In the Interest of Accuracy We Offer the Following

And we freely admit to “knowing for certain” very few things. Thanks to Asher for helping correct us on this one.

From Wikipedia

David Berkoff
Personal information
Full name	David Charles Berkoff
Nickname(s)	"Dave"
Nationality	United States
Born	(1966-11-30) November 30, 1966 (age 47) Abington, Pennsylvania
Height	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Weight	154 lb (70 kg)
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Stroke(s)	Backstroke
Club	Bernal's Gator Swim Club
College team	Harvard University
Medal record[show] Men's swimming Competitor for the  United States Olympic Games Gold 1988 Seoul 4x100 m medley Gold 1992 Barcelona 4x100 m medley Silver 1988 Seoul 100 m backstroke Bronze 1992 Barcelona 100 m backstroke Pan American Games Silver 1987 Indianapolis 100 m backstroke Summer Universiade Gold 1987 Zagreb 4x100 m medley Silver 1987 Zagreb 100 m backstroke

David Charles Berkoff (born November 30, 1966) is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and former world record-holder. Berkoff was a backstroke specialist who won a total of four Olympic medals during his career at two different Olympic Games. He is best known for his powerful underwater start, the eponymous "Berkoff Blastoff".

At the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, he won a gold medal by swimming the backstroke leg for the winning U.S. men's team in the men's 4x100-meter medley relay. Individually, he also won a silver medal by placing second in the men's 100-meter backstroke event.

Four years later at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, Berkoff earned another gold medal by swimming for the winning U.S. team in the preliminary heats of the men's 4x100-meter medley relay. He also won a bronze medal by placing third in the 100-meter backstroke.

Berkoff was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame as an "Honor Swimmer" in 2005.

What is the Next Big Breakthrough? There may actually be more than one

It occurs to us as we watch our sport progress that most everyone now fully acknowledges that underwater dolphin kicking is extremely fast and therefore a beneficial skill to possess and refine. Upon reflection it is perplexing that it took “us” – the collective sport – the better part of 30 years to come to this realization. It is especially confounding when we all saw it with our own eyes or via the image on the TV screen.

DavidBerkoff, trained by Joe Bernal, won the 1988 Olympic 100 backstroke title dolphin kicking underwater for the overwhelming majority of both laps. There was no mistaking his prowess. We are told by Joe that in college (he went to Harvard) David kicked a 50  in a free relay underwater in the low 20 point range, maybe it was even 19 high – we cannot remember…and it – the time – doesn’t matter. What matters is that this athlete demonstrated a better (faster) way to “skin the cat”.

Now the whole world buys it. In the last decade or two several dozen athletes bought in but still the masses wouldn’t allocate the resources to acquiring this skill. What resources you may ask…simple…spend the time learning how to do it; then commit to doing it in a race.

So many coaches are preoccupied with building aerobic bases that they will not allocate the time to developing this critical skill. But wait, when you hold your breath under water for ½ a lap – every lap – you are actually building your aerobic capacity AND refining your dolphin kicking prowess…two birds with one stone; nice!

So what are coaches and swimmers going to be saying, “We need to do this” in the next 10-30 years? If you as a coach or swimmer can identify that one (or more) item(s) you will be a trend setter instead of a follower. We have been both and the former is much preferred. It gives you an edge. In the world of competition, edges make a huge difference.

We know you are out there, reading this. If you will share your thoughts, we will publish them anonymously, in hopes of stimulating a major positive breakthrough. One of the most significant positive attributes about our sport is the willingness to share. Let’s see if we can do so with this question as the cornerstone of the discussion…

What is next?

Food for Thought

We went to the ASCA World Clinic in Jacksonville and came home with many notes jotted hurriedly at the moment of inspiration. Some of these notes make more sense now after 5 plus weeks of reading and re-reading…some make less sense. Fortunately in both cases verification or clarification can be had at a rather reasonable price from the ASCA web site.

Our apologies to the sources if we misspeak; it is unintended…

Gregg Troy: there are very few things in life where if you put in less time you get improved results. We work in a delayed gratification sport, in a short term gratification world. Girls between the ages of 12 and 14 – give them everything they can handle. THE learning moment; tell them the truth at the biggest moment of disappointment – meaning at the meet. If you don’t repeat a specific workout, how can you possibly evaluate if it was good or not? Getting ready for a meet: rest either 3 days or 3 weeks – in between that, nothing good happens.

