A Rosemead Job Posting Exposes the Biggest Gap in Vietnamese Swimming

There are injuries that do not reside in tendons or muscles, but in the way we look at things. I once read dozens of medical reports from Vietnamese swimmers and believed every problem stemmed from training load. But this week, while reading a job posting unrelated to Vietnam, I realized what we lack is not pools or funding, but people standing on the pool deck teaching eight-year-olds how to catch water.

The posting came from Rosemead Rapids, a swimming club in Rosemead, California, part of the USA Swimming system. They need a part-time assistant coach for Development Group 1 and Development Group 2 — athletes aged 10 and under. The position starts as soon as possible, with flexible hours, mostly evenings and weekends. It sounds ordinary. But reading the requirements carefully, I saw a training philosophy that Vietnamese swimming is still groping toward.

The first requirement is not results, but technique.

Rosemead Rapids states clearly: "knowledgeable on instructing technique" and "teaching and maintaining proper technique to the best of the swimmer's ability." No time standards, no medal targets, no competitive pressure for under-10s. The only professional requirement is technique.

I once thought this was obvious. But looking back at Vietnam's youth development system, I see we often confuse "training" with "competitive coaching." Eight- and nine-year-olds at many provincial teams are pushed to swim thousands of meters daily with the goal of winning medals at national youth championships. Technique is neglected because "finishing fast is enough." Then at 16 or 17, when athletes enter the acceleration phase of their careers, coaches discover that wrong catch mechanics, wrong body position, and wrong breathing patterns have been etched into the muscles as reflexes — and can no longer be corrected.

Rosemead Rapids does not make this mistake. They understand that the first 10 years of life are the "golden window" for forming technical habits. If a child learns the wrong catch at age 8, the muscles will record that error as a reflex. By age 15, when speed becomes critical, that wrong reflex becomes an irreversible burden.

The second skill they require: recognizing children who need help.

Another requirement caught my attention: "ability to recognize students who may need assistance." This is not a swimming skill requirement. This is a requirement for observation and understanding of children.

In swimming, a slow child is not always lazy. Sometimes it is fear of water, coordination disorder, poor vision, or simply a family crisis. A good coach does not just teach technique — they read the body and psychology of the child in front of them.

Vietnamese swimming lacks exactly this skill. Many young coaches are trained to be "directors" on the pool deck, not "observers" who understand what problem a child is facing. The result is athletes left behind — not because of lack of talent, but because no one noticed in time what they needed.

Team Unify and the lesson of inclusion.

Rosemead Rapids also requires candidates to have knowledge of Team Unify — a USA Swimming-affiliated organization providing adaptive swimming programs for athletes with disabilities. What does this say? The club does not just train competitive swimmers; they serve the community. Swimming is not a privilege of the able-bodied.

I once wrote about Nguyen Thi Anh Vien and thought her achievements were the pinnacle of Vietnamese swimming. But reading this job posting, I realized the true pinnacle of a swimming nation is not Olympic medals — it is a six-year-old child with disabilities still being able to learn swimming in a program designed specifically for them.

The gap between USA Swimming and Vietnamese swimming.

USA Swimming has a clear coaching certification system: Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, each with specific requirements and scope of responsibility. Rosemead Rapids states they will help candidates complete certifications if needed — but still require candidates to have a plan to achieve them. This is professional culture: no one is allowed to stand on the pool deck instructing children without training.

Vietnamese swimming has a coaching certification system, but enforcement has many gaps. At private clubs and provincial teams, many coaches still teach based on personal experience, without certification. There is no continuous supervision mechanism, no periodic retraining requirement.

Rosemead Rapids also requires "2-4 years of experience" — not too high, not too low. This is a position for someone building a coaching career, not for someone at the peak. But even at this "entry-level" position, they still demand solid technical expertise and the ability to observe children.

Lessons for Vietnamese swimming from a job posting in California.

I am not writing this to praise USA Swimming or belittle Vietnamese swimming. Every swimming nation has its own context, resources, and challenges. But there is one thing Rosemead Rapids does right that we can learn from: they place technique and the long-term development of young athletes first, never trading it for short-term results.

In Vietnam, when a nine-year-old wins a medal at a national youth championship, we celebrate. But we do not ask: does that child have sustainable technique? Will they still love swimming five years from now? Has their body been destroyed by premature training load?

Rosemead Rapids does not have answers to those questions — they only have a job posting. But in that posting, I see a philosophy Vietnamese swimming needs: before teaching children to swim fast, teach them to swim correctly. Before measuring results, measure whether the child still loves the sport.

Every injury is a story the body tries to tell us. But some stories are told very early — in the way an eight-year-old places their hands in the water for the first time. If we do not listen to that story, we will pay the price with irreversible injuries at age 20.

Rosemead Rapids is looking for a coach. They are not looking for someone who can swim fast — they are looking for someone who can teach children to swim correctly. That is what Vietnamese swimming needs to remember every time we open a youth recruitment program.