QAS Swim Squad

What an impressive group. Libby Lenton headlines the squat, she was the winner of five Gold medals in the 2007 the World Swimming championship. She is also a multiple world record holder. The coach is Stephan Widmer, another friend from my previous visit. When I met Stephan in 1999 he was the assistant coach, but obviously a coach on the rise. We spent the afternoon talking about training and exchanging ideas. It was refreshing to talk to a coach of this caliber who was willing to openly share ideas. We talked extensively about the dryland program and compared notes about what they do and what I have done with the Michigan women. It a squad of men and women with nine swimmers, so it is not about crowd control, quality work with quality attention the athletes. Everything is done with a purpose. There is a huge emphasis on technique and learning how to swim fast. No garbage yardage here. There is a compete focus on excellence. The detailed preparation was impressive. He uses a timed swim at 15 meters as a benchmark to ascertain where they are in terms of speed at all times. Libby Lenton was coming off a three week break and being a bit sick, so she just worked on drills and getting the feel back for her stroke. Stephan works hard to build a sense of team within the squad. I also found it intersting that early in the week they swim long course and later in the week they swim short course.