Bob Bowman

2001 ASCA Coach of the Year
2001 USA Swimming Coach of the Year

Coach Bowman joined the NBAC staff in 1996 and has assisted in many phases of the club’s development. Coach Bowman previously served as the Head Coach of California’s Napa Valley Swim Team where he coached 1996 Olympian Eric Wunderlich and World University Games Champion Ian Mull. He has also been the Head Coach of the Birmingham Swim League, Senior Assistant Coach of the Las Vegas Gold Swim Team and Head Age Group Coach of the Cincinnati Pepsi Marlins. Coach Bowman is an ASCA Certified Level 5 Coach. He has gained experience as an assistant to four Olympic Coaches.

At NBAC, Coach Bowman has coached Michael Phelps to a berth on the US Olympic Team in 2000., where he placed fifth in 200 Butterfly. When Michael broke the World Record in 200 Butterfly in the spring of 2001, Bob was named assistant US National Team Coach for the 2001 FINA World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan. Michael broke his own world record at that meet.

Coach Bowman's swimmers have won gold medals at the World Championships, Pan Pacific Games, the World University Games, the US National Championships and Junior Championships, the Canadian National Championships and Junior Championships and the US Olympic Festival. He has placed six swimmers on United States National Teams.

His age group swimmers have swum to more than one hundred National Age Group Rankings, including nearly fifty #1 rankings and 45 National Age Group Records. Coach Bowman has been the recipient of six National Walt Schleuter Awards presented annually by the American Swim Coaches Association to recognize excellence in the teaching of age group stroke technique. No other coach has won more of these awards in the sixteen-year existence of the program.