Arriving in Manila, after working in Sydney for a couple weeks, one finds it best to leave expectations at the door and just go with the flow, which is something I’ve become increasingly adept at the last few years. Not to say one should lower or raise expectations, but just live in the moment and see what unfolds. Well, every moment of my time in this diverse country exceeded any expectations I may have secretly set. Beginning with my hosts: Lani Velasco, and her incredible family, which took me in as one of their own, I will be eternally grateful. By chance and not by design, I arrived on the eve of a long holiday weekend in the Phillipines and there was not going to be any clinics or training until the weekend was over. Rather than have me remain cooped up in my rather nice apartment for the long weekend, my new adopted family invited me to the beach with them. Being naive to what “at the beach” meant, I thought: sure, why not. So, the next morning, I was picked up and I thought we were headed to the beach for the day/night. Then, when we arrived at the private air terminal, handed over our bags, and boarded a flight for, and I kid you not, Fantasy Island aboard a turboprop with roughly 30 of us headed to “the beach”!! After about a 25 minute flight from Manila, we arrived in paradise.
After a few minutes soaking in the fact that this was not going to be a normal couple days at the beach, I took the private, guided tour of the Island to get familiar with the different villages. The investor that developed Balesin Island Club set up different villages to resemble the best coastal destinations in the world to travel. First stop Phuket. Then on to the French Villa, Spain, Italy (where we were staying) then Mykonos. Here is what I saw:
Needless to say after taking a look at the photos: this was going to be a nice stay! The restaurants in each village stuck with the architectural theme and had outstanding cuisine from each location. With each of us having our own golf cart to roam the island during the stay, coordinating our whereabouts was comical at times. I did find the spa where a little one-on-one coaching clinic broke out in the 25 meter black marble pool. Then I hung out with a good book on one of the available massage tables near the sand. After a few pages I couldn’t resist and headed into the water with my Panasonic UW Camera to check out the fish situation. The water was so incredibly clear and I could see as far under as above the surface. This was a great break between the job in Sydney and the Manila clinics ahead, so, after a couple days here on Fantasy Island, it was time to pack up and head to Manila to get started on the clinics with PSI coaches.
The first clinic took place in Davao City, which was a couple hour flight from Manila. After the flight, a long drive, and yet another great lunch, we arrived at the pool just as the PSI Grand Prix meet was finishing. Once introduced, I talked with the swimmers from the meet about going home and working on the little things in their training and becoming better students of the sport. We used a small warm-up pool to teach some new skills and once finished, we headed into the meeting room to have a brief coaching clinic. After making a few points, it was clear that these coaches had just finished a meet and needed some focussed discussion so I turned it into a Q & A session; which was a much better use of our limited time. After a great talk with the Coaches from the Davao region, it was time to get back in the van and head to the airport, as the 3 day clinic in Manila began the next morning.
We had planned roughly 3 days including 5 hours of casual (by design) presentations on every topic one could think of including various training philosophies, season design, multi-year planning, stroke technique, race design and strategy for every stroke and distance, sport parent issues and solutions, training time frustrations and solutions, dealing with limited facilities, dryland training, and finishing with reading suggestions and relaying stories of my 30 years in the sport, we went to the pool. When we arrived there were a group of swimmers that travelled from all over the country for the clinic.
This pool did not disappoint! The Phillipines Sport Commission houses multiple sports inside its well guarded walls within metro Manila. Pools all around the world take on the character of their region. This particular pool was, just like the coaches on deck with me, full of character and experience. And, just like every pool deck I’ve been on around the world, the swimming culture is a constant. Some of the athletes were on time ready to go, some socializing until that very last minute before getting in, and some running from the van in the street figuring out how to tell the coach why they are late today without it sounding like why they were late yesterday.
The swimmers at the clinic came to learn, this was so very welcome. Without boring you with the swimming details, they got not only the words along the way, they really understood what I was asking them to do. One of my favorite things with a new group was glaringly evident: they had no idea where my energy was coming from. I saw the coaches begin to settle in to watch what I was working on, and decided right then and there this group was going to get ALL of my energy. Let’s just say, for those who know, I channeled my “inner Richard Quick” level of energy. They didn’t stand a chance of not paying attention and hanging onto every animated word of instruction. We built an IM like they had never done before. We descended and negative split another short set as if they were leaving for the Tokyo Games tomorrow!! At one point I think I even threw in a “sweetheart” and a few “C’Mon Now’s”. When we were done they had a sense of belief in themselves that made me want to stay!!
In 5 short days, and even just scratching the surface, this great country and its people were growing on me and I started to come up with ways to remain involved in Lani’s quest to build PSI to the great swimming nation it deserves to be. I do have some history with PSI as Carlo Piccio (PHI Olympian) swam with us when I coached with the Mission Viejo Nadadores. Carlo now lives and works in Los Angeles. At any rate, this was an incredible experience where I not only was able to pass on the knowledge I’ve gained over the past 30 years in swimming, but I was able to build a few new lifelong friendships along the way. Again, thank you Lani, the whole Velasco Family and all of my new friends in South East Asia!!
Every Four Years™ 