Table Of ContentThe
Swim Coaching
Bible
Dick Hannula
Nort Thornton
Editors
Human Kinetics
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The swim coaching bible / Dick Hannula, Nort Thornton, editors.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0-7360-3646-6
1. Swimming--Coaching. I. Hannula, Dick, 1928- II. Thornton, Nort, 1933-
GV837.65.S95 2001
797.2'1--dc21
00-054241
ISBN-10 (Print): 0-7360-3646-6
ISBN-13 (Print): 978-0-7360-3646-7
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ISBN-13 (Adobe PDF): 978-0-7360-8156-6
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THE Swim CoaCHiNg BiBlE
Dick Hannula and Nort Thornton, Editors
Endorsed by the world Swimming Coaches association
introduction
CoNTENTS
Acknowledgments vii
introduction ix
Dick Hannula and Nort Thornton
ParT i Establishing Priorities and Principles . . . . 1
Chapter 1 Believing in Belief . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Richard Quick
Chapter 2 Putting Fun Into the Swimming Experience . . . . . . . . . .9
Jean Freeman
Chapter 3 Coaching With Integrity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23
Peter Daland
ParT ii Directing a Program to its Full Potential . . 33
Chapter 4 Tailoring Your Approach to Specific Competition Levels .
35
John Leonard
Chapter 5 Administering and Marketing a Winning Program . . . .51
Jack Bauerle
Chapter 6 Developing a Successful Team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65
Skip Kenney
Chapter 7 Maximizing a Swimmer’s Talent Development . . . . . . .71
Bill Sweetenham
ParT iii Creating Effective Practice Sessions . . . . 97
Chapter 8 Long- and Short-Range Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .99
Jill Sterkel
Chapter 9 Putting Science Into Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .111
Bruce R. Mason
Chapter 10 Applying the Art of Coaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .121
Deryk Snelling
iv
introduction
ParT iV Teaching Stroke Techniques . . . . . . . . . . .133
Chapter 11 Freestyle Technique . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .135
Rick DeMont
Chapter 12 Backstroke Technique . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .151
Dick Hannula
Chapter 13 Butterfly Technique . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .163
Pablo Morales
Chapter 14 Breaststroke Technique . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .179
David Salo
Chapter 15 Starts, Turns, and Finishes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .189
John Trembley
ParT V Training for optimal Performance . . . . . 207
Chapter 16 Freestyle Sprint Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .209
Michael Bottom
Chapter 17 Freestyle Middle-Distance Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .221
Doug Frost
Chapter 18 Freestyle Distance Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .239
Dick Jochums
Chapter 19 Backstroke and Butterfly Sprint Training . . . . . . . . . . .269
Eddie Reese
Chapter 20 Backstroke and Butterfly 200-Meter Training . . . . . . .283
Bill Rose
Chapter 21 Breaststroke Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .297
Jon Urbanchek
Chapter 22 Individual Medley Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .309
Dick Shoulberg
Chapter 23 Relay Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .319
David Marsh
Chapter 24 Power Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .327
Randy Reese
Chapter 25 Preparing to Excel in Competition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .335
Don Gambril
About the Editors 349
About the contributors 350
v
introduction
aCKNowlEDgmENTS
Dick Hannula and Nort Thornton would like to acknowledge and thank
all the chapter authors of The Swim Coaching Bible for contributing their
great knowledge and experience. All of them were willing to share their
talents and to give back to the entire swimming community. Their time
and effort made this book a success.
vii
introduction
PHoTo CrEDiTS
All photos provided by contributors unless otherwise noted.
Pages 3 and 356 (Richard Quick) © David Gonzales
Pages 9 and 352 (Jean Freeman) © Eric Miller, Women’s Athletics, Uni-
versity of Minnesota Athletic Department
Pages 23 (Peter Daland) and 35 (Doc Counsilman) Courtesy of Interna-
tional Swimming Hall of Fame
Pages 51 and 350 (Jack Bauerle) Courtesy of University of Georgia Ath-
letic Department
Pages 99 and 359 (Jill Sterkel) and 269 and 357 (Eddie Reese) Courtesy
of University of Texas Athletic Department
Pages 111 and 355 (Bruce Mason, PhD) Courtesy of Australian Sports
Commission
Pages 163 and 356 (Pablo Morales) Courtesy of San Jose State University
Sports Information Office
Page 179 (David Salo) Courtesy of Dan Albano/Orange County Regis-
ter
Pages 189 and 360 (John Trembley) Courtesy of University of Tennessee
Athletic Department
Pages 209 and 350 (Michael Bottom) © Scott Greenwood
Pages 221and 352 (Doug Frost) Courtesy of World Swim Coaches As-
sociation
Pages 297 and 361 (Jon Urbanchek) Courtesy of University of Michigan
Athletic Department
Pages 319 and 355 (David Marsh) Courtesy of Auburn University Ath-
letic Department
Page 351 (Peter Daland) Courtesy of American Swim Coaches Associa-
tion
Page 358 (Dick Shoulberg) © Gabrielle Russomagno
viii
introduction
iNTroDuCTioN
Dick Hannula and Nort Thornton
What has brought the greatest change in swim coaching over the past 50
years or so? It would have to be the increase in knowledge made avail-
able through various reference sources for swim coaches.
