Australians are good swimmers... so how popular is swimming there? If you randomly pick someone from the street in Australia, how likely can he/she swim, or is a good swimmer?
My little curiosity :)
Most Australians are at least mediocre swimmers, but there's still a large proportion who can't. One of Australia's most successful coach of olympic swimmers can't swim himself, if thrown in he'd need someone to rescue him. Masters swimming isn't anywhere near as big here especially in lower age groups(under-50). Most kids seem to quit swimming when they finish school and then only swim socially at the beach or in backyard pools...
David
Are you serious? How did this guy end up coaching swimming whilst not being able to swim himself?
Yeah that's something I wonder about. :afraid: But at Beijing a large number of our swim team girls were ones who'd been coached by him....
David
Yeah that's something I wonder about. :afraid: But at Beijing a large number of our swim team girls were ones who'd been coached by him....
David
I'll try to find out who he is...if you don't feel it proper to mention his name here (actually if I were him I would be proud of that!). Maybe he has a degree in physics, or bioengineering... :rolleyes:
P.S. What is more puzzling is, even if he couldn't swim, having so many great swimmers around him, why didn't he learn to swim?
One of Australia's most successful coach of olympic swimmers can't swim himself, if thrown in he'd need someone to rescue him. Are you serious? How did this guy end up coaching swimming whilst not being able to swim himself?
Yeah that's something I wonder about. :afraid: But at Beijing a large number of our swim team girls were ones who'd been coached by him....
Well I have little doubt about it. I'm a triathlon coach that has never done one single race.
For me, it's the same principle as what leads a blind person to live a normal life. They compensate somewhere else. I just wonder if he ever coached at lower levels though. For sure, if you coach at a high level, it ain't a bad thing not knowing how to swim. He probably compensates with a lot of video sessions. I'm surprised that nowadays, I never see any swim coach (around where I swim) with a small camera nearby. Damn. I had to go through the pain of operating VHS with huge monitor back then. Now all they have to have is a small camera.
I bet that he uses a lot of video feed back. If the swimmer sees himself and that you can discuss whilst running the clip slowmo, that does the trick perfectly.
Yeah I guess it's a matter of knowing what good stroke looks like even if you can't do it yourself and knowing all the rest of the science of the sport. He would do well to get into the pool with us masters though, he could use it.
As for everyone else yeah I think most Australians would do well to join a masters club too.
David
Not nearly as good as Canadians.... Oh thanks for the compliment. Somehow, it's true that we're known for learning how to swim at very early age. I think that since early '70s, Canadian Red Cross, which is the body that governs swim programs across Canada, has done a tremendous job in making their program efficient, fun and accessible.
.... and none of them have swam the Reef. No one has, ...................yet.
:canada: Bah, water's too warm :D
