Once again, the USF sailing teams have broken into the national collegiate rankings.
The USF co-ed sailing team, coached by Timothy King, is currently ranked at No. 20 and the women’s team, coached by Allison Jolly, is ranked No. 15, according to SailingWorld.com.
The polls, which are determined by coaches’ votes, show consistency for the Bulls through the last two bi-weekly rankings. It allows the Bulls the opportunity to maintain their success through recruiting.
Jolly said this is the time of year when high school seniors and sailors all over the country are looking at schools to apply to.
And just as in any sport, recruiting is the future of a program.
“Honestly, a lot of them will just look at that top 20 list and if your name is not on there, you’re not even on their radar,” Jolly said. “They don’t even think about you.”
However, the Bulls success is not primarily due to the amount of prominent recruits entering the program each year. King and Jolly share an open program policy which allows students to join their teams, as long as they comply with the rules set in place.
The number of students participating on the water has allowed the coaches to work together, allowing the camaraderie of the team to grow with time.
The members of the women’s team are participants on the co-ed team as well. Both teams train together, giving both coaches the opportunity to put a joint plan in place.
“The students on a day-to-day basis typically communicate to (Jolly) their schedule,” King said. “Whereas, I might be taking more of a lead on designing the drills for the day, (Jolly) sort of looks at who’s going to show up in the pairings.”
Jolly and King also share a practice policy which they said may be unusual for other coaches.
“I think philosophically though, for instance, a lot teams have mandatory practices…and my philosophy is I don’t force people to come to practice,” Jolly said. “I only want them there if they want to be here, because if they’re here and they don’t want to be here, they’re going to be detracting from my practice.”
The coaches take pride in the moral victories they reach, as well the ones on the water and in the rankings.
King said he’s seen first hand how sailors can potentially lose everything from off-water issues and he’s seen those same sailors turn their lives around after lending guidance and help when needed.
“…That sort of good feeling you get from that, lasts way longer than ‘Hey, we’re 15th!’,” King said.
The Bulls are continuing to train and hoping to better their rankings before the match racing championships take place, mainly for recruiting purposes. The rankings following the championship will be the last one until the middle of February.
“If I was going to put emphases on any of the weeks or coaching polls, it’d arguable be that one, King said.
