Bob Bowman On Butterfly Development and Age-Group Progression in ASCA Lessons From Legends
Through its YouTube page, the American Swimming Coaches Association has made it a goal to provide its members and coaches around the country with opportunities to grow. In a video posted to the ASCA page, future Hall of Fame coach Bob Bowman, the man behind Michael Phelps’ 28 Olympic medals, takes time to discuss butterfly conditioning and age-group progression. The tips provided by Bowman are part of ASCA’s Lessons from Legends series, which is a regular feature that allows some of the biggest names in coaching to connect with their brethren in the sport.
The head coach at Arizona State University, Bowman guided Phelps to five Olympic appearances that produced 23 Olympic gold medals and was the head man for the Team USA men at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Bowman has also mentored the likes of Olympic champions Allison Schmitt, Peter Vanderkaay, Conor Dwyer and Klete Keller. Bowman has also been the head coach for the United States men at multiple World Championships.
According to ASCA: “Check out this clip from Coach Bob Bowman on a favorite butterfly conditioning set that he’s used over the years. Coach Bowman shares a few splits Michael Phelps would post and cautions age group coaches with using appropriate variations of the set. As Coaches, we’re always looking for new ideas and we love hearing about legendary training sets, but we need to use what we learn with discretion and ensure that it falls in line with the correct trajectory of development & progression.”