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World Clinic 2005 – Fort Lauderdale, FL

September 6-11, 2005

March 2, 2005

Hello Coaches!

This is another short email to communicate to you some more reasons to attend the ASCA World Clinic September 6-11 in Fort Lauderdale, FL. Hope you are all busy and happy preparing for your short course championship meets, and best of luck to everyone for fast swimming.

I’d like to highlight a “different” part of the program in this email. That’s the “Swimming Business” track. It’s just three presentations long, but I think it’s a good one.

First will be Coach Mick Nelson and John McIlhargy of USA Swimming’s facility office discussing how you can either build your own pool, or work with your community to build a new swimming complex to fulfill all the community’s needs. Mick built and owned and operated his own facility in a little place called Danville, Illinois for decades and “if you can do it in Danville, it can be done anywhere.” John is one of the finest experts in the USA on finding money and influence to get big pools built in communities. These guys are so busy in the USA-Swimming office responding to inquiries that it is amazing. You’ll get a lot from their talk if you are even thinking about building a pool to solve your facility issues.

Next, I’m going to do a rare speaking engagement at the ASCA Clinic! President Chuck Warner and I have discussed for a couple of years that it’s time once again for a “get a job, keep a job, prosper in a job” talk, so that is what I am doing at this clinic. Regardless of whether you are seeking your first job, or your 20^th job, whether you are totally happy with your present job or need some new ideas to “juice it up”, whether you consider your employment situation to be ideal, or well less than ideal, I can promise you that you will walk away from this talk with some thought provoking things you can use, TOMORROW!

Finally, Coach Bill Schalz of the Academy Bullets in Illinois, is a prototypical “Coach owned program” and Bill will share with you what he does, how he does it, and the rewards and challenges he faces every day. Bill has a very practical and useful business that allows him to focus on excellence, make a living and be a significant part of his local community and the national swimming community. We can each learn from that!

Well, that’s it for this month. Come to Fort Lauderdale, we’ll have a great time on the beach and in the classroom. Bring the family and get a bit of sun and fun time for them as well.

Here’s the link to register: https://www.swimmingcoach.org/worldclinic/ASCA2005/registration.htm or click here>>>

Swim Fast this month!

Best Regards,

  John Leonard

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February 2, 2005

Wow! It doesn’t get much more special than this!

ASCA World Clinic, September 6-11, Fort Lauderdale.

We have just confirmed that two great coaches will join us for special schools at the World Clinic on September  6-7!

Coach PAUL BERGEN will teach the Dryland Training School on Tuesday Afternoon, September 6, and Coach BOB BOWMAN will teach the Level 3 Physiology of Training School all day on Wednesday, September 7!

This is “Can’t miss stuff!”

Coach Paul Bergen has produced world class swimmers in the last five decades and his most famous world record holders include Tracy Caulkins and more recently, Inge de Bruijn of the Netherlands. Long one of our most Innovative coaches, Coach Bergen is famous for his dryland training regimens, for both developing athletes and senior swimmers. Ask anyone who knows him; this is one you don’t want to miss!

Coach Bob Bowman, for those who have been on vacation for the past few years, is the new head coach of the University of Michigan and is the long-time coach of the phenomenal Michael Phelps, now training with him at Michigan. Bob has spent his time coaching with the best, including Coach Paul Bergen and Murray Stephens and is well known for the quality of his long term planning of training.

The Dryland Training school is an investment of  $40.00

The Level 3 Physiology school is an investment of $60.00

Both classes will have some restriction on size, due to the capacity of the speaking rooms, so we urge you to register early on-line for these events.

Register NOW >>> http://www.swimmingcoach.org/worldclinic/ASCA2005/registration.htm

Best Regards, 

John Leonard

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January 24, 2005

AMERICAN SWIMMING COACHES ASSOCIATION ANNUAL WORLD CLINIC!

September  6-11, 2005, Marriott Harbor Beach, Fort Lauderdale Florida
Don’t miss it! To register click here>>

This is the 2^nd in our series to bring you information on who is speaking, about what, and why! And why you should not miss  this year’s world clinic.

We highlight two speakers at opposite ends of their coaching careers today…. Olympic Head Coach Eddie Reese of the University of Texas and Coach Michael Brooks, Head Age Group Coach at Brophy East Swim Team in Phoenix, Arizona.