Kirk Grand: we didn’t hear the entire presentation, came in late. We will buy this talk; it may be the most important one given…”Limits to Superior Performance” – about the brain, how it functions, how it processes information. Keep the brain quiet in big spots (races). The “Last Chance” meet vs. the First Chance meet. This guy is really smart, imo.

Paul Yetter: value of hard work; praise and value attitudes over statistics; find ways to coach everyone well; what you say matters…might be better to hold your tongue.

David Marsh: win something every day, even if it is only the warmup. Use vertical kicking for rest period – i.e. 100’s on the 1:20 do vertical kicking during the rest phase. Not my “best time” (which is my “old time”) rather what’s my “next time” (goal time).

Steve Bultman from Texas A&M: when a swimmer takes their training to the next level their times will follow; it is just a matter of when.

Bill Wadley: our job is to lift them up, get them to believe they can do something they haven’t done before; ask them, “how many of you are more confident today than say 2 years ago?” We forget how far we have come. If at first you don’t succeed, try something harder.

Dave Durden: his program is senior driven – each senior has a role. Training – win the day, as in “win the travel day” - win whatever day it is. Debrief from last year. Take a fall break of 4 days…plan it, calendar it, tell everyone…plus take “4 hour vacations” now and then. Help freshman learn how to practice and how to manage a season…have patience with them.

Dave Krotiak: allow kids to grow “into” their sport. Get the athlete to understand what we want from them. Make sure your body is always moving forward in the water. Be conscious of the exhale. Start with the goal and work backward to today to figure out what needs to be done. A set of 25’s at 200 pace with specific stroke counts…Cordes was 14 high to 15.0 with two strokes after the pull through…amazing to watch.

Mike Bottom: change is critical. When we teach a life lesson under stress, the lesson tends to stick. Make decisions based on principle vs. on convenience, rules or circumstance. Honor your traditions – and we – coaches – build them; don’t let the swimmers build the traditions. Take club kids to local college meets, this helps build enthusiasm for the club programs. Need to make motivation synonymous with volition.

Bill Boomer: the 20^th century swimmers were surface warriors; in the 21^st century they are/will be sub-surface warriors.

Matt Kredich: inhaling is about survival in the moment, exhaling is about survival in the future.

George Kennedy: 90% of teams underperform. Sleep is huge – if you have 2 days with 6 to 6.5 hours of sleep you need 5 days to recover…so a really good cycle might be 2 days on and 1 day off – would take some real courage to see if that is true!

Also, some of the more valuable information got exchanged in the hallways, at lunch or dinner, ok – at the bar…our favorite was…source unnamed, “why do we seem to ask questions that we think we already know the answers to?”

Thanks to John Leonard, Guy Edson and the whole staff of ASCA for keeping this stimulating exchange moving forward. We love that our sport is so open when it comes to sharing information.

Overcoming Fear

When a swimmer stands alone on the block with a lot riding on the outcome of a race one thing that absolutely must vanish is fear. Coaches are constantly working with their athletes in all sports to assist them in putting the result out of their mind so as to free them to do what they have trained their bodies to do. If you plan on being among the best at what you do you must devise a strategy for setting fear aside.

The following comes from Ken Bokelund who is a highly accomplished rock climber. This passage is in Shattered Air by Bob Madgic. It is a true account of catastrophe and courage on Yosemite’s Half Dome.

“Climbing for me has always been the strength of the body over the weakness of the mind. If you train so that you are very strong physically and you have mastered the techniques, then all that’s left is believing. Freeing your mind of fear is the key. This is very difficult to do, but when you can achieve it, then you are in true harmony with the rock. Fear is just one more thing to worry about and is very distracting. It can make you fall.

What sometimes happens when fear enters the climber’s mind is sewing-machine leg – a leg that starts shaking out of control. It happens to all climbers at one time or another and obviously is very dangerous when one is clinging to the side of a rock. But when you know you are strong enough to complete any maneuver, once that level of physical confidence is achieved, then you are able to put fear out of your mind. Climbing becomes a very simple pleasure. It’s just you and the rock. It’s a total clarity of being, a time when nothing matters, you’re moving without any thought, you’re in a place where time stands still. Even when you’re on a wall for days, when you get down, everything seems exactly the same, as though time never passed.”

