We Need to be Better!

Gregg Troy's talk resonated the most with me, and I would give Todd Schmitz an "A+++" for his enthusiasm. Schmitz coaches outside of Denver and has produced high-level swimmers such as Missy Franklin. It is his enthusiasm that he brings to his athletes, combined with intelligent work, motivation and uncompromising values that make him a success.

Early in my career, I remember some good days with Brevard Swim Club (Fla.), Santa Barbara Swim Club (Calif.) and West Chester/Foxcatcher (Pa.).

In Florida, 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 one coach doing something special, we all worked to be even better. The result was fantastic swimming at the national and international levels.

In California, Mark Schubert, Jon Urbanchek, Don Lamont and Dick Jochums coached the same way. 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. As coaches, we all tried to outdo each other.

At West Chester/Foxcatcher, there was Dick Shoulberg, Hugh Merkle, George Breen, Frank Keefe and Bob Matson. Same thing: let's kick each other's butt. Again, the results proved it. At that time, the Middle Atlantic region had by far the fastest high school boys and girls in the country.

In 1983, while using the Foxcatcher pool, I decided we needed to do something different. I called Murray Stephens, Merkle, Matson, Shoulberg, Frank McElroy and a few others, and asked them to bring their best athletes to Foxcatcher's 50-meter pool for a series of weekend training sessions in April and May when most of those coaches did not have access to long course pools.

We trained Saturday mornings, followed by lectures on nutrition, motivation, relaxation, etc., then lunch and back in the water. All the coaches worked with various groups and with athletes from other teams. No egos—just great coaching—and the results were mind-boggling. When the first long course meet came around—if memory serves me correctly—there were more than 40 national cuts made…all without rest.

We had hundreds of coaches throughout the U.S. all trying to put kids into national finals as well as on international teams.
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Coaches in the U.S. must get back to challenging each other to be better. We must stop compromising with boards of directors just to keep our job; we must stop compromising with athletes who don't wish to train at a higher level.

We need to create an elite training group that will commit to attend every practice and train hard on a consistent basis, and we need to hold them accountable.

We should set uncompromising goals for our organization and work to achieve them. We must stop making excuses about inferior facilities, and work with what we have.