<p>Does anyone have experience with Lehigh Swim Team and coaching?</p>
<p>Yes, I am a Lehigh swimming alum. Any questions?</p>
<p>Yes. Great. What are your thoughts on Coach Herb’s coaching style? My son really liked him but has heard from some freinds that He can be really tough and maybe negative at times. What was your experience? Any other thoughts on your college swimming experience. How hard was it to carry the academic load and swim D-1?</p>
<p>Well, thank you for giving me a chance to reflect.</p>
<p>I loved Rob’s coaching style and I think he has been really successful in bringing results. Every member of my class dropped a significant amount of time from freshman to senior year. And yes, he is tough. I remember doing a simple set of 50’s pace 500. A teammate in the next lane was beating me on every 50 except when I sprinted the last one. Rob was upset with me because I was saving up and swimming at the level I was at, not where I wanted to be. Swimming on Lehigh’s team was one of the toughest things I have ever done. Rob knows how to write a good, hard practice. He knew how to mix things up between classic distance yardage, sprint work, and fun stuff with equipment. I should also add that we are a very tight-knit team socially and it was great freshman year to immediately have a social group to hang out with and eat with if you wanted to.</p>
<p>I can’t really say how hard the academic load will be with swimming for any specific person but I can at least give you some data. Our GPA averaged 3.0 over the years. I recall a 3.1 average one semester and a 2.9 another but I don’t have the numbers in front of me. The overall Lehigh average is 3.2. This is not a major difference considering the extra workload and that recruited athletes get an admissions advantage. Practices are 6-7:30 AM Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 4:15-6:30 PM Monday to Friday, and 7-9:30 AM on Saturday. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday we had an option to swim at 2 instead of 4. The weekday morning practices are usually lifting and Crossfit. If you look at our schedule online, you can see that we have about 10 meets a year. Between travel and preparation, those days are almost entirely filled with swimming. Other than some volunteering and charity events, there are no other time commitments. Rob was always very flexible about other commitments like extracurriculars, going to talks, or exams. If you couldn’t make practice he would give you the set for the day and you had to do it on your own time. Personally, I had to miss practice many times for extracurriculars but I always preferred to practice with the team than on my own. My GPA was the same in fall semester with the full swimming load as it was in spring semester, where the swim season ended after five weeks. If you learn good work habits, then you will find that after swimming and academics, you will still have ample free time. This is College Confidential, so I have to show off that I am headed to one of the best PhD. programs in my field. I still say that being a mediocre swimmer at Lehigh was my proudest accomplishment.</p>
<p>Good luck with your son’s choice and let me know if you have any more Lehigh questions.</p>