If his analysis is correct – and our recent study on the subject of flow in sports suggests it is – then our training must absolutely give us command of our physicality and technique. As coaches we can then plan our training sessions with those two twin pillars of success…get the athlete into such great shape that s/he knows the race is much easier than anything they have already done and also get their technique where it needs to be automatically under any condition.

Fear often comes from uncertainty. Work diligently to obliterate uncertainty and fear will evaporate.

See you at the next meet to witness our progress!

The Relationship between Fun, Training and Success

On our team like all others we have swimmers who are doing their best to figure out this sport. All want to swim fast and want to have fun doing it at the same time. The issue is how to get both of these things while dealing with the training and time and effort it takes to do that training.

While not professing to have the absolute answer to this, I believe that fun changes over time depending on your age. What is fun for a 6 year old in this sport is not what is deemed as fun to a teenager….and that is the way it should be.  6 year old swimmers should be all about the joys of swimming with little to do with actual training other than learning the proper skills of the sport. We are lucky to have most coaches in our sport understand this and show the patience to allow the young swimmer to develop at the proper speed. Because of this the successful 6 to 8 year old swimmer will be the one with the most natural ability (plus having some size to them also helps).

But things begin to change as kids get into their middle age group years. Suddenly it becomes more important for the swimmer to train at a certain level in order to have success. Natural ability is still a piece of the pie, but a much smaller one than when the swimmer was younger. Those swimmers that never develop a training ethic have much trouble through this transition. They liked the days of showing up and having success with little investment. Without learning that ethic they will often leave the sport prematurely.

 

On our team we do what we can to help our swimmers through this transition. Our ultimate goal is to teach them the joys of challenging themselves in their training. I believe the education of how to do that has as much value as what you can often get in a classroom as learning to stretch yourself and the work ethic it teaches can last a lifetime. The added benefit is that through their work they have a better chance for “results” (although the work itself is a big part of the success).  The reward of doing something that makes you happy even one that tests you daily keeps you coming back for more even when the results are not there.

 Intrinsic rewards…a big part of a swimmer for life!

(Another gem from the pen of Ken…)

Rust…

…never sleeps; so says Neil Young through his music on his iconic 1978 album of the same name. It is what we think of tonight, the night after our first weekend of racing since the first week in August.

If you are a guitar player, golfer, painter, carpenter, teacher, coach or competitive swimmer and you put down your Stratocaster, clubs, brushes, hammer, chalk, stopwatch or speedo for nearly two months, when you pick up the tools of your trade you will exhibit some rust.

And that is to be expected. The only way to get the rust off is to scrape it off through use.

We were a bit flabbergasted to hear some of our swimmers – who we think of as “professionals” – say things like, “yeah but I thought I would go faster…”

This proves – again – that not all folks are as wise as we would like to believe…HA!

Ask yourself…where was I a year or two ago at this point in my season?...meaning literally at the first meet of the fall. Put this experience in perspective and then see what you really see.

We – North Bay Aquatics – have been in the water 4 weeks. We have been training for 2 weeks. We have been in the weight room for 6 weeks. We have been training in that room for 4 weeks. We have rust in the pool. We have much less rust in the weight room.

If you are a swimmer…ask yourself, “Where am I in the grand scheme of things?” And then you will know what you need to do this week. Keep working on your game.

Olympic Trials begin June 26, 2016…get your game in order…keep your perspective…

Rust never sleeps…

Two Sides

We like to keep things simpler as opposed to more complex. It seems to us that nearly everything can be reduced to the proverbial “two sides of the same coin” status.

Night and day, heads or tails, up or down, yes or no, red or green, wet or dry, can or can’t, rich or poor, happy or sad…we could go on forever…maybe…but you get the idea.

We have begun talking with our team about their goals and our goals. On Saturday we told them we were going to learn more about flow and how to teach them to achieve it since we believe it is the next important discovery for success in the pool as well as in life. Fortune 500 companies actually keep track of flow in the workplace. We also told them we are going to have at least 4 swimmers in Omaha at Olympic Trials in 2016 (we had one in 2008, two in 2012). Those two goals we have for our team.

