Swim Nova Scotia Masters Provincial Newsletter Winter 2008

hanks to Leslie Neate for another great season as our Provincial Registrar! Nova Scotia Masters is at its highest registration number for this time of the season – 363!

hanks to John Farley for keeping track of all of the Masters Records!!! Congratulations to the following Masters Swimmers who have set new records this season:

35-39 Male:

• Duane Flowers (Trojan Masters) - 50m Butterfly 27.63. 40-44 Male:

• Wade James (Trojan Masters)- 100m Freestyle 59.43, 800m Freestyle 10:12.63, 100m IM 1:08.77, 50m Butterfly 30.10.

65-69 Male: • Ralph Davis (Trojan Masters)- 100m Butterfly 1:48.13, 200m Butterfly 4:23.90, 200m

Backstroke 3:43.76.

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Swim Nova Scotia Masters Provincial Newsletter Winter 2008

John Farley (Halifax Veligiers): Masters Swimming: A Personal Recollection.

s far as I can remember the idea that adults and even seniors should and could engage and even compete in athletic events started in the 1970s. Swimming became a natural focus of this

activity as it is basically an injury-free sport other than for sore shoulders and the infamous “breaststroke knee.” I think Dartmouth, Greenwood and Truro were the first clubs to form in NS, organized by parents of club swimmers. Dalhousie Masters, the club that I joined as a 43 year old, began in 1979 when Dalhousie’s athletic centre opened and the former Acadia University swimmer Jill Leon arrived to boss us around. The club attracted a complete range of abilities and ages with a core of former varsity swimmers. I had swam competitively back in England, but rarely with a coach (we didn’t even warm up before meets in those days!!). My first experience of North American coaching came at the University of Western Ontario in 1959, and it was there that I first met Canadian Olympian breaststroker Peter Bell. He haunts me still. Today he is a 73 year old swimming out of British Columbia, who is still winning races and setting Canadian records. I still look back on those years with Jill as the best of times. I remember when 35 of us, all scared to death, attended the first national championship in Winnipeg in 1981, and to our utter astonishment came away with medals. Other than the Winnipeg team, we were the largest team there. Standards were not too high in those days and the sport had yet to attract many former elite swimmers. But with the onset of provincial, national and even world championships that has changed but I am not sure that has all been for the better. In my age group, for example, the number of swimmers has declined steadily over the years. The medal winners still appear but those who were once happy to be in the top ten no longer show-up. I don’t think the Dal club was quite the same after Jill left in 1986. Looking back I remember being much vexed by the first appearance of the triathletes who found swimming to be their weakest link. Don’t get me wrong, some of my best friends are triathletes (!), but I think their needs are incompatible with those of masters clubs. They are “one stroke charlies” who want to do nothing but long boring freestyle sets leaving back, fly and breaststrokers out in the cold. So I left the club, spent a few years with the Trojans who were then working out in the Dal pool, before finally opting for the unattached variety whereby one can swim competitively without being a member of a club. By then I had also developed insulin-dependent diabetes, which really limited the times I could swim—no more early morning pre-breakfast swims or late evening sessions. I also backed away from competitive swimming for a few years and even when I competed was not prepared to undergo the agony of the 200m breast, which I still think is the worst event of all, although I have to admit to have swum the 200 fly only once and never again—I was lactic at 75m! The golden rule of the 200 breast is that if one is not totally lactic at 150m and screaming for the end to come, one had gone out too slowly. But I kept going. I knew that diabetics must exercise and that is why I shall always be around, waiting in vain for Peter Bell to migrate to Australia. Eventually Ellen Kenchington, a former breaststroker, and I formed a two-person club, the Halifax Veligers, for a post-breakfast swim in the Dal pool. For those who don’t know, veligers are beautiful ciliated marine bivalve mollusc larvae, which tend to swim around in circles. Then we found a coach, Gary MacDonald, who had just retired after coaching the Trojan swim team for 21 years, and now our team has reached the dizzy number of seven and I am having fun again. But, unfortunately, most don’t want to compete. That means I rarely swim in local meets and I have to swim alone at the Canadian Nationals, a four day meet which take place in various locations during the Victoria or Quebec Patriots weekend in May. Some provinces, like BC, list all their swimmers, no matter what their home clubs, as members of a single BC team with handsome T-shirts, but alas, we don’t. So I always show up as an individual with my wife, Grace, in tow to keep an eye on my blood sugars, which usually go to hell and back with all the tension of the meet. I