We can remember being fascinated, as young swimmers and then as
young coaches, by what the more famous American swimming coach-
es—Bob Kiphuth of Yale, Matt Mann of Michigan, Mike Peppe of Ohio
State, and many others—had to say about swimming and training. We
would read and listen to everything we could find about the training
philosophies of the great coaches—George Haines, Peter Daland, Don
Gambril, and Doc Counsilman—and could hardly wait for Swimming
World magazine to arrive each month so we could read the “How They
Train” columns. One of us even corresponded with the great Australian
coach Forbes Carlile at his Ryde Club in Australia, in an effort to soak
up every bit of swimming knowledge possible.
Books, clinics, and magazine articles have always been great sources
for cutting-edge coaching information. In swimming, there is a great
willingness on the part of coaches to share information. Coaches in all
the leading swimming nations have the attitude that as each swimmer
gets faster the expectation level of all swimmers is raised, that in this
way all of swimming will get faster. This attitude was apparent when we
approached potential contributors to this book and asked each to write a
specific chapter. Every coach accepted on the first request. The advance-
ment of the quality of coaching was their primary consideration.
When we began to talk about the possibility of putting this book to-
gether, we were very excited at the prospect of having the top coaches
of today write a chapter on the topic that they are best known for. Each
of the coaches who contributed to this book is tremendously successful
in his or her own right; each does many things well and could easily
put out an entire book filled with knowledge gained from his or her ex-
periences. The beauty of this book is that it features an all-star cast—a
smorgasbord of superstars.
The Swim Coaching Bible is a compilation of the best written material
ix
introduction
of some of the world’s most successful swim coaches into a one-source
reference book. We have gathered the best available writing on topics
of importance to produce a work that we hope will serve as a guidepost
for swim coaches around the world as well as an invaluable source
for swimmers and parents who want to know more about competitive
swimming.
The coach-contributors were given free rein within their assigned
topics. They were free to develop that topic in whatever way they felt
necessary to attain the best results. The overlap of some of the contribu-
tors’ information was considered a necessary consequence of allowing
many coaches to share their roads to success. There is a tremendous
amount of individual and collective knowledge in this book. If you use
this book as a reference, we are certain that you will find what you are
looking for today and will revisit the book many times in the future for
information and opinions on totally different topics.
The contributors we’ve selected offer a diverse assortment of views,
experiences, and nationalities. Most of the chapter authors coach in the
United States. Three contributors—Bill Sweetenham (chapter 7), Bruce
Mason (chapter 9), and Doug Frost (chapter 17)—hail from Australia.
Deryk Snelling (chapter 10) has coaching roots in both Canada and Great
Britain.
The wisdom and experience of the contributors has been proven by the
success of their swimmers. Almost all the authors have either coached
Olympic gold medalists or have acquired gold medals themselves as
swimmers. Richard Quick, Mike Bottom, Doug Frost, and Jon Urbanchek
have coached individual Olympic champions as recently as the Sydney
Olympics.
We’ve organized The Swim Coaching Bible into five sections. Part I
establishes priorities and principles necessary for the foundation of any
swimming program. Richard Quick leads off in chapter 1 with “Believing
in Belief.” One of the most successful coaches in the world, the Stanford
University women’s coach and many time US Olympic coach gives his
distinct insight on the necessity of belief in order to succeed. We’ve
watched Richard work his coaching magic as a manager of an Olympic
team and as a Pan-Pacific assistant coach. This is a must-read chapter
for every coach and swimmer.
Jean Freeman, the women’s coach at the University of Minnesota, is
one of the most successful coaches in the Big Ten Conference. She is
well known for her ability to make the swimming experience fun and
to instill a lifelong love of the sport in her swimmers. Her philosophy
and methods are the subject of chapter 2.
x
