Gary Hurring will hate this post. He is quiet, unassuming and modest. The last thing in the world he needs or would want is anyone writing about him on the internet. The fact that it’s David Wright doing the writing won’t help. I imagine that the prospect of support for Gary around the Swimming New Zealand Board table will not be helped by my backing.

However Gary came to mind yesterday when I was talking to ex-national representative, Michelle Burke. Gary was her coach. For the life of me I cannot understand why Swimming New Zealand has not made more use of Gary Hurring. One of the key attributes of successful management is the ability to bring into the organization the very best people. Swimming New Zealand has failed that test. I think that Cotterill and Johns are scared of people like Gary Hurring. The gulf between their product knowledge and someone like Gary is embarrassingly huge, and they know it. But instead of welcoming the contribution of those who know more, Cotterill and Johns surround themselves with employees that make them look good and feel comfortable. Why else would a coaching intern be left in charge of a swimmer like Bradlee Ashby?

It is ironic that the last time I spoke to Gary was about a month ago. The call was put through to his phone in Hawaii. He had been employed to take a training camp for senior swimmers. Absolutely brilliant, I thought. He gets employed by the best swimming nation in the world. But in New Zealand the Federation sacked him. Pretty much says it all really.

Gary’s resume explains why he is valued by the Americans. Here is how Wikipedia describes his swimming career.

Wikipedia doesn’t mention that Gary also won the 1978 New Zealand Sportsman of the Year Halberg Award or that he has been equally successful as a coach. His list of New Zealand champions and representatives is incredible. Here are the ones I can remember – Toni Jeffs, Michelle Burke, Mark Haumona, Jon Winter, Gareth Keane, Tash Hind, Samantha Lee, Samantha Lucie-Smith, Clair Benson and Emma Robinson.

But instead of using Gary, what have Swimming New Zealand done in recent years? Well when Mark Regan was forced out of the Head Coach’s job SNZ brought in Bill Sweetenham as coaching cover. Only SNZ knows the cost of that exercise – but it would have been huge. I hate to think what Sweetenham’s fee, his travel and accommodation in a good Auckland hotel cost. Gary could have done a better job at a fraction of the cost.

Then Lyles, an English foreigner from China, was employed. That didn’t work out. SNZ argued before the Employment Authority that the Head Coach’s job was going to change and Lyles didn’t have the skills needed for the new position. The Employment Authority agreed. I think the whole thing was a SNZ ploy to get rid of David Lyles. For a year after Lyles had gone Clive Power did what looked like the same job, but did it, in my view, better. Instead of going overseas to find another foreigner, if SNZ had employed someone like Gary, supported on the SNZ Board by Clive Power, all the heart ache would have been avoided – and New Zealand’s best swimmers would have had a better coach. But of even greater importance, swimmers like Boyle and Stanley could have stayed in New Zealand.

But Swimming New Zealand is a very slow learner. When Clive Power called it a day after the Rio Olympic Games SNZ went off around the world looking for another foreigner and, this time identified an American age group coach as just the person needed to lead swimming to international fame. Only SNZ could reach the conclusion that the American had a superior resume to Gary. The American only survived a year and was gone. In that time he made two decisions that, in my opinion, highlighted his shortcomings. He programed a high altitude camp in his home state of Arizona three months before the World Championships. Every international coach knows that timing a high altitude camp three months before a major competition will only cause harm. And the American changed the 2018 Open Championships to three months after the Commonwealth Games, in the middle of the New Zealand winter. The whole saga would be funny if it wasn’t so serious and expensive.

And, after the American disappeared back to Arizona to coach another club side, SNZ decided it didn’t need to scour the world for a foreign coach any longer and left the national training squad, including Bradlee Ashby, in the hands of the squad’s coaching intern. The incompetence of these events, right from the time Regan left, is stunning. The only decision that made sense was to bring Clive Power in for the year prior to the Rio Olympic Games.

But why on earth, instead of Lyles or Power or the American or the intern, SNZ didn’t do the obvious and appoint Gary when Regan left I will never understand. It has to be either because they were scared of his superior knowledge or so obsessed by anything foreign they were unable to see the obvious. In the meantime a hugely important New Zealand coaching resource is being wasted. Sadly instead of being used in New Zealand Gary is off helping the Americans leave us even further behind. You have to give it to the Americans – they know about swimming. That’s why they call on Gary Hurring and we don’t.

I was sitting outside the Millennium Pool this morning waiting to time Eyad for a main set of 10×200 swim and 1×400 kick. The complex was packed with swimmers. It was the first day of the 2018 NZ Age Group Championships. One of the lifeguards told me that 800 swimmers have entered the meet. I can believe it. The place was like a zoo; anxious parents running about finding water to “hydrate” their children, coaches unsure how to work their three expensive Seiko stopwatches.

