Commentary by Jack Simon
IPOH, Malaysia, October 13. I watched the recent World Championships with a mixture of pride and sadness. Here in Malaysia we had fantastic TV coverage of the competition, so I got to see most of the prelim's and all of the final swims. The pride I felt was not so much those fellow American's on the podium, but more when the camera showed all our athletes with hand on heart, facing our flag and singing our national anthem. I think that would be wonderful if all coaches could learn from that.
Two countries, in my opinion, did not swim well, and both should have. I speak of the United States and China. China, the host, really should have performed at a much higher level, but with exception of a few swimmers, they swam poorly.
Obviously Sun Yang was the exception, a very talented young man who is NOT training in China. Why did they not perform is a question of much debate, but I can guarantee you that performance would not have happened at the China Games. Having coached in China, I can most certainly go on, but the point of this article is not China, but the United States.
In 1976 in Montreal, we swept the medals of many of the men's events. In Shanghai, we fought to have finalists in both men and women. When the U.S. cannot put two swimmers in the finals, in my opinion we have a problem, and it is that problem that I wish to address.
I've lived outside the U.S. now for the past 11 years. First, coaching in Mexico and then into retirement in Malaysia with coaching stints in Singapore and China. When you are away from the daily coaching grind in the U.S., you most certainly see things from a different perspective. I remember that at one stage many years ago United States Swimming did something that I thought was very creative. Paul Bergen, Dennis Pursley and I were all coaching in Canada. United States Swimming asked us to come do a panel in front of all the ‘elite' coaches in the United States (I believe that was in Colorado Springs, but not sure). All three of us gave recommendations (in our opinion) that could have resulted in positive changes to swimming in the United States. To the best of my memory, nothing changed. The important thing was we saw things differently as we were "outside the box."
At the most recent ASCA clinic, National Team Director Frank Busch, and Head Olympic Coaches Teri McKeever and Gregg Troy all gave excellent speeches. The overriding message was we need to be better. Gregg Troy's talk was the one that resonated most with me. At the same clinic, those present heard a young coach by the name of Todd Schmitz, who coaches in a relatively small town outside of Denver, Colorado, yet is consistent in his production of high level swimmers. While I would not give Todd's speech an A for content, I most certainly would give him A+++ for enthusiasm. It is that enthusiasm that he brings to his athletes, and that combined with intelligent work, motivation and not compromising his values, is the reason he is successful.
Looking at my past I remember some pretty good days with Brevard Swim Club in Florida, Santa Barbara Swim Club in California and West Chester/Foxcatcher in Pennsylvania. In Florida at the time we had myself, Randy Reese, Jack Nelson, Bill Diaz, Charlie Hodgson, Sam Griner, Gregg Troy, John Rangely, Skip Foster, and Tom Lamar all coaching with one thing in mind – WIN! When we heard that one of the coaches was doing something special, we all went to work to do that thing even better. The result was fantastic swimming from the state of Florida at the national and international level. Onto Santa Barbara where in Southern California alone we had Mark Schubert, Jon Urbanchek and Dick Jochums all with the same intent as those of us in Florida. Along with that, Skip Kenney, then head coach of the Cincinnati Marlins, would send me his hardest workouts and I would do the same. The athletes hated us, but the results were spectacular. We as coaches all tried to outdo each other.
At West Chester/Foxcatcher in the Middle Atlantic, Dick Shoulberg, Hugh Merkle, George Breen, Frank Keefe, Bob Matson. Same thing: Let's kick each other's butt. We did and again, the results proved it. At that time Middle Atlantic had by far the fastest high school boys and girls in the country. In 1983 while using the Foxcatcher pool, I decided we needed something different. I got on the phone and called Murray Stephens, Hugh Merkel, Bob Matson, Dick Shoulberg, Frank McElroy and perhaps a few others and asked them to bring their best athletes over to Foxcatcher's 50-meter pool for a series of weekend training sessions in April and May (most of those coaches did not have access to long course pools at that time of the year.) We trained Saturday morning, then had some type of a lecture on nutrition, motivation, relaxation, etc., lunch and then back in the water for an afternoon torture. On some weekends, we housed those who lived too far away so that they could come back with another session on Sunday morning. All the coaches worked with groups (breaststrokers, IM, flyers, distance, etc.) and all worked with athletes from other teams. No egos, just great coaching and the results were mind-boggling. When the first LC meet came around – if my memory serves me right – there were more than 40 national cuts made all without rest.
