should be leading their kids? How to design practices, how to have great relationships with their parents and with each other, building that great culture?  

00:21:22  

And like when we start talking and moving in that direction of your leadership is really key. It's not all about what you learn in the technical space. Unfortunately, if you lead others, you have to have the technical side and you have to have the human side and you have to be able to lead individuals.  

00:21:35  

I think that the more we can get head coaches and clubs to consider their culture and their leadership practices, I think that too will also help keep coaches in the profession. 

00:21:45  

Because they'll feel valued, again, not sidestepping pay, pay, and benefits is a big piece of it, you know. But I think from a leadership perspective when coaches are coming through the ranks, you know and they know that their boss cares about them as an individual and how they're building their expertise. 

00:22:08  

And are allowed to make mistakes and correct those mistakes and are doing those types of activities. I think that will also kind of really help people stay in the arena. So I'm hoping that we can do a little bit more on the leadership stuff, and work together on that because I really would like to see the leadership practices for these guys and women.  

00:22:34  

You know, a lot of these Head coaches are not just head coaches anymore? They're CEO. But they don’t understand they have that title, but they don't understand what that means by driving programs and building revenue and all that. They only have their limited expertise. So, I think that the more we can invest in their leadership practices, the better we will be on all scales of where our coaches are, whether they're just starting or have been in the industry for a while. 

00:23:01 Jennifer 

Yeah, you're so right. I mean, so many coaches got to that head coach position because they were such good coaches and now they have all these additional responsibilities about running the organization. And like you said, like the bore sometimes feels like it's just osmosis. You're gonna learn how to do that. I mean, that happens in every industry, right? 

00:23:21  

Like you get put into a managerial role and you have no managerial skills. And I feel like, yeah, we just have to acknowledge that and get the training. It's, you know, there's training, that's what you do. That's what we do. Like we work together to do and you know, you're right.  

00:23:38  

If we can just get to more coaches. But of course, they feel like, I don't have time for that place all weekend. 

00:23:42 Renata 

Yeah, that is a big factor. 

00:23:46 Jennifer 

And, you know 14 hours a day. That's the other thing that I really want to work on is what is the norm for a coach. Because it's really not sustainable. We burn coaches out by just the nature of the job as what is considered the norm. You know, being at morning workouts at 5:00 AM and then being at the pool till 8:00 at night and then having all weekend long. 

00:24:08  

And then you know it's not sustainable and it's not a healthy lifestyle and that's another contributing factor. You know why coaches want to leave. And then the pay and benefits in many cases, it's not the standard to provide a retirement plan and benefits and medical benefits and high pay and we need to keep pushing to make that the standard. 

00:24:27 Renata 

Yeah. I think the clubs have got to get out of that. I think an area for advocacy is that whole how much time they spend. I can't tell you how many times boards are like, they only work a few hours, they don't work my schedule and I'm like, wait a minute. Yeah. Wait a minute. But just between being on deck and administrative duties for a full-time employee, they're working almost 38 hours a week.  

00:25:00  

When you add in just regular. A meet a month, right? Not including multiple meets and not including championship meets where you're on deck even longer. And so they work way over 40 hours a week. Even if you average it out. 

00:25:28  

What clubs need to understand or you know, club leadership if you're a board-run club is that they are also with other children during prime family time, so they are coaching morning practice and missing breakfast with their own kids. They're missing dinner with their own family so they can be with other family members.  

00:25:38  

And yes, they've chosen this profession and that's how it's always been and you know. Weekends away. That's part of the profession. But that doesn't mean that Club leadership should ignore that. They have to understand that they give up a lot of their own personal time in order to or personal time with their family in order to do their job, and they really should take that into consideration and be more appreciative of that instead of just saying, Oh well, they don't work as many hours as I do. I beg that therefore, I bet if we actually did a side-by-side. 

00:26:13 Jennifer 

Ohh absolutely and I thought that's the reason. But on another topic, I feel like that's a very big contributing reason to why females don't rise up as much in the coaching profession. 

00:26:26  

It's interesting because I think the statistic is slightly over 50% of coaches in USA Swimming are female, but if you go out onto a deck at a championship national championship like juniors or U.S. Open or any, you know higher level need of senior national swimming. 