The first morning of this meet has always been the same. Hundreds of enthusiastic young swimmers certain this was their first step towards making the next Commonwealth Games team in Birmingham, England. As the five days go by I’ve noticed the mood darkens, the activity becomes less frenetic as the reality of disqualifications and modest results begins to bite. The reality is that of the 40 swimmers entering an event, 10 make the final, 3 get a medal and 1 wins. Potentially every event has 39 disappointed parents who can’t wait to get back to the motel to sooth their nerves with an over generous gin and tonic.

But none of that mattered this morning. Today was all about a happy mix of excitement and anticipation. As I sat enjoying the atmosphere I was aware of a young woman walking up to me.

“Hello David,” she said, “Do you remember me?”

I had to admit that I had no idea of her identity. “Do you remember Michelle Burke?” she said.

“Oh my God, you aren’t?” I said.

Let me tell you about Michelle Burke. When I was appointed CEO of the Boys and Girls Institute Club in Wellington, later to become the Capital Club, Michelle Burke was their best swimmer. She was the national 100, 200 and 400 freestyle champion. However, I felt that if she was to progress, to become a truly international competitor, I needed to get her better coaching. I went to Auckland and approached Auckland coaches, Lincoln Hurring and Ross Anderson. Did they have any ideas of a coach who could help me in Wellington? Both suggested the same name.

Lincoln’s son Gary had just completed four years swimming at the University of Hawaii. He had won the Commonwealth Games, been second in the World Championships, won the Sportsman of the Year, Halberg Award, and placed fourth in the Olympic Games. Even better he had just arrived back in New Zealand and was looking for a job.

Gary and I discussed the Wellington position for half an hour. A deal was done and Gary was on his way to Wellington. Right from the beginning he was a brilliant asset. Every swimmer in the team benefited from his warm personality and international experience. But especially Michelle Burke thrived and prospered.

From our club Michelle and Toni Jeffs were selected to swim in the 1990 Auckland Commonwealth Games. Michelle had a huge program swimming the individual 50, 100 and 200 freestyle, the 100 butterfly and the 4×100 and 4×200 freestyle relays. Her teams placed fourth in the 4×100 and won a bronze medal in the 4×200 relay.

I remember two things about that time. First of all Michelle was a genuinely nice person. Modest and happy she was a lovely person to be around. She was the best middle distance freestyle swimmer in the country but you would never have thought it. Good people can win. Gary Hurring and Michelle were the perfect coach and swimmer match. And second, her kick was outstanding. I’ve never seen a swimmer kick the way Michelle could through a 200 and 400 freestyle. It was worth going to training just to watch her kick sets.

But what was she doing in Auckland? Well, unbelievably she has two daughters of her own now. Even more unbelievable the oldest is 13 years old and is swimming in the Age Group Championships. Brooke is a good 1.04 100 freestyle swimmer. I asked Michelle about her daughter’s swimming and straight away the wisdom of her class was apparent.

“I’m only letting her swim one event most days,” she said. Compare that to the Michael Phelps Beijing programs followed by dozens of swimmers at this meet. Michelle was working at avoiding her daughter adding to swimming’s 90% drop-out rate.

“Where are you staying in Auckland?” I asked.

“I’m staying with Megan Luff,” she said.

There was another name from the old days. Megan swam for the Waterhole Club. She represented New Zealand at the Auckland 1990 Commonwealth Games in the 50 freestyle and 4×100 freestyle relay. And so 50% of that relay team were sharing a week in Auckland. What a reunion.

It was great to catch up with Michelle again. She was an important part of a fantastic period in New Zealand swimming; a period that included names like Simcic, Jeffs, Langrell, Mosse, Kingsman and Sanders. But more important she is as nice, as modest and kind as she was almost thirty years ago. It is hugely pleasing to know that good things have happened to good people.

Me kicking at high school – with God on my side?

I guess we all know where Israel Folau and his wife stand. They clearly have a homophobic problem. Their recent tweets on the subject are pretty self-righteous; full of, you are a sinner and we are not, you are on your way to hell but we are on God’s side. They demonstrate very little of the love and forgiveness their faith claims to hold so dear. But around the world isn’t that often the way? Those who make the loudest claims to religious faith often demonstrate the least love and respect for their fellow man. Rather than moving on to a time of grace they hold on to the Old Testament “an eye for an eye”.

In my coaching career I have been faced with several examples that have tested my understanding; that have challenged my personal atheism.

