Sydney...Home of 2000 Olympics (pictured below)

The first program that I visited was McKeon Swim School (Illarwara Swim Team). The head coach Ron McKeon was ill, but his head age-group coach was who I met with (James Greathead). The night I was there the swim school was in full action. The pool was packed. There were four different groups or squads training/swimming at the same time in a 6 lane, 25m pool. Some lanes had 8-10 swimmers. Behind this pool was a teaching pool for really little kids. This water was waist deep and warmer. There just seems to be an endless supply of kids interested (or parents interested) in swimming. No matter where I was in the country, it was the same scene…tons of kids using the pool for swimming.

Some unique aspects of this program-
Bell ringing: when a swimmers graduates out of a certain learn-to-swim level, they get to walk up on this platform and ring the bell as they leave. When the bell is rung, everyone stops what they are doing and gives a round of applause. Pretty cool motivator for the kids.
Squad for 11-15 year olds not interested in competing: This group comes 1-2 times per week and gets a modestly challenging workout. Most of these swimmers would be doing nothing physical if they did not come for this swim practice. They are not pressured to swim meets nor come to more practices. They seemed to enjoy what they were doing and had positive experiences throughout the evening. I was told this group of kids would most likely be doing nothing if they did not come for the swim session.

This was also the first team that I visited that was on somewhat of a break. I am not sure they had anyone make open nationals, and so that would be a good reason to have the team take a little break. However, they were still offering morning and afternoon practices for the older kids.

The rest of the trip I spent with Sydney swimming. My first visit was probably the most memorable of the trip. Through USA connections (Kathie Wickstrand-Gahen, former Northwestern Swim Coach and now president of the International Coaching Society, contacting the CEO of ASCTA (Australian Swim Coaches and Teachers Association), Dr. Ralph Richards. Dr. Richards is a former Indiana Hoosier, who coached with Kathie at Indiana with Doc Councilman.) Through these connections, I was not only able to meet Forbes and Ursula Carlile, but spend the entire afternoon with them.  

This all began with having lunch at their house. When I got there, they both welcomed me at the front door, like I was a friend from long ago. They have lived in the same house since 1961 and… built a pool before they owned the house (they were only renting at the time!) So their home became the site of the first indoor pool in Australia and the first Carlile Swimming School. It is a 12.5 meter pool (30 degrees C) that is strictly a teaching pool. I did find out that Ursula and Forbes swim in it every morning. I got a tour of the “business”. Their house is like a museum. I saw photos and certificates and artwork on the wall that was all related to Forbes and Ursula’s 75 years of swimming. Autographed posters from Ian Thorpe, photos of Shane Gould swimming in the early 70’s with Forbes at her side, commendations from the Dutch Government for Forbes and Ursula (who coached their Olympic Team in the 60’s), and too many more to keep track lined the walls. Their house could easily be turned into a library of swimming history. I had the complete tour and history of their home pool. The pool was recently renovated about three years ago. This is one of 9 pools they use for the Carlile System of teaching swimming. They have 17,000 swimmers go through this system every week! With a staff of 300, they are the standard in Australia. The Carliles are about to purchase a chain of pools in Melbourne that will increase the numbers even more.

Over lunch of egg salad and salmon sandwiches, hot tea, grapes and cookies, we talked and exchanged stories, information and philosophies for more than 2 ½ hours. I tried to keep track of everything we talked about and everything I saw. I took some videos and scrambled down notes in my small notepad. Once 3 o’clock hit it was time to go to practice. Ursula is the head coach of the Ryde-Carlile swim club. They train at the Ryde Aquatic and Leisure Center just up the road from the Carliles. This pool was the site for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Water Polo competition. The 50 meter pool was sectioned into two 25 meter pools. Within this configuration, there was another team there and Ryde-Carlile had 5 different groups training… with 5 different coaches that Ursula oversees. The head senior coach has as many as 15 in his group. He had just a few over 19. Presently, the two older male swimmers were resting for open nationals and the rest of his squad had the afternoon practice off. From his group the others were just steps down from this level. There was a clear connection between each group. It was easy (even for an outsider) to see how one group could feed into another. This was a program that seemed really balanced. I found out there were at least other clubs within the 15 minute radius that also had the different competitive levels. Once again, no program had its hold on the market.

Through the previous mentioned connections, I was also able to get an inside look at the New South Wales Institute of Sport. This institute is housed in the Sydney Olympic Park. The director, Jim Fowlie was a former Canadian Olympic coach and present Australian Olympic coach who has just been put in charge as the lead coach or director of NSWIS swimming. Some of the state institutes, (i.e., WAIS in Perth), does not have a head coach. New South Wales swimming is fortunate. They are also benefitting from Grant Stoelwinder (Eamon Sullivan’s coach) moving from Perth to be the high performance coach here at NSWIS. Jim will oversee this program as Grant leads it. Eamon will be arriving with him and they should be doing some great things. One area that Jim wants to look at is using a flume for training. We have always used it for evaluation and measurement, but never as a method of training. In the flume a swimmer can train at a higher rate of speed than they can in any other way. This will be a valuable tool for sprinters. He is also interested in altitude training and what and how swimmers respond to altitude training. They have done studies on caffeine, creatine… again looking at the athletes who respond to these tests. They do lactate testing, biomechanical analysis, physiological analysis, comprehensive weight training (beautiful facility), a recovery center with products, fully equipped medical professional office (MDs, psychologists, nutritionists). The medical practice is house within NSWIS, but is a private organization. So, a non-athlete could come off the streets for an appointment with one of the doctors. Jim told me that they never had a problem getting an athlete in right away.  