00:26:47  

You're going to find 10, 20% or female on the decks like it, and there's a huge drop-off. 

00:26:54  

And I feel like, you know, we're missing so much in our sport by having a lifestyle that doesn't support women getting to those levels like we're missing out. We have some great female coaches. There's so much that female coaches can contribute and to have the lifestyle. 

00:27:12  

And divert them from getting to that level. It's a loss for all of us. So we've got to figure out that problem as well. And we're working on it. So that's something that's coming in, by the way. We've done workshops, we call them lead-her-ship workshops at some of our clinics over the past couple of years.  

00:27:28  

But we’re really trying to brainstorm about scaling up and figuring out how we can really address those issues. I just talked about how we can help women network more and help each other and actually later today, excuse me, later today we're having our second brainstorming session with female coaches. Anyone who wants to join, we put it out to our membership. 

00:27:50  

And we're coming up with some really good ideas that I'm really excited about that we're going to try to implement in the coming year. 

00:27:55 Renata 

I hope you are also going to advocate to USA Swimming to choose more women coaches at that higher level to go to those national meets because I think some of the representation is not also a choice, either right? 

00:28:11  

I don't think it always just sits with the women. I think there's some great women across this country that are coaches who just don't get selected. So for whatever those national meets are so. 

00:28:23  

Alright, in addition to the Women's Program, what do you have upcoming in 2024 that you're really excited about? 

00:28:31 Jennifer 

Well, we are doing more courses, so there's more courses on a variety of subjects coming out. So, the online courses as well as some in-person like we're just doing planning age group workouts or practices, Dan Mascolo was going to be delivering that in person. We do have that online with Chad Onken. 

00:28:56  

We're trying to do a lot more for the age group coaches because we know how much they are starving for more, you know, professional development and education. So doing a lot in that area, we also are expanding our international clinics greatly just this last week, we had coaches presenting ASCA certifications in Indonesia and Dubai. 

00:29:15  

So that was exciting, huge conferences like hundreds of coaches at each one of them, which is exciting to have that international player. We're also getting ready to do some stuff at the Olympic trials. So, in Indianapolis we will be offering some coach education in between prelims and finals, so coaches who are probably not going to be the coaches so much that have athletes there. But I know a lot of coaches go and visit and watch the Olympic trials. And so our coaches in the area will have a few hours of education in between prelims and finals make the most of your time there and have some socials too, and it's a big event in the Community as we all know. So we'll be there in full force. 

 
00:29:56 Renata 

Yeah. Awesome. Wonderful. That's great. All right any last thoughts for the listeners? 

00:30:03 Jennifer 

I just want to thank you for what you do for our community. I mean you are providing a resource that is so needed out there and you're building those relationships is like what I said like I feel like it's all about building the relationships and having the trust and then people, coaches can really get the help that they need and the support that they need and you're out there doing it every day and I can't thank you enough and thank you for partnering with us to reach coaches and give them that support. 

 
00:30:31 Renata 

Thanks for that and we appreciate the alignment as well. You know, it's really good to align with the organizations to make sure that we are serving the industry. 

00:30:40  

You know, we both have those personal swimming backgrounds. I love being able to give back to an industry that gave me so much in the bulk of my professional career. You know, I don't think I would have gotten this as far as I did in leadership. If I hadn't been in the sport of swimming. 

00:31:00 Jennifer 

I totally agree. I feel the same way. 

00:31:03 Renata 

I'm really appreciative of the opportunity to be able to give back, so thank you for that recognition. I really appreciate it. 

 
00:31:08 Jennifer 

Yeah, absolutely good to talk to you. 

 
00:31:10 Renata 

All right. Thanks everyone for listening. Please subscribe and review this podcast so we can reach a bigger audience and help others such as yourself. And don't forget the website www.yoursportsresource.com where you can find articles and tools as well as more info and how we can work directly. 

00:31:27  

Finally, remember common sense isn’t always a common practice. Put what you learn into action. Don't just be good, be good at it. All right, see you everybody in 2024. Thank you!