About a month after I began coaching in Florida I noticed one of our senior swimmers, Doug, arrive at the pool. A male friend in the car got out with him and together they stood and hugged and had a long and passionate kiss goodbye. I had no idea Doug was gay and confess to male shock at the outward display of same sex affection.

It was a wakeup call for me. I needed to think through my attitude; decide on my position. The process did not take long. My unease said much more about me than it did about Doug. He was a lovely man, a great swimmer, a valuable team member and was involved in an open and loving relationship with his partner. I was helped by the acceptance I saw in senior Florida swimmers like Rhi Jeffrey, Joseph Skuba, Andrew Meeder, Tiffany Erdman and Kirsty Jeffrey.

Doug swam with me through my five years in Florida and remains one of the most delightful swimmers I have coached. I am forever grateful for his contribution in expanding my understanding and acceptance.

Athletes who call on divine help puzzle me. What do boxers say? “Dear Lord, give me the power to beat this guy into a block of bleeding plasma?” When I was a senior at high school in the United States I was the kicker on the school football team. A few minutes before each game the coach gathered us together in the middle of the field. Under the floodlights we knelt, put our hands into the centre of a circle and recited the Lord’s Prayer. I never understood how the creator of the universe was expected to pick our team to win over, what seemed like perfectly good guys, from the high school down the road. We were second in the Wisconsin State Championships that year, so perhaps we didn’t pray hard enough. Or maybe God detected the scepticism of the team’s kicker.

I should have known better. Before I went to America one of the huge events on the Gisborne swimming calendrer was the Bodle Shield. My good mate, Greg Meade, was due to race a local freestyle superstar, Jim Westwood, in the 100 freestyle. I didn’t think there was anyway Greg could beat Westwood.

On our way to the pool Greg stopped his bike outside the local Catholic Church and asked me to wait while he went into confession. A clean slate with God might help his cause. I waited outside convinced I had never heard anything as crazy. Perhaps I should have had more faith. A couple of hours later Greg won the 100 freestyle.

Without question the most devout swimmer I have coached is Abigail; a really lovely person but with stunningly strict Christian views. For example I overheard a conversation she was having with Rhi Jeffrey about abortion. Rhi put the proposition that surely abortion should be allowed in the case of a gang rape and the foetus is found to be mentally and physically deformed and going to full term was likely to risk the mother’s life. Certainly not, came Abigail’s reply, under no circumstance could abortion be condoned.

Abigail owned a plastic bible and during long kick sets would happily swim up and down reading the Lord’s works. I’m sure Abigail would have voted for Donald Trump. I know she was no fan of Hillary. I struggle to understand how Trump’s behaviour fits with the teachings in her plastic bible. In spite of that Abigail was one of the most delightful swimmers I have helped.

And finally on this subject there is Saudi Arabia. When I arrived in Jeddah the main concern of the pool staff and the swimmers was that I might be Jewish. The name David could mean nothing else – or so they thought. Having got around that misunderstanding I discovered that the Saudi guy’s religious beliefs made even Abigail look positively pagan. Every five hours, every day, loudspeakers throughout the country called the faithful to prayer. What I did not realise was that meant if prayers were called in the middle of a main set of 20×100 everyone just climbed out of the pool and went to pray. After a month of gentle persuasion I managed to obtain permission for the set to be completed first. I think they realised that while I respected their religious beliefs, successful swimming was difficult when a two hour training session was interrupted for twenty minutes every day.

Now that Eyad is living in New Zealand I think he may have strayed from the straight and narrow. Certainly training is no longer interrupted by the call to prayer. Perhaps it’s the misguided influence of the coach.

 Barry Magee and Ababe Bikila Rome marathon 1960

This morning I’ve been watching the Commonwealth Games marathon. It is always a dramatic event. This one was no exception. The race was being led by a hugely courageous Callum Hawkins from Scotland. For several years Alison represented Scotland in track athletics and cross country, so it’s not difficult to guess who we were supporting. Then, only two kilometres from the finish, and with a two minute lead things went terribly wrong. Hawkins became completely spent and collapsed on the side of the road.

It was a terrible sight; a brave man lying helpless, unable to even stand up. Thankfully I’m told he is recovering. Another runner from Scotland, Robbie Simpson, won a surprising bronze medal.

Clearly the heat on the Gold Coast has had a huge influence on the marathon result. It reminded me of the occasion I was discussing the Rome Olympic marathon with Bronze Medallist, Barry Magee. To avoid the hot Rome sun the marathon was run late at night. It was won by the Ethiopian superstar Abebe Bikila. I asked Barry if he was helped during the race by being able to see Bikila up ahead. Barry smiled and said, “David, have you ever tried to see an Ethiopian in the dark?”