They have several levels of athletes (and levels of supported athletes) at NSWIS. Gold, Silver and Associate are the three levels of athlete’s support. There is also an NSWIS coaches network of support for the coaches of athletes that are being supported by the institute. Some of the athletes (associate level) might get the support of NSWIS outside of the Institute. Meaning someone from NSWIS comes to their home pool to evaluate or test. They might only come to the Institute a couple of time per month. This could be a swimmer who has been identified as having a strong potential for future success at high levels of Australian and international swimming.  

The NSWIS, like the other institutes sponsor all of their Olympic sports. During my tour of the NSWIS, I also was given a guided tour from Jim of the highlights of the Olympic Park (this included the pool [see picture], the Olympic torch, Olympic Village, where the opening ceremonies were, etc.) Since Jim just came back from Beijing, he has many experiences to share. The last time he had been there was about 12 years ago, so he also gave me a view of the differences since then. It was a great experience, Jim is a very open and informative person. I think NSWIS will continue to prosper and the next Olympics should have quite a few swimmers represented by the Institute.

Off to New Zealand in the morning!

Brisbane, Queensland

Brisbane, Pro-Ama Miami Swim Club (team of Annie Williams, Australian swimming captain for the 2008 Paralympics swimming 50/100free and 100 fly and Emma Snowsill, gold medalist in the women’s triathlon, Beijing). Denis Cotterell and Raelene Ryan are the coaches. Denis has been there since he started the club in 1977. Raelene has been there since 1997. Denis has a memory like no other person. His sets are very detailed, he is very demanding and calls it like it is. He was one of the CHINESE ast. coaches at Beijing… coaching the male silver medalist in the 400 free. The facilities were awesome…Two 50-meter pools, both outdoors (one eight lanes and one 10 lanes). It seems like all the 10 lane pools start with the first lane being #0 and the last lane being #9, therefore making 10 lanes. The pools are constantly filled with swimmers, triathletes, surf swimmers (those that lifeguard at the surf, do surf races and open water swims). There are also the fitness swimmers and the recreational patrons.
The last practice I saw was a morning swim after a monsoon! It was raining so hard and so windy, I thought for sure it was a tropical storm. I arrived at the pool late, after the storm…still before 6am. When I got there, they were swimming full steam. It was a Friday morning and the “pool swimmers” (swim team people and non-surf/tri/or lifeguards) had the morning off. There were at least 20 men (looking in age of 19-29) swimming a series of 40x50’s on ascending intervals, but increasing speed. They were totally cranking it out. I come to find out that none of these men were team swimmers. They were all beach lifeguards… training because of their job. Some of their fastest 50’s were :25 (from a push, lcm). Another non-swim team person training away was Emma Snowsill (Beijing gold medalist triathlete). She has been back from Beijing for a little over a week and she was there doing the whole workout. She can run a :33 10k after the swim and bike. She was an age-group swimmer to start then moved to triathlon.
5:30-7:15am, 4:00-6:30pm, with gym work until 7:30 on Tues./Thurs. This schedule was probably the most intense of the programs I visited. If you are not feeling well, or shoulders sore, etc… go to lane 9. If you bail out of a set… there is a verbal price to pay. He doesn’t yell, he doesn’t need to. The team starts in the team room before practice… socializing hanging out. When he gets there, it is like clock-work. They know what they are supposed to do, even though he speaks quietly and says the warm-up set once. Swimmers come from all over Australia to train with Denis. One moved from Perth, others drive pretty far each day to attend practices.
Workouts were pretty amazing. I saw a 15 year old girl do a set of descending 4x150/1x400 IM three times through with the 150’s being 100fly/50back, 50 fly/100 back x 2… then repeat for back and brst for set two and three. Her 400 IM started out at 5:18 and she descended down to 4:50 (lcm, from a push). He wants all his female swimmers under :30 pulling (lcm, push). They are a different breed and will be Australian’s future Olympians. They are serious kickers. One guy did a set of free kick (no fins), 1x300 easy @5:20 followed by 1x200 FAST for a total of three times. His 200’s were between 3:01 and 3:08.
I witnessed my first Australian club meet (see photo above). It was not much different than our US club meets. However, they do make a bigger deal out of medaling. There is an awards stand with medals, etc. Kids were running around like crazy, playing sort of a hackey-sack came, wearing team face paint, and they all were in club uniforms (either parkas, dry-fit type short-sleeve collared shirts, team cap and suit). They have a “spoken” rule that they are all to be in team uniforms when at meets.
It wasn’t all hard work swimming…I was staying 100 meters from the beach, saw some really great surfers. These people always surf where there are huge rocks. I guess the rocks help sustain the best waves. Too crazy for me. I think Australia is not the best place to “learn to surf”. Therefore, I stayed on the beach.