One of the great quotes, and one that I use in every clinic I give, was made during a speech that Dennis Cotterell gave and one that fits this article. He is also now coach of World Record holder Sun Yang.
"You can never be unfair, you must be consistent and honest; you must admit your mistakes. The whole game is about honesty; you cannot cheat; you cannot cut corners in either coaching or swimming."
I can go on and tell you even more stories about coaching in the 60's, 70's and 80's, but the point is, we had hundreds of coaches throughout the U.S. all trying to put kids into national finals as well as onto U.S. international teams.
I'll have to admit that being outside the country has one disadvantage: I am not seeing exactly what is happening on the deck throughout the U.S. However, what I do see is the result, and that is what worries me and I think worries many of the top-level coaches in the country.
In San Diego, my first ASCA clinic in four years, I witnessed something that I hope is not becoming endemic. Many coaches sleeping during talks; very few coaches attending the business meeting of THEIR professional organization; and even worse, a large percentage not attending the awards banquet. The latter tells me we have a serious problem when coaches are not motivated enough to see their peers awarded.
Coaches in the U.S. must get back to challenging each other to be better than they currently are. They must stop compromising with boards of directors just to keep their job; they must stop compromising with athletes who don't wish to train at a higher level. Create an elite training group that has contracted with you to not miss practice and to train hard on a consistent basis and hold them accountable. Needless to say, that necessitates a lot of communication with boards, parents, as well as the athletes. Set uncompromising goals for your organization and work to achieve those. Stop complaining and making excuses about lack of facility and work with what you have. Being afraid to ask another coach for advice or even to work with one of your athletes on a particular stroke problem might serve your ego, but not the athlete. We, the coaches of the United States of America, should be family, not a group of fragmented egotists doing their own thing for their own program. Share, communicate, challenge and with that we will have several hundred Todd Schmitz and we will regain the podium success of years past.
During my career I had the privilege of founding five different local (LSC) coaches associations. The first was at the very beginning of my career in San Diego way back in 1959. Even then I realized the importance of communication amongst coaches. We met once a month and in each meeting discussed at least one aspect of the sport. It could have been scheduling, or butterfly, etc. After the meeting, we adjourned to a local pub and continued our discussions. The great thing about those coaching associations was we, the coaches, led swimming in that area. From what I am led to believe, currently there are only around 10 coaches associations in the country, perhaps even less. My question to all of you is: Why we are letting volunteers, who have virtually no experience with our sport, make the decisions for supposedly professional coaches? This lack of interest from coaches carries right to the very top level of our sport where most of our leading and most productive coaches (the ones that really understand high performance) are nowhere to be seen at the United States Swimming annual convention.
United States Swimming has a program where they are sending former coaches around to various programs throughout the U.S. While I can see advantage to that, I question what the results are and who is being held accountable. Are those former coaches challenging club coaches and boards of directors to be better and if so, how are they doing it? What is the follow up, what is the accountability?
We are on a tight leash in terms of the future of our sport and dominance within. Europe, the U.K., Australia, Japan, and most significantly China are not looking at excuses, they are looking at results. If China would tweak their system ever so slightly, they would dominate not only swimming, but all sports. The talent levels within the country are overwhelming, but do they have the system to beat the U.S.? The answer to that is both yes and no. Their bureaucracy is extreme and very slow to change, but I wonder if ours is becoming the same! We have the swimming and coaching talent within the U.S. to maintain dominance, but only if the leadership and coaches do not become part of the weakening fabric of our country. Great leaders innovate constantly and that alone is the reason why they are great leaders. We must get outside the box!
I would close this commentary with a remembrance. The world lost one of the greatest visionaries in history. Steve Jobs will be remembered by people throughout the world. His products from Apple have touched most of us and he created a company which in the near future will have a market cap of around $500 billion. However, the one thing that I hope will resonate with all of you was Steve Jobs' uncompromising search for excellence. If you have not heard his 2005 Stanford commencement speech, I would suggest you watch it:
The intent of this article is not to belittle coaches. The intent is to get you thinking about ways you can be a better coach, a better and more productive leader and produce athletes at the highest levels possible. My three C's—Be CONSISTENT in CHALLENGING and creating CHAMPIONS! Good luck!
Jack Simon is a member of the American Swimming Coaches Association's Hall of Fame.