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.