Archive for March, 2010

And The Winners Are

Monday, March 15th, 2010

By David

I have enjoyed being in Auckland for the provincial championships. It’s a pure coincidence that my first holiday home after seven years away coincided with the Auckland meet. I was interested to see many of New Zealand’s best swimmers perform; and I was impressed and disappointed. I was impressed by the standard of the fastest swimmers. The good swimmers here are very good. Swimmers like Bell, Ingram, Benson, Thomas, Stanley, Hind, Snyders, Burmester, McMillan, Wiegersma, Richter and a few others would hold their own in any company. In the seven years I’ve been in the USA I’ve been to their National Championships with six swimmers. Any of Auckland’s fastest swimmers could compete there with distinction.

Previous Swimwatch articles have mentioned Melissa Ingram. The last time I saw her swim was in the World Cup meets in Moscow, Stockholm and Berlin. She was a class act then and still was this weekend in Auckland. I’m certain she could win a meet like the Olympic Games. I liked the look of Bell too. I’ve never seen him swim before but he does have that beautiful ride through the water that you see in a Peirsol or Marshall. Until this weekend I thought Soni’s stroke was unique to her. Snyder though, has a very similar stroke; a male version but similar nevertheless. Wiegersma is from New Zealand’s deep south. They breed them tough down there and Wiegersma seems to be no exception. I have seen Benson swim before. He competed against two of the guys I coach in last year’s Mare Nostrum series. He’s a good swimmer and beat the talented Faamausili Banse in Auckland to win the 50 freestyle. Another swimmer I’ve never seen before is Hind. She won the 200 freestyle in 2.00 minutes. That’s a good time; a very good time.

But it’s also a time that encapsulates the New Zealand problem. Two minutes is good, even very good – but the 200 in last week’s Texas Grand Prix was won in 1.58. So often it seems New Zealand swimmers are close, but not quite close enough. Hind is good but not quite as good as Pellegrini and even Moss struggles to match Phelps. Often the gap is quite small but it is always there. Something needs to be done to push these very good swimmers that few seconds further; that few seconds that is the difference between a good swimmer and the best in the world. From what I saw this weekend the potential is there to bridge the gap. Something or someone is needed to make sure it happens. It is no good at all being almost as good a Pellegrini or Phelps. Being better is what counts.

The other concern is depth. With the exception of one or two events – the women’s backstroke for example – there are not enough good swimmers in each event. Swimming in the USA is amazingly competitive. In every event 30 swimmers are within a meter or so of the very best. It is a healthy state of affairs; pushing the best and the others to better performances. New Zealand’s four million people can never hope to produce the number of top swimmers found in the United States. A few more however would benefit everyone.

When Loader won the 200 and 400 freestyle events at Atlanta he clearly showed everyone in New Zealand what is achievable. There were Loaders in the pool in Auckland; of that there is no doubt. It has been fun watching them perform this weekend. It will be even more fun seeing them make Perirsol, Pellegrini and Phelps the second best in the world in their event.

The Green Grass of Home

Friday, March 12th, 2010

By David

I called in to watch the opening night of the Auckland Swimming Championships today. It was my first New Zealand swim meet in eight years. There were differences. Here are some of the things I noticed.

I met Coaches Horst Miehe, Jon Winter and Paul Kent. These three run the affairs of three of Auckland’s leading clubs. They are young guys who know the swimming trade as well as anyone.

Horst began his coaching career in a small Waikato farming town. Matamata is not really the sort of place you’d expect to find fast swimmers. As a swimming location it does not fit easily with Ft. Lauderdale or Santa Clara or North Baltimore as the home of swimming champions. And yet Horst put together a team there that won numerous championships against the flash city clubs. That’s a sure sign of a good coach: someone who can produce champions from impossibly modest circumstances. Horst can do that and has done it again; this time in the City of Auckland with the Howick Pakaranga Swim Club.

