Race Club – Florida – Feedback on Alfie Pardoe's Trip
Alfie & I got back last Wednesday – having spent 10 excellent & highly motivational days at the Race Club’s swimming facility in Islamorada, Florida.
Virtually everyone I have met since returning has wanted feedback and in some cases information about future camps. I will try to provide this and in so doing express my reasons for thinking that such experiences are important if not vital to achieving success.
Please note that any views expressed in the following are personal and are not necessarily shared by everyone within the Club – hopefully they are not too controversial.
The Race Club was founded in 2003 by Gary Hall Jnr and Gary Hall Snr. The two are the first father and son duo to each compete in three individual Olympic Games. Collectively, they have earned thirteen Olympic medals (including 5 Gold) and established 15 world records. Their overriding aim is to promote swimming excellence.
Training Facilities
Their training facilities consist of an 8 lane 50m pool, an 8 lane 25 yard pool and a 4 metre deep diving pit. The Pools are equipped with all the best technology and aids – from timing devices to poolside exercise equipment.
The Coaching team is headed up by Mike Bottom who has established himself as the World’s best sprint coach. At the Athens Olympics he coached Gary Hall Jnr, and Cal Duje Draganja to a 1-2 finish in the 50m Freestyle. Other members of the Race Club coaching team include Andy Diechert, who was one of the fastest sprint breastroke swimmers of his generation and John Olsen who is the holder of 5 Olympic swimming medals. They are assisted by both Gary Hall Jnr and Snr.
Could the facilities or coaching be any better – I don’t think so!
Alfie’s Race Club camp was scheduled over 8 days. Each morning started with a 1 hour 45 minute pool training session from 8am. A 45 minute gym or yoga session was scheduled for every afternoon, and the day would finish with another 1 hour 45 minute pool session from 4pm. Additional time was spent underwater filming for Dartfish and the provision of one to one feedback from one or more of the coaches.
Gary Hall Jnr took Alfie out to lunch and we spent a couple of evenings having dinner with Gary Hall Snr – not forgetting the afternoon we spent on The Race Club 70MPH speedboat. All very positive!
During most of the training sessions Alfie enjoyed a lane to himself and experienced hands on coaching and tips from the Coaching team and some of the World Class swimmers swimming in the lanes next to him.
So what do I think was the main benefit to Alfie?
Primarily: motivation, inspiration and scale of thinking. More importantly are there things that we can learn as a Club, and as parents of swimmers, about the way we go about doing things here in the UK? I definitely think so.
In my view a positive mental attitude, ambition and a BIG scale of thinking are the single biggest factors in success. These key ingredients would appear to be in greater abundance in the US – the question is Why?
Why do we limit our aspirations and scale down the mountains we wish to climb? As a nation many people in Britain seem to get pleasure from seeing others fail because their failure gives credence to their own lack of ambition. It reinforces their limited comfort zones. As a result, many otherwise positive ambitious people are frightened of sticking their heads above the parapets and stating their goals, for fear of being shot down or worse laughed at. Fear of failure in the UK is more powerful than the desire for success.
In the US it is the opposite. No mountain is too high and there is a general acceptance that it is better to have set a challenging target and failed - than not to have set the target at all.
American history is littered with examples of people who failed several times before finally achieving success – Henry Ford went bust 5 times before founding the Ford Motor Company.
In the US kids are brought up believing that they can achieve just about anything that they set their minds to. If you have the ambition and the determination what can stop you? - Only the limits of your own thinking! How tall a mountain do you really want to climb?
Let me try to illustrate my point.
Amongst many of the Race Club swimmers - swimming 100m freestyle in under 52 seconds is the norm. As a result most aim to go under 50 seconds. 50 seconds is the benchmark determining whether you are a serious swimmer or not. Here at the Wasps one of our best swimmers of the last few years is Robert Flack whose personal best time for 100m is 57.42. Not only is he the fastest swimmer in the club but he is also the Shropshire County Champion. Whilst not taking anything away from Robert’s achievement - I believe that he would take the next leap forwards - if instead of surrounding himself (no fault of his own) with people who think he is a fast swimmer, he mixed with people who were swimming 10% to 15% faster.
When Roger Bannister beat the 4 minute mile people had assumed that such a feat was impossible. All sorts of medical professionals were wheeled out to support the limiting theory that the human body was not designed to run this fast. Yet within 24 months of him achieving it, 357 other people had done likewise. Their self limiting glass ceilings had been lifted.
At the Race Club Alfie was surrounded by some of the top swimmers in the World, all telling him that he had the potential to go all the way – As a result he is now more motivated than ever before to put in the training necessary to get to the top.
Think Big…Win Big!!!
Islamorada
Islamorada is a fairly small town with a population of just 6,000. Yet it supports such a fantastic swimming facility and club. Children usually join the Club at the age of 12 or 13 having swum recreationally or competitively at High School. Once they get to this age they are focussed on swimming being their primary sport, and are therefore prepared to put in the investment, both in terms of time and money, to achieve success. Once in the Club Children swim 7-9 hours per week on top of land training. They travel to the pool from a 15 mile radius and typically pay $125 per month (circa £70).
So all in all was I impressed? You bet I was!!!
So impressed that Alfie and I are going back for the spring half term, which in Wales is the week beginning 19th Feb. I really think there are a number of other swimmers at the club who would benefit. We’ll be flying out from Heathrow on Saturday 17th Feb and returning on Tuesday 27th Feb (missing 2 days school!!!!). An additional 1 hour afternoon pool session will be included specifically on starts and turns.
If anyone else is interested in attending (I suggest they need to be a minimum of Level 5 and considered good for their age) – the Race Club have put together a special package for Wasp members which includes flights, hotel, food etc of £850 per swimmer. If parents, brothers and sisters want to come for the holiday but not swim they can obviously do so – I can enquire about cost if there is demand.
Obviously I realise that this is still a significant amount of money for many swimmers to find. So you might want to try to raise it from completing a sponsored swim. If enough swimmers are interested I can arrange a couple of lanes at Wem Pool in Mid January for such an event. All you’d have to do is swim 100 (20m) lengths (ie 2000m) in less than 50 minutes (easy!!!) and get 57 friends etc to sponsor you 15 pence per length.