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Swim Nova Scotia Masters Provincial Newsletter Winter 2008 have to say I become too nervous these days to enjoy them very much anymore (I am always fighting for a medal), but it works as a wonderful stimulus to keep swimming even in the dark winter months. After 30 years in the pool, I have collected some memories. In the 1982 New England Masters Championships Paul Girard sprinted to a magnificent finish in the 200m free, only to find he had only swum 150! And the rather sick time at the 1994 Worlds in Montreal when an American swimmer climbed out of the pool after swimming the 100 back and then collapsed and died. His wife then announced over the loud-speaker that he died a happy man as he had broken the national record and that she would be staying on to cheer the US team. At this some US swimmers nearby began to chant U-S-A, U-S-A!!! But above all there were the gorgeous girls from Brazil at the 1994 and 1996 worlds in Sheffield, none of whom would be seen dead in a normal swim suit let along these grotesque full body uniforms that are now the rage.

American Swimming Coaches Association World Clinic San Diego September 6-9 2007

Report

Submitted by Nigel Kemp

ith over 1700 attendees including 200 from outside the US the 36th ASCA World Clinic will be lauded as it’s most successful. There were also some 162 exhibitors at the Trade Show run in

conjunction with the Conference, which clearly demonstrated the phenomenal expanse of the business of Swimming. Former SNC CEO Harold Cliff, Event Director of the 2008 US Olympic Trials in Omaha, was amongst the vendors present. (He organized the 2007 FINA World Championships in Melbourne). The first ASCA Conference took place in 1969 and the first World Clinic in 1971 in Montreal. I had previously attended in 1970 in Palo Alto, 1971 in Montreal, 1973 in Las Vegas and 1978 in San Diego! The winning format has not changed much, just expanded. Presentations were designed to attract coaches from all levels, and genres. The Clinic was book-cased with workshops that provided opportunities for further dissemination of knowledge and certification. Organization meetings and vendor presentations also added to the comprehensive nature of the extravaganza, which totaled in excess of 100 scheduled events. No formal evaluation instruments were in evidence! As well as attending selected presentations from the choices available on Thursday and Friday, I took in the three Masters Track specific talks on Saturday afternoon, a Masters Panel Discussion on Saturday evening chaired by USMS Past President Mel Goldstein, and the Masters Coaching School Workshop on Sunday. I was also amongst the 500 who attended the ASCA Award Banquet which recognized international guests including Swim News Editor Nick Thierry who received the Media Award; Coaches of US National and Olympic teams; College Coaches of the Year; Age Group Coaches of the Year; The Peter Daland Award (Daland at 86 looked terrific); and three inductees into the ASCA Hall of Fame. Mary T Meagher and Janet Evans introduced their respective coaches in what was the emotional high of the evening. Michael Phelps’ Coach Bob Bowman received the ASCA Coach of the Year Award.

The opening keynote address was delivered by the Director of US Swimming Mark Schubert. He noted that not all swimmers make the Olympics but all have the opportunity to pursue the dream. He believes human beings need to be challenged by coaches; Swimmers who challenged in practice can realize they are better than they thought they were. Swimmers can be challenged to move to the next level via increased knowledge about technique and strategy. He considered the US to be

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Swim Nova Scotia Masters Provincial Newsletter Winter 2008 successful because of its culture of teamwork. He challenged coaches to see that each athlete leaves a swim meet feeling successful and being prepared to turn disappointment into determination.

Sprint Coach Mike Bottom delineated the components of what he referred to as “The Three-style Freestyle” namely hip-driven, shoulder-driven and body-driven. He described his team – “The Race Club” – as not the traditional back and forth (the pool) club!

Given he currently coaches seven of the top eight male 100m sprinters in the world, he was speaking from a position of strength (pun intended).

Stephan Widmer, a Swiss who coaches at the Australian Institute of Sport, talked insightfully, and in some detail, about coaching world record holders Libby Lenton and Leisel Jones. He exhorted the importance of speed through skill as a consequence of focus upon the 3 R’s of Rhythm, Range and Relaxation. He was an advocate of the development of BES – Back end speed; FES – Front end speed and TES – Top end speed.

His attention to detail was affirmed when he shared a table noting projected race splits for each five meters of prospective swims!

In the evening coaches David Marsh, David Salo, Glenn Mills and Richard Quick demonstrated drills used in the teaching of Freestyle, Back, Breast and Butterfly strokes respectively at a pool onsite. Many of these drills are available on CD at WWW.GOSWIM.TV.

