By Annie Grevers, Swimming World Staff Writer
Derek Howorth grew up in San Antonio, Texas and swam his way onto the legendary University of Texas swim team. He began his studies of the sport with Coach George Block at Alamo Area Aquatic Association (AAAA) in high school, then absorbed Coach Eddie Reese’s pool smarts in college.
Howorth was a six-time All-American, part of the Longhorns’ 1996 National Championship team and a semifinalist in the 200 breast and 200 IM at 1996 Olympic Trials. He hung up the goggles after his shining collegiate career, and took to the deck.
A Shift in Perspective
The Texan uprooted from his home state, armed with loads of swimming knowledge, and became a swim coach in Florida. He coached at the Florida Aquatic Swim Club where he had the honor of learning from the University of Florida’s head coach Gregg Troy.
“Fail to plan, plan to fail,” were Coach Troy’s words which have stuck with Howorth. Developing a quad plan, or a four-year plan, for each wrung of the age group ladder is the method Howorth now employs as a coach to systematically make progress at each level.
Howorth did not initially look at coaching as a process.
“At first, you want to teach the way you were just taught,” Howorth said. He was used to looking at each season under a magnifying glass, as he did as a swimmer at UT. He had to take a step back and realize these kids still had ten years left in their swimming careers. It changed the way Howorth coached.
One coaching mantra Howorth did take away from his time with the concise, dry-humored Eddie Reese is “swimming fast is fun.”
“I strive to bring that to our kids,” Howorth said. The kids he coaches now are all high school-aged and part of the Alamo Area Aquatic Association in San Antonio, Texas. Yes, the same club he grew up swimming with. Texas always lassos the natives back in.
What His Teammates Say
Jeff Commings was a world-class breaststroker one year above Howorth on the UT swim team. Commings and Howorth tackled many of the same treacherous sets.
“Derek was and still is the energizer bunny,” Commings said. “Every workout, from beginning to end, he had one gear- and it was all out.”
Howorth’s bad workouts were better than most people’s good workouts. He knew how to train because he was acclimated to the monstrous workouts he conquered in high school as part of Coach Block’s squad.
“They had a reputation for training like animals,” Commings said.
Howorth’s high energy is now injected into teaching and motivating his swimmers. His energy may have no bounds, but his quiet and calm personality balances him out, making him far from a high strung coach.
Josh Davis, 1996 and 2000 Olympian, was a freestyle star in the San Antonio area when Howorth was dominating the breast and IM events in high school.
Eventually the two San Antonio boys became teammates at UT. They trained mid-distance together and forged the sweat, blood, and tears bond that comes with enduring limit-testing workouts as a team.
“Every team he was on, as an athlete or as a coach, he made better,” Davis said. “He’s the epitome of what is great about swimming. It doesn’t matter where you’re from and when you start- if you work hard, stay humble and swim smart for a long time, good things happen.”
Good things have happened. While coaching with Cypress Fairbanks Swim Club in the Houston area, Howorth developed young phenoms Neil Caskey, Charlie Moore, and Jaime Williamson. Howorth is in his ninth year coaching with AAAA where he’s helped swimming talents like Connor Hennessy and Aaron Moran bloom, but his pride stems from the life lessons his swimmers gain from the sport of swimming.
What His Swimmers Say
Photo Courtesy: Lana Nguyen
One of Howorth’s former swimmers, Aaron Moran, is now a star freshman at the University of the Incarnate Word. Moran recently won a conference title in the 200 back and attributes much of his affection toward the sport to the lessons he learned from Coach Howorth.
“I was very excited to get the opportunity to work with him and allow him to feed me as much knowledge as possible,” Moran said of the reputed Howorth’s coming to AAAA. “He loved to emphasize technique first and then begin adjusting speed according to what distance we were training for.”
Howorth’s history as a fantastic trainer bleeds through into the practices he composes. Twice per week, he’d hand out a quality set meant to be swum at race pace, Moran said.
After the set was read “everyone’s eyes would go wide,” Moran said. “He would not pay attention to the faces my teammates and I would make in response to the intense workouts we were about to do. Instead he would remain calm and tell us what he expected us to do, as if anyone could do the darn set.”
Howarth’s reaction, or lack thereof, was oddly reassuring to Moran and his teammates.
“His expectations for my team seemed a little extreme at times, but now that I look back at all the talent he has, I know why he expected what he did,” Moran said. “He changed my perspective on swimming- I began to think less about swimming outside of the water and enjoy my life more.”
The Endless Challenge
Howorth fosters a fun environment where swimmers know their life is more than their sport.
“The pool stuff is great,” Howorth says. “But the character stuff is more important.”
He loves getting updates from his former swimmers who are applying the handwork and discipline swimming instilled in them to pursue their dreams out of the pool’s bounds.
Howarth recently had his swimmers ponder the question “When do you improve the most?” The answer the kids came up with is evidence of Howorth’s influence.
“When we’re willing to accept the endless challenge,” they said.
His swimmers are wise beyond their years. Swimming is an endless challenge, as is swim coaching. It’s coaches like Howorth that are able to have kids buy into the facts- that going fast is indeed fun and the lessons and friends garnered make this endless challenge something worth undertaking.
*Coach it Forward is a weekly column devoted to acquainting the swim world with some of the fantastic coaches in our great nation. The selection for the next featured coach is made by this week’s subject. The nomination process serves as a way for coaches to pat each other on the back and for the rest of us to learn the coaching philosophy and passions of each distinctly influential coach. Derek Howorth was nominated by the Sierra Marlins head coach Scott Shea.
My only serious criticism of Coach Howorth and this is serious….
I worry so much that he will be snatched up by a college team before my child can swim for him in the elite group.
STAY IN SAN ANTONIO!!!!!
Great interview and article.