Junior Nationals

I think it was the August 2000 Junior National swim meet at the University of Florida that Coach Hugh was unable to attend. Prior to the meet Hugh went over the target splits for the 1500 meter freestyle with John and left instructions with one of the other coaches who would be on deck to give signals.

In the distance events the swimmer will occasionally glance at the coach while taking a breath during the swim. The coach has various hand signals that say “speed up” or “great pace”. I don’t think they would ever say “slow down”, but I am sure the gesture would be recognizable on the spot.

The stand-in coach did his duty giving signals to John from the swimming pool deck during the 1500 meter freestyle. I was sitting up in the stands writing down splits with a couple of the other coaches from the Dynamo Swim Club. John did the 1500 meter freestyle in 16:17.45, which was a top 16 time and an improvement of 31 seconds on his best time. It was a phenomenal swim.

When the stand-in coach returned to the stands and sat with the other coaches he said, “Man, that was fun! I told him to speed up, and he sped up. I told him to hold steady, and he held steady. He did everything I told him to do. That’s what coaching is supposed to be like. I wish I had swimmers like that!” I smiled. Dads love hearing praise about their kids.

John tells me now that he did the Junior Nationals 1500 in a borrowed “jammer” suit that had a hole in the butt. If you will, imagine the start of the race. If you recall the Drag Suit posting, Jean and I still hadn’t caught up on buying the proper gear, but we are not taking the blame this time.