water spitting

Question
George, my daughters are 9 & 7 and doing squad training, their instructor has just taken to spitting water at all of them (about 6 kids) in their faces and encouraging them to spit water back. I took issue with this for hygiene reasons and he assured me that all top level swimmers are very capable of spitting water long distances (just doesn't sound right to me) and that the chlorine would kill any germs (found research to contradict this). What is your opinion? Have you ever heard any thing like this?

Answer
First of all, I have never heard of training for distance spitting.  Yes, swimmers do spit water, but usually thats so they don't have to swallow the water that gets in their mouth and they don't intentionally spit at others.  Yes they can spit long distances, but that has nothing to do with any type of training.  It was a good thing for you to take issue with, it's definitly not very hygienic and doesn't make a lot of sense.
I would say to stand your ground,explain your reasoning to your daughters so they don't think you are "a terrible parent" for getting on their instructer for something they will probably think is silly.
Hope this helps,
George