We then asked them to write down on a 3x5 card 2 or 3 goals for this fall. The next discussion with them will be about the two sides of the coin…it will go something like this…

Tell us how you are going to do it; don’t tell us why you can’t do it.

Simple; effective; useful…on a daily basis…keeps everyone accountable, coaches and swimmers…parents and administrators as well.

As our friend Dave Krotiak says, “Have an awesome day!”

As our colleague Dave Durden says, “If you are having a crummy day, have a good crummy day!”

Words to live by from both sides of the coin…

Call to Action: Your college/university needs your help…now!

We just returned from the annual American Swimming Coaches Association’s Coaching Clinic. What a fabulous gathering of people and energy. There is lots of good news and unfortunately some bad news as well.

The good news is that our coaching profession is filled with many energetic smart women and men who take great pride in their profession of creating positive and nurturing cultures for young people in which to immerse themselves as they prepare for the “rest of their life”.

The bad news is that the landscape is changing as we speak, dramatically, in a financial way. We do not pretend to know the exact details but it goes something like this.

Schools are required to pay for meals for athletes on teams. This may not seem like a big deal but when you take the number of athletes at any given school – your former college or university – and do the math it amounts to millions – yes, millions – of dollars per school. Now maybe you went to a smaller college and so it is “only” several hundreds of thousands of dollars…you get the drift here.

When you add to this the specter of paying those athletes who are in revenue generating sports – football and basketball – a yearly stipend, say $2,000 per athlete, well you can see where this is headed.

So, what can you do – now?

Pick up the phone or send an email to your school and see what the need is and how you can help contribute to the solution. Think about the swimming landscape and how it would look if there wasn’t any competitive swimming. What would those 18-22 year student/athletes do? A few “rock stars” wouldn’t be impacted too much. But the landscape would be littered with souls with broken dreams. One of the big differences between our country and the third world is that our young people have hope; hope of a better day, a better tomorrow. Without competitive swimming many of those people may become disenfranchised…a shame indeed, one of uncalculated proportions.

Make the call today, now.

Thank you…

The Need to Keep Moving Forward

Let’s pretend you are a senior in high school working to get into college, finding a swim team that works for you while also finding a place you think you’d fit in for the next 4-5 years academically and socially. It can be and sometimes is a daunting challenge.  

After all, you get advice from so many corners of your universe. Everyone thinks they have the answer to all your questions. In fact they don’t have any answers at all. All they have are their opinions which are usually framed by either their own personal experiences or by those of friends and co-workers under whose influence they live.  

Now let’s say you finally figure it all out. You find a school that seems like it will provide you with an opportunity for a good education. (Remember that nearly all schools fit this part of the bill; the rest is up to you to take advantage of this opportunity)

Best of all this school has a swim team that seems as if it will meet your needs as well. Its program seems to be in line with your aspirations. It gives you room to grow without suffocating you yet isn’t so easy that it fails to challenge you. The coaches appear to have your best interests at heart while holding you to a level of expectations that will allow you the opportunity to improve.

Sounds like you have a winner. Congratulations! Now what?

You won’t actually get in that school and on that team until about 11months from now.

We ask you to look back where you were academically, socially and athletically 11 months ago. We bet there have been numerous changes. Consider that for a moment and then think about this question: what do you plan to do with the next 11 months?

You actually have “it made” – temporarily; indeed very temporarily. The landscape is littered with numerous examples of high school seniors who thought they had “it made” once the decision was made, the offer accepted. In fact the real work now begins; and it begins in earnest tomorrow.

You have 11 months to get yourself ready for the next step. You need to get your academic house in order first and foremost. Simultaneously you need to get your athletic game to the highest possible level since when you get to your new college team the intensity will be such that you have not ever faced before.

Trust us on this point. When you take put 20-30 individuals in the pool who all have a common goal of excelling it will require every bit of your ability to keep up. As an 18 year old you will be competing with 22 year olds who want to help you improve while keeping their spot ahead of you. The dynamic is either incredibly inspiring or crushing.

You will literally either sink or swim. Same goes for the classroom. They don’t take attendance. They don’t care if you show up; pass or fail; it’s up to you.

Which is a really wonderful thing; you are now firmly, perhaps for the first time in your life, actually in charge of your own destiny. You have arrived at a wonderful place. You can thrive and actually call it your own…perhaps for the first time in your life…powerful stuff indeed!

