Phelps

Rob, Michigan Masters has not signed him up. Our LMSC has started a grant program for college swimmers either attending or graduating college swimmers for a free membership for 1 year. He would be a candidate for the program. I met Michael in 2003 at the USAS Convention in San Diego after the awards banquet where he collected both the Swimmer of the Year and Performance of the year USA swimming awards. He was signing autographs and there were several masters swimmers in a line to greet him. He asked what organization we were from and we said Masters. He replied great skit. He said someday he would like his Mom or maybe his sisters to get back into swimming if they had the time and interest. Someone asked if he would join soon and he smiled and didn't honor us with an answer. I think right now he has bigger fish to fry. Being a volunteer assistant coach, student, and swimmer plus his professional and community service priorties makes it a tough almost impossible recruit. Plus right now he is part of a super team with the new addition of "Big Ben" Michaelson to the Club Wolverine team. Just think if they could change the rules and have the workout groups that swim with the University be part of the NCAA Championship we would see Michigan as a possible favorate along with Texas too. This is just a dream to add to the rukus of the super team thread. Some of these club teams could outscore the university teams. I am looking forward to seeing how he does this weekend along with the other swimmers as well. He has become very popular here in Michigan with everything he does reported by the media. Two days ago he was written up in the Detroit Free Press sports section on the meet this weekend. Back last month when he swam exibition at both the Northwestern and Indiana meets they had the largest crowds they have had for back to back meets. The Indiana meet had 1400 swimmers and was a very close meet won by U of M. That day there was a snow strorm and people still showed up hours before the meet started. I think the team responded well to the support given by the crowd. I had a friend that was at the Mongolian Barbecue for dinner one night and in walks Phelps with the Vanderkaay brothers and the place went silent and everyone looked at him as he was being seated. The Vanderkaay's looked like his body guards. He has also been seen at other places with his coach Bob Bowman. He has said in interviews that people seem to recognize him more in Ann Arbor than in Baltimore. Another swimmer I am interested in seeing how he does this weekend is Klete Keller. Rumor has it that he gained 30 to 40 pounds after the Olympics when he took a 5 month break and he reported to training overweight and out of shape. I don't know if this is true but these guys are so young they can take the weight off easily plus he still has that VO2 max development that shouldn't make his swims that bad. If a masters swimmer did that, they would have to think about the body fat they carry at meets and in contrast to this sloppy body shape we would need to be slim and strong. Someone said that to me but I can't remember who. The one person in all of this I would like to see in masters is Bob Bowman. Just recently he has taken up running and has gotten in better shape. I know most coaches don't swim but run instead with the exception of Eddie Reese and Ron Johnson. I suppose they would have to do it when they would get the time. I know I read somewhere that Eddie gets support from the Texas team when he works out. Plus Bob could be the student/pupil and Michael the coach/mentor. Michael did give a private lesson to Matt, host of the Today Show during the Olympics and taught him how to do a flip turn and he had been been trying for years with out success.

Rob, Michigan Masters has not signed him up. Our LMSC has started a grant program for college swimmers either attending or graduating college swimmers for a free membership for 1 year. He would be a candidate for the program. I met Michael in 2003 at the USAS Convention in San Diego after the awards banquet where he collected both the Swimmer of the Year and Performance of the year USA swimming awards. He was signing autographs and there were several masters swimmers in a line to greet him. He asked what organization we were from and we said Masters. He replied great skit. He said someday he would like his Mom or maybe his sisters to get back into swimming if they had the time and interest. Someone asked if he would join soon and he smiled and didn't honor us with an answer. I think right now he has bigger fish to fry. Being a volunteer assistant coach, student, and swimmer plus his professional and community service priorties makes it a tough almost impossible recruit. Plus right now he is part of a super team with the new addition of "Big Ben" Michaelson to the Club Wolverine team. Just think if they could change the rules and have the workout groups that swim with the University be part of the NCAA Championship we would see Michigan as a possible favorate along with Texas too. This is just a dream to add to the rukus of the super team thread. Some of these club teams could outscore the university teams. I am looking forward to seeing how he does this weekend along with the other swimmers as well. He has become very popular here in Michigan with everything he does reported by the media. Two days ago he was written up in the Detroit Free Press sports section on the meet this weekend. Back last month when he swam exibition at both the Northwestern and Indiana meets they had the largest crowds they have had for back to back meets. The Indiana meet had 1400 swimmers and was a very close meet won by U of M. That day there was a snow strorm and people still showed up hours before the meet started. I think the team responded well to the support given by the crowd. I had a friend that was at the Mongolian Barbecue for dinner one night and in walks Phelps with the Vanderkaay brothers and the place went silent and everyone looked at him as he was being seated. The Vanderkaay's looked like his body guards. He has also been seen at other places with his coach Bob Bowman. He has said in interviews that people seem to recognize him more in Ann Arbor than in Baltimore. Another swimmer I am interested in seeing how he does this weekend is Klete Keller. Rumor has it that he gained 30 to 40 pounds after the Olympics when he took a 5 month break and he reported to training overweight and out of shape. I don't know if this is true but these guys are so young they can take the weight off easily plus he still has that VO2 max development that shouldn't make his swims that bad. If a masters swimmer did that, they would have to think about the body fat they carry at meets and in contrast to this sloppy body shape we would need to be slim and strong. Someone said that to me but I can't remember who. The one person in all of this I would like to see in masters is Bob Bowman. Just recently he has taken up running and has gotten in better shape. I know most coaches don't swim but run instead with the exception of Eddie Reese and Ron Johnson. I suppose they would have to do it when they would get the time. I know I read somewhere that Eddie gets support from the Texas team when he works out. Plus Bob could be the student/pupil and Michael the coach/mentor. Michael did give a private lesson to Matt, host of the Today Show during the Olympics and taught him how to do a flip turn and he had been been trying for years with out success.