Other presentations included the Doc Councilman Memorial Lecture on Coaching Excellence by Vern Gambetta; ‘Selling the Vision – Building the Team’, Don Heidary, Orienda Aquatics; ‘Commanding the Workout’, Don Heidary, Orienda Aquatics; ‘Functional Path Dryland Training’, Vern Gambetta. Hard copy outlines of these presentations will be appended to this report.

I have submitted an article, “Mega Team in a small town – What makes it work?’ describing the issues addressed by Rick Powers, Coach of Davis Aquatic Masters (DAM)—perhaps the largest masters Club in the US with some 600 swimmers—to Lindsay for possible publication on the MYMSC website, and I include this article with this report. I plan to write similarly with regard to the two other presentations by Sickie Marcikic and Kris Houchens that were part of the Masters Track at ASCA.

Saturday evening’s Masters Panel and Social event entitled “The Sky’s the Limit – Taking Your Masters Program to New Heights” saw a multitude of questions answered by a panel of Jim Montgomery, Sickie Marcikic and Kris Houchens. whilst the audience was encouraged by Chair Mel Goldstein to enjoy Sangria, salsa and chips.

Insightfully Rick Powers was also the facilitator for Sunday’s Masters Coaching School. Traditionally this workshop has used the materials available via ASCA “The Masters School – A Home Study Course” of 169 pages, which each participant was provided with. Rick Powers, however, utilized his own materials, which can be made available via pdf format. In conversation with Mel Goldstein earlier in the Exhibit Hall, he had provided me with a USMS CD entitled “Building a Successful Masters Swim Club”, a 24 page document. Each of these documents could provide a useful template for the development of an MSC specific document. I look forward to disseminating more of the content of these materials to the MSC audience.

I would like to thank the MSC Executive for affording me the opportunity of attending the ASCA World Clinic. Such attendance, periodically, is valuable in the interests of opening minds and maintaining open mindedness.

Respectfully submitted, Nigel Kemp, Leadership Chair

Swim Nova Scotia Masters Provincial Newsletter Winter 2008

Appendix:

MEGA TEAM IN A SMALL TOWN – WHAT MAKES IT WORK?

Rick Powers, Head Coach, Davis Aquatic Masters

n this article Nigel Kemp, MSC Leadership Chair, reports on one of the presentations he attended at the American Swimming Coaches Association World Clinic held in San Diego, September 6-9,

2007

Davis Aquatic Masters (DAM) is the largest USMS affiliated master’s team in the US. DAM boasts a membership of over 600 people from all ages and walks of life. DAM members

range from beginning swimmers to world champions. DAM provides a program that attracts and retains enthusiastic members and professional coaches promotes and

sponsors quality swim events and proudly provides community service. www.damfast.org/index.shtm

Rick Powers coaches a club with an annual membership of approximately 600 and an average monthly membership of 450. The number of new members each year, some 250, is reflective of the presence of the University of California at Davis with 30,000 students in a community of 80,000. The team operates out of three city recreation pools – two short courses and one long course—one of which includes a new club office, storage and dryland training facilities opened in 2006 at a cost of $280.000.

Nine one-hour coached workouts are offered each weekday (6, 7, 8, and 10, 11 am, 12, 1, 6 and 7 pm). Two-and-a-half-hour coached practices are offered on Saturdays. A maximum of 40 swimmers are accommodated at each workout in an eight-lane pool. These are further supplemented with lap swimming available for three hours on both Saturday and Sunday. Workouts go ahead every day of the year in these outdoor pools! The Club operates a priority session sign-up system whereby swimmers are assigned a priority number based upon membership longevity. This number can be maintained via payment of $2.00 per month in the event of extended absence from the area.

Sessions are conducted by the head, who spends six hours per day on deck, and is assisted by a Head Assistant Coach, who coaches 18 hours per week. They are further supported by two part-time assistants, each of whom coaches 2-3 hours per week. The club also maintains an active substitute list and provides lifeguards for the lap swims. A half-time treasurer oversees the club’s $225,000 budget, which includes health insurance for the head coach. Pool rental is currently $27.00 per hour and cannot increase any more than the four-year floating average negotiated with the City. Total payroll expenses are about $81,000. The Club has an initiation fee of $5.00 and dues of $44.00 /month, with a $5.00 discount for seniors. Fees are waived for those 80 and over! The criteria to join is the ability to swim two lengths. The Club’s major annual fundraiser is the Lake Berryessa Swim, which involves over 100 volunteers and about 1200 participants. This contributes some $19,000.00 to the team’s bank account after costs and $1500 race director stipend.

