I showed up at my usual SCAQ swim workout Friday night, and I was having a tough time getting through the water. It was a long week and it showed in my stroke.
The coach, Rada Owens, stopped me and gave me a tip,
“Stick your thumbs out when you swim freestyle,” he said. “That creates a much better paddle, and it will allow you to push through more water.”
I tried it. I was amazed to find myself sailing across the pool, whereas before each stroke felt like pushing through molasses.
I turned to Rada, incredulous.
“How did you know that?” I asked.
“I have done lots of coaching and lots of swimming.”
How much swimming?
“I swam on the USA Olympic Team in the Sydney Olympics,” she replied.
I couldn’t believe it.
Here I was, on a recreational swim team, with a coach who competed in the 2000 Olympics.
No wonder she knew just how to fix a stroke.
I found out later that Rada also swam for Auburn University, where she was an NCAA champ and All-American numerous times.
The other SCAQ coaches are just as proficient.
Ex-Olympian Rada Owens
Clay Evans, head coach and founder, represented Canada in the Munich Olympics and won a silver medal in Montreal.
Dina S., a SCAQ swimmer who attended a workout with Mr. Evans, was shocked when she found out he had competed in the Olympics.
“It’s so crazy,” she said. “One day I was being sarcastic. I asked, what is your swimming background? “I swam in two Olympics, and I have a silver medal,” he said.
When Dina started with the club a few weeks ago, she was swimming a set of 100s (four laps of the pool) in two minutes. Under Mr. Evans’s guidance, she has cut her time down to 1:40.
“At the end of a workout recently, I was able to sprint a 100 in 1:26,” she said. “That’s faster than I’ve been in years.”
The numerous ocean swimmers who gather around David Walters, at our Santa Monica and Hermosa Beach Ocean Workouts and a couple pool workouts don’t know about Mr. Evans’s background.
He not only won a gold medal in the Beijing Olympics in the 800-meter freestyle-relay, he still is the fastest American to have ever swum the 100 free with a time of 47.33. No American beat his record in Rio.
Chris Brian, who swam in high school and played water polo in college, attended his daughter’s swim lesson with Mr. Walters and ended up taking notes himself.
“His knowledge of the timing and physics of swimming is pretty intuitive,” Mr. Brian said. “He was good at getting down to the building blocks and the psychological reasoning behind the technique.”
Mr. Brian said his daughter has since joined a swim team and he thinks the session with Mr. Walters “was a big part of that.”
“They don’t really boast about it, but you realize when they’re talking to you that they’re world class swimmers,” said Tony Grey, who has worked with all three coaches.
“It’s remarkable that so many Olympians coach for SCAQ who also pay so much attention to whether you’re a beginner or not.”
It is not just Olympians. Many other SCAQ coaches have elite swimming backgrounds that are now up on the deck giving back to the sport. Think about it, it would be like NBA players coaching a community adult basketball team. Or a Wimbledon competitor giving tennis lessons at the local park.
Come out for an Olympic experience. See www.swim.net/scaq.cfm
Ms. Artley may be contacted at news@swim.net