Perth... and Western Australia

Perth…former home to Shane Gould, triple gold medalist (1972) and former world record holder in the 100 to the 1500 free, simultaneously)… oh yeah, club team (West Coast Swim Club) of Eamon Sullivan (silver medalist 2008, and former world record holder in the 100 free).
Challenge Stadium is the site for West Coast Swim Team. This facility has THREE 50 –meter pools. Two are outdoors (an 8-lane and a 10-lane), and one is indoors a 10 lane. They also have an outdoor water polo pool and an indoor diving tank. There are a total of 57, 50-meter pools in the state of Western Australia. To give you an idea of size of the state, WA (Western Australia) takes up 1/3 of the entire country. They have about 2 million people that live in the state, with 1.5 million living in Perth.
I worked with Roger Bruce. He has been an Australian Olympic coach for the Athens, Commonwealth Games, and multiple World Championships. He was the coach of Olympian Jennifer Reilly, one of Australia’s best IMer as well as his daughter Tamara who holds the record for the fastest English Channel Crossing by an Australian (male or female). He is also a member of the WAIS (Western Australia Institute of Sport) coaching panel. He has been coaching forever, but has the unique ability to still “think outside the box.” He gave me some really interesting stroke drill ideas for butterfly and breaststroke. Mel Tantrum, the head coach was in Beijing with two club swimmers competing in the Paralympics. Grant Stoelwinder, coach of Eamon Sullivan will be moving to Sydney after the Beijing Games.
Practices were 5:30-7:30am, and 4:30-6:30pm. Arriving at the pool in the morning was an amazing site. Challenge Stadium is all lit up (because it is dark at 5:30am… see picture above). You can see the steam rise up toward the lights blocks away from the Stadium. This site is also the host of “net ball”, a female professional game similar to basketball (nets with no backboard), the Western Australia Institute of Sport (more about that later), rowing, kayaking, cycling, gymnastics, hockey, water polo, diving, open water swimming, swim school (huge lesson program), Masters swimming, and triathlon training. Club Fees are pretty high: up to $235 per month for the first swimmer in the family, then $210, and $185 for the second and third family member. This feel also includes membership at the pool.
WAIS (Western Australia Institute of Sport) Program Coordinator is Simon Jones. I spent some time with Simon, getting a tour of the facility and hearing about the type of support a swimmer would receive if they were sponsored by the Institute. WAIS is housed at Challenge Stadium. According to Simon, unlike other areas in Australia, facilities are not the issue. One of the reason’s WA is not a prominent or doesn’t have as many Olympians is the structure. Money comes down from the state, and there is not enough going to the Institute. There is no “Head Coach” at the Institute, either. This is not necessarily the case in the eastern part of the country. Private coaches come in and run their programs (i.e., Mel Tantrum with West Coast). The coach to swimmer ratio is not what it should be to get swimmers to the Olympics. According to Simon, the best ratio is no more than 1:5. For coaches here, they need huge squads to make a living and then need more coaches, b/c they can’t handle all the numbers. Another issue is the learn-to -swim programs. They generate money but they are not good feeders for competitive swimming. They are not learning “competitive swimming technique”.
Presently, there are about 6 or 8 swimmers that are supported by WAIS. Type of support includes, utilizing the best boimechanist in t he country, funding to attend Nationals ($250.00), lactate testing, physio work (weights-dryland), connections to the doctors, trainers and scientists associated with the Institute. Eamon Sullivan was one of those sponsored. According to Simon he is pretty high maintenance. A typical training day for Eamon would be, morning practice ending about 7:30am, breakfast, weights (4x/week), recovery swim or stretch-out, massage, eating, sleeping, and then back for another training session. So high maintenance means a lot goes into his day to get him to go as fast as possible. Grant Stoelwinder (Eamon’s coach) and the WAIS have an underwater camera that is in the pool (water) all the time. They wheel out this cabinet to view a flat panel TV that shows what they are doing underwater at any time.
The WAIS has chambers where they can get cyclist and rowers, etc. to train in environmental conditions similar to Beijing… a heat and humidity chamber… doesn’t that sound fun? Specialists associated with WAIS include: Physician/Doctor, Physiotherapists, Massage Therapist, Sport Psychologist, Nutritionist, Exercise Physiologist, Athlete and Career Education Advisor, Biomechanist/Performance Analysis specialist, and strength and conditioning coordinator.
On the non-swimming end, saw a whale off of City Beach, Perth; seals in the Margaret River region, beautiful cliffs and awesome waves!