The purpose of Swimwatch is to air opinions on swimming related matters. Occasionally posts have strayed into other sports and politics. And very occasionally there has been a personal story. Swimwatch is certainly not about personal stuff; or as Jane calls it, “we packed up the car to go to Waimarama” stories.

However today is an exception. It is not every day you reach seventy years of age. In fact, come to think of it, we only ever do that once. And, while I am still in coaching junior school compared to 95 years Arch Jelley, I am fortunate to be able to look back on some fun times and to look forward to championship races still to be swum.

And so indulge me for the next 800 words while I discuss some general impressions that have come out of the past few years; a moment of nostalgia before getting back to the pool in the morning and supervising a main set of 30×200, 15 done as swim and 15 as pull. And, for those who think that might be a tough aerobic workout, on Thursday the main set is one of my favourites, 2×3000 done as one swim and one pull.

Arch Jelley and Arthur Lydiard loved sending their runners around the steep 20 mile Waitakere Ranges. I remember Arthur saying to me that he believed climbing to the top of those hills and running along looking down over Auckland city produced its own invincibility; if I can do this, I can do anything. Well 2×3000 for a 100m swimmer has a similar effect. If I can do this, no one is going to beat me in the last 25m of anything.

In my career I have coached in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, the Virgin Islands, the United States and Saudi Arabia. It is not true to say that all swimmers are the same. There are national characteristics that do affect swimmers. Coaching a squad in Florida is very different from coaching a squad in Mecca. Swimmers in the US Virgin Islands are different from swimmers in Florida. And New Zealand swimmers are different again.

Understanding these cultural differences is vital to achieving success. In each new country it took time to appreciate – what have we got here? How am I going to get the best out of this group? What works in this culture? I have heard several of the foreign coaches imported by Swimming New Zealand say they are on a mission to change the way New Zealanders think. Success, they say, means thinking and behaving like a Pom or an American or an Australian.

But that’s not the way it works. Coaching success relies on understanding what makes New Zealanders tick. Don’t make them fake Poms, make them better New Zealanders. My job in Florida was not to turn 30 Americans into clones of my home culture but to help them become better examples of the best of their country. Where that can be difficult is in a country like Saudi Arabia. The cultural differences are so extreme that it is difficult for a foreigner to work out how swimming success could ever be achieved. Some foreigners don’t even try. For several years the CEO of Saudi Swimming was a New Zealander who constantly told me Saudi swimmers would never be any good. His favourite expression was, “They don’t think like we do.”

Well he was wrong. One of the Jeddah based swimmers now lives in New Zealand and is the current Auckland 50m freestyle champion. He achieved that result, not by becoming a New Zealander, but by becoming a better Arab.

Having said there are important differences between nations, I have also found some cultural similarities. An interesting feature of swimming worldwide is, the better the swimmer, the less trouble they cause. Take someone with a huge personality like Rhi Jeffrey. She was a US National Champion and Olympic Gold Medallist. All sorts of people warned me not to coach Rhi. But coaching Rhi and dealing with her parents was a breeze compared to some of the 13 year olds and their parents I’ve had to endure.

It seems to be a parent thing. A child gets involved in swimming and the parent who doesn’t know a long course pool from short course becomes an expert; an expert whose mission is to extract every advantage out of the sport for their child. And in that quest some parents behave appallingly. But then as the child matures and improves he or she begins to take more personal responsibility. The parent begins to realise that the coach and swimmer know what they are doing. Experienced parents understand that tremendous highs and bitter lows are an inevitable part of the game. They cannot isolate their child from that reality. The coach does not need to be attacked for every problem. The parent can sit back and enjoy watching their child perform. Without question the sooner parent recognises that truth the better the chances of their child’s success will be.

In my working life I have had two careers. At first I was a corporate suit; Managing Director of a medium size, publically quoted corporation. And I did not like it. Why? Because the end result did not interest me. I felt no deep satisfaction from reading a balance sheet that said we were $1.0m better off today than we were yesterday. Making money was not what made me excited. It was not a thing of value.

So I changed and became a coach. Now here was something to get excited about. The team’s balance sheet said we had 90% PBs today. What could we do to make that 100% tomorrow? A swimmer of average talent had just won the New Zealand Division 2 Championship. A great swimming talent had just place third in the World Championships. Now these were events to stir the blood. Here was something worthwhile; something of value. And so, it might be my 70^th birthday, but the thrill of all that remains as real as ever.

However, while the past was fun, it has gone. The future is where the excitement lies. In fact I can’t wait to get to the pool tomorrow morning. There is another mountain to climb.