HEAD COACH MIKE BOTTOM

Mike Bottom is in his ninth year at the University of Michigan, overseeing both the men’s and women’s swimming and diving programs since the 2012-13 season. Prior to the program’s combining, Bottom served as head coach for the men’s swimming and diving team (2008-12).

In his eight years with the men, Bottom is 70-3-1 in dual meets (43-1 in the Big Ten), with one national championship (2013), seven Big Ten championships (2009, 2011-16) and seven top-10 finishes at the NCAA Championships, including four consecutive top-five finishes from 2012-15. He is a five-time Big Ten Men’s Swimming Coach of the Year (2011-15) and was named CSCAA Swimming Coach of the Year in 2013. During his tenure, Bottom has coached the men’s swimmers to a total of eight national titles (seven individual, one relay), and has produced 88 Big Ten individual or relay titles and 35 NCAA All-Americans. Under Bottom’s guidance, a Michigan swimmer has been named Big Ten Swimmer of the Year in six of Bottom’s eight years: Tyler Clary (2009-10), Dan Madwed (2012), Connor Jaeger (2013-14) and Dylan Bosch (2015).

Bottom has over two decades of international coaching experience and has coached athletes at the last six Olympics, including a stint as assistant coach for Team USA at the 2016 Games in Rio. Several current and former student-athletes achieved their Olympic dreams under Bottom’s guidance at Michigan, including Clary (USA), Jaeger (USA), Sean Ryan (USA), Charlie Houchin (USA), Bosch (South Africa) and Miguel and Bruno Ortiz (Spain).

Top Camp FAQs

Michigan Swim Camp

The Michigan Swim Camp is designed to provide each competitive swimmer with the opportunity to improve their pursuit of excellence both in and out of the pool. It is open to any and all participants limited only by age (8 – 18) and specified number of campers. During registration, campers will select from one of two tracts depending upon their needs.

The Technique Tract is designed for individual and group instruction in fundamental and advanced stroke skills, and start and turn techniques. A daily optional training workout is available. The use of a front mount snorkel is strongly recommended. The Technique Tract is a skill acquisition curriculum, which begins with basic body balance and progresses to swimming with maximum efficiency (i.e. fewest number of strokes per length). This is the foundation of all fast swimming. Starts, turns, Gambetta dryland training, pacing, nutrition, team building, True Colors, Mindset, and mental training are part of this comprehensive curriculum. Swimmers are filmed daily and their HD video is viewed and critiqued in written form every day. Yardage in this workout varies from 3,000-4,000 yards depending upon the ability level of the swimmer. This tract is designed for: the younger swimmer (12 and under) who has a need to form excellent skill foundations; the older swimmer who is relatively new to the sport and needs to gain a higher efficiency level (yes, we have a lot of high school swimmers in this tract); and the skilled swimmer who needs a week of fine tuning without the added stress of an intense training.

The Intensive Tract challenges swimmers to embrace the importance of team, look at technique in new ways, and learn how to work smarter as well as harder in practices. Athletes will leave this camp with a new understanding of the sport and a desire to make themselves, and those around them better. This tract is designed for swimmers 12 and over who have high aspirations in competitive swimming.

• Swimmers will be broken up into training groups depending upon the workout focus.
• This camp includes 2 in water training workouts and 1 dry-land workout per day. The morning and afternoon sessions are in-water training sessions. Threshold, VO2max, lactate tolerance, and maximal speed training are part of the in water training program. The evening session will be out of water with an emphasis on core strength, body awareness and overall fitness.
• Technique video review sessions each day will provide the backbone for each workout. In addition, swimmers are individually videoed and each swimmer receives a written stroke critique upon completion of the camp.
• This tract requires that swimmers arrive in shape and training at full capacity (e.g. ~ 35,000 yds/week) as daily volume averages around 8,000 – 10,000 yards.
• A competent level of skill in all four strokes is required. It is important not to “push” younger athletes into this tract in an effort to maintain group cohesion, training volumes, and prevent injury.