But back to swimming. Yesterday I was at the Millennium Owen Glenn Pool. I go there four times a week to supervise Eyad’s training. He has just completed a good eight weeks of aerobic training. His weekly average distance has been a creditable seventy kilometres. That’s a pretty good improvement from the twenty kilometres a week he was swimming in Saudi Arabia. He is now beginning the speed portion of the season and should be ready to swim well in the National Championships in early July.

But yesterday was special. Two swimmers from the old days came up to have a chat. The first was Ross Anderson. He is fifty years old this year but looks 20 years younger. He was a fantastic swimmer. He swam in the Seoul Olympic Games and won a bronze medal in the 4×200 freestyle relay at the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland. He was coached by his father, also Ross Anderson, at the West Wave Pool in Henderson. Ross senior was a huge personality. When I became Head Coach of Ross’s old West Auckland Aquatics club I really felt as though I had inherited the memory of Ross senior. I had a duty of care for something he had nurtured into the best club in the country. I will forever regret that things turned out the way they did. I will forever hold it against those who set out to destroy the legacy of Ross Anderson senior.

This is what I wrote on Swimwatch in 2010 when I became West Auckland Aquatics Head Coach.

When Ross Anderson junior began swimming yesterday all the old class was immediately obvious; the ability to swim a length of the pool in half a dozen strokes less than anyone else, the cultured feel for every stroke, the impression of effortlessness. It does the heart good to see swimming so very well done.

And then a female voice said, “Hello David. How are you?” Oh my God from the same era of Auckland swimming, from the same West Auckland Aquatics club, it was Georgina Hall. She was another great swimmer coached by Ross Anderson senior. She won several New Zealand open breaststroke championships. In fact, in May 1992 she was written up in the NZ Sports Monthly as one of New Zealand’s four most promising young athletes.

In those days our Wellington club used to combine with Ross’s West Auckland Aquatics for a summer training camp at Whitianga on the Coromandel Peninsular. Because most of my Wellington team were girls, the Auckland girls were coached by me and my Wellington boys were included in Ross’s training group. As you can imagine, I often told Ross that Georgina’s breaststroke success was entirely the result of the week of my coaching in Whitianga.

“Wow it’s been a long time. What are you doing here?” I asked Georgina.

“I have two daughters in the school group at the end of the pool,” said Georgina.

It’s amazing how difficult that is to process. The last time I spoke to Georgina she was probably sixteen or seventeen years old and here she was telling me she had two school children of her own. Hardly seems possible.

I was delighted to have a chat with a terrific athlete and a delightful person. West Auckland Aquatics may have been dealt a sad and lethal blow by miserable swimming politics but the legacy of Ross Anderson lives on in some very fine and happy people. Thank you Ross, thank you Georgina, it was fun to catch up.

 Two conclusions appear clear from the performance of the non-para New Zealand swimmers at the Commonwealth Games. First, the team should have performed better. And second, the poor performance was primarily the result of poor decisions made by SNZ; especially their support of a centralized elite training program.

Much has been said already about the performance of the team. One bronze medal and a 27% PB ratio was the equal worst performance by a New Zealand non-para team in Commonwealth Games’ history. Eighty eight years, 21 Commonwealth Games and 2018 was the equal worst.

What has been less well discussed is the reason SNZ’s decision-making must carry primary responsibility. In the past SNZ has dodged blame for the poor performance of swimming by blaming swimmers, coaches, clubs, the regions, parents, the arrival of “new” sports and video games; anyone and anything to avoid the spotlight being shone on them.

Central to the negative influence of Swimming New Zealand has been their unfortunate experiment in centralise elite coaching. That program caused untold damage to the swimmers involved and to the infrastructure of coaches, clubs and members throughout New Zealand. In this post I want to look at three members of the current Commonwealth Games’ team as examples of the harm caused by Swimming New Zealand.

But before we begin let’s look at the coaches Swimming New Zealand has employed since 2013. You need to remember this is the program Swimming New Zealand went around telling every swimmer and their parents was the best there was. Leave your home program, they said, and come to Auckland. We alone can provide you with the elite coaching needed to become an international champion. In a famous Radio New Zealand interview the CEO of Swimming New Zealand, Christian Renford, tore apart the standard of New Zealand’s local coaches. His message was crystal clear. Anyone wanting to swim fast had no option but to pack a suitcase and move to Antares Place.

The table below shows the coaches employed by Swimming New Zealand since 2013.