After having coached age group swimming around the world, Coach Powers described the positives of coaching Masters to include: no parents to deal with; little stress related to producing results at swim meets; friendship with swimmers; actually having swimmers who say “THANK YOU” after a practice; and the satisfaction of seeing swimmers improve. The flip side sees the coach confronted with some swimmers who believe they know more than the coach does about coaching; miss the ‘high’ of coaching dedicated swimmers at a big meet; and on a large team may see some swimmers infrequently. Consequently the importance of putting into practice masters versus age-group mindset was emphasized.

DAM is promoted not only via word of mouth but by rewarding those who bring in new members with a free T-shirt or mug. Car stickers and caps provide further promotion as do joint memberships with local fitness clubs. Flyers are also distributed in the community.

In addition to designated meets and open water swims, Powers offers a value added program that includes stroke and start clinics of about two hour duration at a cost of $3.00 per member and

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Swim Nova Scotia Masters Provincial Newsletter Winter 2008 $10.00 for a non-member. Time trials are held four or five times a year from a push off. The opportunity to become a member of “The Brute Squad ™” by completing a 1500m Freestyle, a 400m IM and 200m Butterfly in a one-workout meet provides the successful swimmer with bragging rights via a T-shirt signifying membership! Overseas trips are also a feature of the club’s program. Since 2002, DAM has traveled to Brazil, Greece, and Portugal. This year, DAM heads to the Galapagos Islands and Ecuador. At each destination they participate in a meet with their hosts.

The social aspect of the Club receives particular attention. Attendance at socials averages about 80 members. These provide swimmers from different groups, who might never otherwise see each other, the opportunity to meet. Coach-hosted card parties also follow this philosophy. Spring sees the hosting of a ‘hat’ party, a BBQ in the summer and a winter holiday (Christmas) party. Awards include Performance of the Month (outstanding individual performance) and Swimmer of the Month (team contribution).

Workout design is not driven by long-range competitive goals but in meeting the fitness goals of the majority of participants. Here the focus is upon the improvement of both efficiency and fitness. Variety is a cornerstone of workouts where predictability is avoided. Kick and drill sets are featured 4-5 times each week especially after stroke clinics. Fins are used on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and paddles, once each week. Powers uses no kickboards or pull buoys, believing kicking on the side enhances full stroke rotation. In like- fashion, breathing to both sides is encouraged. Swimmers choose between IM or backstroke sets. A timed anaerobic set is included each week. Powers provides the slower lanes with more attention and features birthday sets for further motivation and variety. His success suggests any program should not be too proud to find and adopt strategies that further enhance their mission.

Canadian Masters Swim Records Set Four Canadian Masters swim records fell at the annual Halifax Trojan Masters Long Course Swim Meet held at Centennial Pool in Halifax on Saturday. John Whalen, 60, of the Halifax Trojan Masters swam to two new marks. In the 60-64 age group 800 metres Freestyle he bettered the standing Canadian record of 11:50.38 with an 11:29.97 clockings and clipped the 1500 metres Freestyle mark of 22:17.96 with a record setting time of 22:11.30. Danny Walmsley, 60, of Shearwater established new Canadian marks in the 100 and 200 metre backstroke events. He shaved over two seconds off the 100m distance mark with a 1:17.07 performance and over four seconds off the 200 metre backstroke mark with a 2:51.36 clocking. Competitors, from the nine participating teams, were led by 15 Halifax Trojan Masters swimmers, who set a total of 36 new Provincial records.

Provincials- Saturday April 5th Dartmouth Sportsplex

The Canadian Masters Nationals are in Quebec this year on the Victoria day weekend. Registration opened February 1st- meet details are posted on the Mymsc website.

Swim Nova Scotia Masters Provincial Newsletter Winter 2008

wim Nova Scotia and the Nova Scotia Lifeguard Service will be hosting two Open Water Swim Events this summer.

The first one will take place on Monday July 7th (1, 2, 5 & 10km) at Kearney Lake in Halifax. The second one will take place on August 9th (1, 2 & 5km). Registration information will be available at www.swimnovascotia.com

f you have a suggestion for future newsletters, please email Alanna Mason a_mason@ns.sympatico.ca with your ideas and we’ll be sure to include them in future issues!

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