Jon Winter has done the same thing. He began coaching a small club in the Hawke Bay town of Flaxmere; a town riven with social problems. The provincial (that’s State for American readers) championship team at the time was the Enterprise Swim Club. The gap between Enterprise and all the other Clubs was embarrassing and accepted as impossible to bridge. Accepted by everyone that is except Jon Winter. In four or five years Enterprise was dethroned and the Flaxmere Club assumed the title of provincial champions. Jon is now the boss of Auckland’s United team and is setting about producing another line of national champions.

Unlike Horst and Jon, Paul has always lived in the big city. He hasn’t had an easy coaching life. I suspect that’s probably because as an athlete he was known for being his own man. Independence is not the most admired quality in a swim coach – just ask Schubert or Touretski or Talbot or Swetenham. No one could question the quality of Paul’s swimming career. Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, World championships; he did them all. Best of all, he was forever going to Australia and beating their best breaststroke swimmers. He’s made it now as a coach of Auckland’s Roskill Club. And best of all I think the spark of rebellion still burns.

The future of the sport in Auckland is in good hands with these three at the controls. For too long power in Auckland swimming has been concentrated around the North Shore Club. At last there are three competent and able coaches ready to take over from a North Shore Club that is clearly beginning to falter; beginning to show signs of its age. Here at Swimwatch we have long argued that New Zealand needs a structure of strong clubs – not just an elite mesa on Auckland’s North Shore. Whether it’s good luck or good management it looks like a strong group of Clubs is about to appear. I hope a fourth or fifth club comes along soon to take on the three strong clubs run by three very good coaches. After all it would not be proper for these guys to get the North Shore disease, would it?

There’s a lot more pomp and ceremony about the Auckland championships than there used to be. Before the meet started two swimmers dutifully recited the athlete’s oath, about taking part in the spirit of sportsmanship and all that stuff. I’m not against this as an idea, but, there are two oaths of office at an Olympic or Commonwealth Games. If it’s good enough for the athletes to confirm that they are going to behave surely a representative official should recite the official’s oath of proprietary as well.

At provincial championships in New Zealand they never used to play the National Anthem. In the United States I got used to the playing of the National Anthem. It was played before every session of most swim meets. It sometimes seemed as if it was played before breakfast, lunch and dinner over there. I hate to think how many times President Obama has had to listen to that tune. And now we’re getting the same disease; before the Auckland Championships could begin we had to stand while the National Anthem was sung in Maori and, in case we missed the point, again in English. At least we haven’t got to the stage of enforcing the hand on heart gesture. In fact I was relieved to see the chap in front of me stand with his hands firmly thrust into his pockets through the entire performance. I did notice that Jon and Paul stood with their hands clasped behind their backs – as did I. It seems us coaches are rebellious, but not too rebellious.

But what about the swimming? Well I thought it was very quiet. When they were at Aqua Crest Ozzie, Skuba, Rhi and John would have won their respective events. I was told the entries were down because the Commonwealth Games Trials were only four weeks away. But it did seem strangely quiet; a long way from the days when Television New Zealand used to call me at my home in Wellington to ask if Toni Jeffs and I were coming to the Auckland Championships so they could plan on whether to send a film crew out to record the event for the Six O’clock News. Perhaps we’re all a little PC these days for that sort of thing to happen. However there is hope. The three top coaches involved certainly have the potential to produce an exciting sport again. That’s another reason they need a fourth Club to keep them honest.

And finally there is still no bloody coach’s hospitality in New Zealand. For seven years in the United States I’ve been fed like a king at every swim meet; pizza, salad, donuts, fruit, drinks and candy. The meets at Ft. Lauderdale, Lake Lytal and Plantation really stood out. But in New Zealand nothing; not even a dried up Girl Guide biscuit and a glass of water. I hoped that might have changed. I hoped John and Horst and Paul could have invited me into the Auckland Center’s hospitality room for something to eat and drink while we mulled over old times. That should definitely be on the Agenda for next year.