Seven Head Coaches in seven years. And five of them foreigners; in a clear message, from the top, that New Zealanders were not good enough. What a joke. On those grounds alone the Swimming New Zealand program should have been banned from having anything to do with caring for a swimmer’s career.

You do not need an international coaching qualification to know that a new coach every year is not going to work. No matter how good each coach might be, and there are some good coaches in that list, changing a coach every year will cause certain failure. No swimmer can make progress when their training program changes annually. The training programs offered by Regan, Lyles and Olszewski are as different as chalk and cheese. And yet in a short space of time Swimming New Zealand blindly expected swimmers to adapt to each new coach and beat the world. From Regan’s hard sets of 400IMs to Lyles commitment to sculling drills, swimmers were expected to accommodate, welcome and benefit from the changes.

Swimmers were simply pawns in SNZ’s grand plan to control every aspect of elite swimming. But of course we all know now, it hasn’t worked. Let’s look at three members of the current Commonwealth Games team affected by SNZ’s coaching shambles.

The most obvious example is Matthew Stanley. He has been around the longest and has been most affected. Stanley is a brilliant swimmer. Back in 2012/13 he was coached by Mark Regan in the Swimming New Zealand program. In March 2012 he set the current New Zealand 400 freestyle record of 3:47.67; a time that ranked him 16^th in the world. And then in early 2013 Regan was, in my opinion, effectively fired by Swimming New Zealand. Of course SNZ are going to say he resigned and that’s true. But when Regan’s car and his pool office were taken away, his training camp plans were canned and his employment contract was being rolled over monthly, Regan had very little option but to leave.

Stanley stayed on through Sweetenham and Villanueva. Five months was lost while he waited to see what coach SNZ was going to come up with next. And behold along came Lyles. It didn’t take Stanley or Boyle long to work out that his training was not for them. I can hardly blame them for that. What Lyles had to offer was very different from Regan’s training that had brought Stanley to 16^th in the world and Boyle to a world short course title. Both swimmers went off to Australia in search of a compatible coaching home. But in the meantime SNZ had stolen a year of their careers; a year never to be recovered.

In my opinion the treatment of Bradlee Ashby has been no better. I’m unsure exactly when he joined the SNZ program. Probably in 2014 during the Lyles’ time in charge. He then lived through Lyles being made redundant and the Employment Authority fight that caused. Then Clive Power took over and, for a year, Ashby got the very best of coaching advice. Gary Hurring was recruited to coach at the Rio Olympic Games and the American Jerry Olszewski was waiting to take over as Ashby’s coach when the team got back from Brazil. Olszewski only lasted a year before he’d seen enough and fled back to a club program in the United States. That left Ashby being coached by the SNZ Coaching Intern, Matt Woofe. That’s five SNZ coaches in four years and we wonder why Ashby struggled to significantly improve at the Commonwealth Games. How he avoided needing medical attention half way through the 200IM is a bloody wonder to me. There is no way anyone should ask a world class athlete to have five coaches in four years but that is exactly what Cotterill’s Swimming New Zealand asked of Bradlee Ashby.

And finally Bobbi Gichard is another swimmer who, in my opinion, has suffered from too many badly thought-out coaching changes. In her early career she was coached by Noel Hardgrave-Booth. He was a great coach; as tough and straight as they come. Gichard prospered under Noel’s diet of hard, uncompromising work. She and Gabrielle Fa’amausili became New Zealand’s best backstroke swimmers and were landed with the public burden of the girls most likely to succeed. Pretty soon SNZ came calling. They had so much more to offer than Noel’s plastic covered pool in Greendale. They had Lyles and a brand new 50m facility in Auckland. What a joke that was. But Gichard shifted to Auckland just before Lyles was told he did not have the skills required by SNZ. Lyles protested but the Employment Authority said SNZ were right and Lyles was gone. For a short time Gichard transferred to Clive Power, a genuine coach somewhat similar to Gichard’s home coach in Hawkes Bay. That didn’t last long before Gichard left the SNZ program to re-join Lyles and do stroke drills somewhere in Auckland. And she hasn’t swum a PB in the 50 or the 100 or the 200 since 2015. In the Commonwealth Games she swam five individual races with no PBs. Once again though, don’t blame the swimmer. Four coaching changes in four years have proven to be too much even for her prodigious talent.

So there you have three examples of the destruction caused by SNZ’s high performance program. In ten years those stories have been repeated a dozen times. And so if you are a swimmer who has to shift to Auckland for education or work, join North Shore, or United or Waterhole or HPK or any one of a dozen other clubs. But stay away from Cotterill’s SNZ program or you too could likely join the long list of their casualties.