By Louis Tharp

Kurt Grote was the walk-on Stanford breast stroker who won gold as part of the 400 meter medley relay team in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. He didn’t start swimming until he was 15, and only to control his asthma, according to his doctor.

I met him at Stanford a year after the Olympics. I had only been swimming for  a couple years.

One evening he said something like, don’t let anyone tell you how good you are. Don’t let anyone set your expectations. Set your own goals.

I wasn’t smart enough to write it down because I hadn’t heard enough coaches, parents, and spouses do what Grote was warning against. They had done it to him — tried to tell him he should not compete against some of the world’s greatest swimmers for a rare open spot on the most prestigious team in the country.

I didn’t know how pure his advice was. He walked on to a team of full-ride swimmers recruited from the top USA Club teams and high schools in the country, and with barely four years’ swimming, stepped up to represent himself, Stanford and the U.S. in the Olympics.

So when the swimmer I’m working with in this video – the wrestler — first got in the pool five hours ago, and breathlessly flat-paddled his way down 25 yards, with a kick that could start a mid-sixties Harley, and his head swaying like a bobble doll with his hips following worm-like behind, I didn’t think he would be a great swimmer.

But I didn’t think he wouldn’t be either.

I wasn’t going to set his goals or his limitations for him, because it’s not where people start, it’s how they emerge from the frustrating part of learning a new sport.

The frustrating part is ignoring what you’ve taught yourself, ignoring your intuition, ignoring your fear, and ignoring your aerobic system so you can begin retraining your nervous system, your brain and your muscles.

The swimmer in this video is doing all this. He is not just moving through the water, he moving through thoughtful repetition and creating spontaneous art.

He represents another person who has emerged into early stage swimming proficiency by managing his body and our expectations.

 

 

 About:

Louis Tharp is a competitive age-group swimmer and a TI triathlon swim coach who is currently taking a few semesters off from West Point coaching in order to work one-on-one with Nicholas Sterghos, an ’09 West Point graduate and pro triathlete.

Louis Tharp’s book, "Overachiever’s Diary, How The Army Triathlon Team Became World Contenders" is available from Total Immersion.

Read a sample chapter and reviews from the top triathlon and swimming media at Overachiever’s Diary.

Buy Overachiever’s Diary by Louis Tharp on TI. Read a review of Overachiever’s Diary at active.com

His home pool is Club Fit, Briarcliff in Westchester County, New York.

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