I happened to meet John from IU in the student rec centre: it has is a large pool and gym complex We got talking and it turned out he knew one James Doc Counsilman. Now Doc was one of America's best ever swim coaches in the 60's and 70's. He trained Spitz and other top swimmers like John Kinsella, Gary Hall and Jim Montgomery (first man under 50 seconds for 100m Free).
Duncan Laing also met him and I think visited him in Bloomington. Duncan had the book written by Doc called ' The Science of Swimming'. This man was one of the first to apply Science to understand how to teach and refine technique and improve training. He invented anti-turbulance lane ropes, stop lap timers and many other items. He had a strong emphasis on cardiovascular fitness. I read this book cover to cover in the 80's - superb. One of his best quotes was this 'it only hurt once - from the start to the end' He said this after preparing for swimming the English Channel himself (successfully) by sitting in ice baths to be ready for the cold in the swim. Duncan was a similar innovator and took on board many of Doc's methods as well of course as inventing his own.
Duncan Laing also met him and I think visited him in Bloomington. Duncan had the book written by Doc called ' The Science of Swimming'. This man was one of the first to apply Science to understand how to teach and refine technique and improve training. He invented anti-turbulance lane ropes, stop lap timers and many other items. He had a strong emphasis on cardiovascular fitness. I read this book cover to cover in the 80's - superb. One of his best quotes was this 'it only hurt once - from the start to the end' He said this after preparing for swimming the English Channel himself (successfully) by sitting in ice baths to be ready for the cold in the swim. Duncan was a similar innovator and took on board many of Doc's methods as well of course as inventing his own.
John invited me to the the School of Public Health (in IU) that had the pool in it that Counsilman used - built 1960. In fact he had a major influence on its design: underwater viewing and video etc. As I walked around it I saw many items that reminded me of Moana Pool. For example, and old pulley and paddles set complete with ropes and just lacking the bench. Duncan built one like this at Moana and it was the focus of many dryland training sessions for us. I wondered if Duncan had seen the pool too or plans from it. I have made a note to ask Betty about it when back in Dunedin.
Anyway the pool is only 33 1/3 yards long and yet it saw the training of many National Champions and many Olympic medalists. Each years swim team is up on the wall - it is a memory lane of swimming in an era where this pool was at the hub of swimming in the world. Check out these pictures at counsilman career highlights
The School of Public Health extends the work of Doc through kinesiology, nutrition, training, coaching etc. The facilities here are old, but still highly functional and in part reinvigorated. See the pics here and note the Docs pool, a 'gym' built in 1920's with ten full size basketball courts (originally it had a clay floor and they had to spray the surface with water to keep the dust down) all inside and an older original pool built in 1917. Check out the impressive tiling around this older pool - still in use today - and inclusive of brass fittings to the pool side steps.
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