So keep moving forward these next few months and see what is possible for you!

What We Learned

As we embark on a new training season we reflect upon what went right and what didn’t last season.

We have a fairly comprehensive list on both sides of the ledger and those lists rather accurately describe what we learned. These of course will become woven into the day to day fabric of how we approach our coaching and how our athletes approach their swimming.

What we do know is this:

A swimmer and or a coach must take responsibility for his/her actions. Failure to do so puts one in the role of victim. Victims never improve; not ever.

We all work better individually when we are united in a common purpose. The team does help hold the individual to higher standards in a very supportive nurturing way. When someone is out of touch with the group both that person and the group suffer. 

Contributors always win; takers always lose. Get rid of takers; add contributors.

It is impossible to predict the future. At the same time it is possible to predict outcomes rather accurately based upon the familiar input = output equation. More work, more attention to detail, more connection to group goals as well as individual goals = more rewards, more benefits reaped and more engaged group dynamics.

Faster does not mean better. Faster means less elapsed time. Better means a whole host of qualities some of which may be faster.

What does your list look like? What will you keep; what will you toss out?

“When the Game Stands Tall”

This is the title of a new movie about the legendary De La Salle (Concord, CA) football coach Bob Ladouceur and his remarkable success on the field and in the development of outstanding young men. The text below is from SF Chronicle Sports Editor Al Saracevic. We find it compelling as we continue our work to find ways to explain to our swimmers how teams come together and stay together; basically how a top notch team works. Enjoy…

Ladouceur's story might not have made it to the big screen if not for Warriors co-owner Peter Guber, who is also the founder and CEO of Mandalay Entertainment, the studio that made the film.

Guber knows a good story when he sees it, and the Spartans' script certainly fits that description. The movie champions the ideals of teamwork and sacrifice as the driving force behind success. And it doesn't shy away from human flaws.

"It was the aspirational concept," said Guber, at a Bay Area screening of the event this week. "It can't be a collection of stars of players. It has to be a team."

Guber sat with new Warriors head coach Steve Kerr after the movie played, discussing the elements of a successful team.

"What is the secret sauce that makes a team bond together?" Guber asked his new employee.

"It's the connection between human beings," Kerr answered.

The newly minted coach talked about meeting Guber over the summer, recalling one conversation in which the movie mogul told him to "find a way to start the engine."

"I love that line," said Kerr. "I played for two greats in Gregg Popovich and Phil Jackson. They found a way to start the engine. And that's what I've been doing this summer. Making those connections."

Change

The one thing we know about humans is that we all resist change, even if it is for the better. We are creatures of habit. As coaches and swimmers this time of year is ripe for change. The competitive season is over – for most, or soon will be…Pan Pacs!

Many are changing programs as they head off to college or perhaps on your team you are moving into a new training group. Things will be different. Our club team changes every year at this time as swimmers head off to college. Many of our swimmers will come to that first workout and what will be most noticeable is who isn’t there. Many of our faster swimmers, some of whom had leadership roles on the team will be gone. And those that move on will go to a team where they are now the newbie, the freshman…and that makes the perspective different for sure.

And the cycle goes on. As coaches we look for the new patterns to develop. It is a fun time of the year for us. We, of course, have the perspective of seeing this annual metamorphose take place, secure in the knowledge that it will all work itself out in due time. As the training begins and the patterns develop a sense of calm eventually prevails…and all is “right” in the universe again.

Except that it really isn’t.

Every swimmer, when asked, raises her/his hand when we ask, “How many of you want to get faster this season?”

And therein lays the impetus for change. If you swam 10x100 on the 1:30 averaging 1:20 last year, if you do the same thing this year you will not get faster. More of the same doesn’t make for change. We tell our college bound kids that they won’t likely be doing 100’s on the 55 now that they are in college. They can handle the work they will be given. The question is, “Can they handle the change in intensity, on a daily basis?”

Most often we already know that answer; “yes” they can handle it. The more important question to ask is “will they handle it?” And only they know the answer to that one. We have encouraged them to answer it before it is asked since that is perhaps the most important turning point for them.

We do the same thing when new swimmers join any more advanced group on our team. Can they do the work; certainly, it is just work. Will they do the work? That requires intention. Stated intention drives the human condition.

September is almost here…let the games – Games – begin!