Anyone who knows Coach Reese knows that he is one of the historical giants in our sport. We don’t need to use the stats on Eddie’s NCAA Championships, Olympic Medalists, nor World Record Holders to talk about Eddie. What is more important is that this is one of the most beloved individuals in the history of our sport. Those athletes who have swum for Coach Reese revere him, revere his contributions to their lives and tell stories about Eddie, and about stories that Eddie told them…he is one of the great story-tellers of our profession. He is well known for plucking relatively unknown swimmers from obscure places and making them into world class swimmers and great team members for both his University of Texas Longhorns and for the USA. Many have wondered over the years what Coach Reese “sees” in athletes that other coaches miss. He has taken great athletes and made them better, and taken modest athletes and made them great. His talks almost never will be about how many 100’s on what interval, but will almost always be about how we improve individuals, how we improve our teams and our nation. Each talk he has done, contains gems of information that you can take home to help shape your coaching philosophy. He is one of our most famous, most revered coaches. Don’t miss his presentation in Fort Lauderdale.

At the other end of the spectrum, experience wise, is Michael Brooks. He spent 5 years as a head site coach for the famous North Baltimore Aquatic Club, coaching all levels of athlete from novice to nationals. He currently is coaching at the Brophy East Swim Team in Phoenix as the Head Age Group Coach and he sees himself primarily as a teacher. His job is to teach his athletes the steps to elite level performance. His three goals are to make his athletes superhumanly fit, surpassingly beautiful in the water (he can’t abide ugly swimming) and to teach them to think like champions. He has been successful at all three. Coach Brooks is going to teach the Level 2 Stroke School for the very first time. He is a fantastic student of the history and present of our sport, and I am certain he will provide attendees at the Stroke School with both historical stroke perspective, and ideas on creating those beautiful strokes we all look for in our age group swimmers. I believe Michael is a rising American coaching star…. as such, I also rate him as a “don’t miss” clinic performance…. I can promise you that you will come away with something new.

That’s it for today! In a few weeks, we’ll tell you a bit more about who is coming to speak at the clinic. Please register early, save yourself some money and plan a great clinic/vacation for yourself in south Florida.

Best Regards, 

John Leonard

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December 21, 2004

Hello Coach!

I hope this note finds you ready to celebrate a great holiday season!

This year, I want to spend some substantial time providing you with the list of speakers for the ASCA World Clinic and why you should come hear them speak. And I want to do it in a way that is not just another recitation of their resumes, but instead, a bit of “thought process” as to why I invited them to come present to you, at the clinic.

I will lead off with Coach Bill Sweetenham of Great Britain. As many of you know, Coach Bill is originally an Australian. He’s coached many of the last quarter century’s great distance swimmers, then went on to head the Australian Institute of Sport Program and became Australian “Youth Coach” and worked to develop the team that represented Australia in Athens. He also spent a stint in Hong Kong learning how the other half lives, coaching little talent for lots of money, and making his family financially secure.

Bill is perhaps one of the best developers of talent in the world today, both coaches and athletes. He is highly structured, very thorough, and extremely demanding. He took on the Great Britain job when that nation was as far down as it can be, and has rebuilt their international athlete program. They had a great World Champs in 2003, then a good, but not great Olympic games in 2004. Now, Bill is back on deck himself, doing some of the coaching and “coaching the coaches” of GB. He has spoken at our ASCA Clinic many times. Each presentation gives us new ideas to think about. Bill is the first one to tell you that not everything he thinks of, works, but there is no lack of new ideas on how to improve performance, improve mind-set, and improve focus on how to bring about the best from each athlete.

Bill will select his topics in summer of 2005, and his presentations (2) are one of the great reasons to not miss the World Clinic of 2005.

Our other “Featured Speaker” today is at the opposite end of the high level coaching spectrum. Coach Ray Benecki of the FISH swim team in Virginia is basically an age group coach producing outstanding young swimmers. The best known of his swimmers is Katie Ziegler, who recently set a new national age group record of 15:47.20 in the 1650. She finaled a PR’d at the Olympic Trials last year in 4:11.85 and 8:30.91 (4^th). Not bad for a 16 year old. Ray also has recently coached, during her developmental years, another young USA Olympian who was successful in the 200 and 400 IM for another club. Ray is one of the most eloquent age group coaches in the USA on the developmental process for stroke development of young swimmers, and we are pleased to have him as a first time speaker at the World Clinic in 2005.

Every few weeks, we’ll bring you an update on more of the speakers that we’ll feature in Fort Lauderdale. The Hotel is right on the beach, Fort Lauderdale is always fun, and the Clinic will be great. By going on-line to our website now, you’ll save substantial dollars in registration fees (click here>>  or go to http://www.swimmingcoach.org/worldclinic/ASCA2005/registration.htm .)

Happy Holidays! 

John Leonard  

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