June 24, 2012
An interview with:
Teri McKeever
Gregg Troy
THE MODERATOR: We have Gregg Troy
and Teri McKeever, the head men and women's
Olympic coaches for the U.S. Olympic Swim Team.
In addition to their Olympic coaching duties, Gregg
is the head coach of University of Florida as well
as Gator Swimming, and Teri McKeever is the
head of the women's team at UC-Berkeley and Cal
Aquatics as well.
Can you both comment on the outlook
coming into Trials, what your role will be here from
the Olympic Team Head Coach standpoint?
GREGG TROY: We hope to select the
best men's team ever, and our role is simple, we're
just kind of caretakers of other folks' athletes. We
want to put them in a comfortable situation that
they can do well and feel as closely to what they
would be doing at home and hopefully they will put
on performances here and be even better in
London.
TERI McKEEVER: I would echo that as
far as what our role is about. What I'm excited
about is we are going to have a selection and get a
team that we know what the men and women look
like, and I think on the women's side there is
tremendous competition in a lot of different events,
veterans versus very young people, people that
have missed before, and I'm a firm believer that
that competition brings out the best in the people
that you would want representing the US at the
Olympics.
Right now it's the excitement and
anticipation of the team developing and then like
Gregg said, as we move toward London, making
sure that we are facilitating and creating an
environment where people are comfortable and
can improve and feel supported so that they can
be even better in -- how many days is it in? 35
days or whatever it is.
Q. Gregg, if you will excuse a regional
question, can you talk about Elizabeth Beisel,
the progress she has made since '08 and what
changes have happened to her in terms of
pressure and/or confidence since she won the
World title?
GREGG TROY: She comes from a great
club background in Massachusetts, she swam for
Chuck Batchelor, and she came in with real good
tools. In '08 she was a high school girl that I don't
think realized what happened to her. Since then
she has been a finalist at NCAAs.
That
competition level has helped her immensely. Last
summer's success at the World Championships,
she is a lot more confident athlete than what she
was. She was a nervous wreck every event, and
she has gotten better at handling those things.
She has trained extremely well, doing a
tremendous job of getting fit and doing a lot of
extra things on her own. She is just a much more
mature athlete than she was four years ago.
Q. Forgive me for another regional
question. I'm curious about your thoughts of
the Australian swim team. A few Games ago
we had Hackett, these teams that did really
well. How would you compare the team that
Australia has now? Do you think they pose as
big of a threat as they have in previous years?
GREGG TROY: Looking at them from
afar, they might be a more complete team than
what they were before, because they were so one
or two-person dominant in previous years. So you
have a good mixture of some experience and
some young people. You have to realize we don't
study that, we try to take care of our deal right now,
but I think it's a formidable situation. I believe it's
every by the as good as the team four years ago.
Q. For each of you, you both have
produced superlative multi-athletes in multiple
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events with different training regimens. Is
there a common thread that isn't obvious that
would explain that? How do you explain how
you guys have both been successful coming
from -- at the sport from different places?
TERI McKEEVER: I told Gregg this, but
on the outside there is a perception that Gregg and
I look at the sport different, and I think in some
ways we do, but I think in the way that we hold our
athletes accountable and have both set up
programs that we have a strong belief in that
many -- Gregg much more than I, but many people
have found success in. I think that -- I think the
constant in that is educating young people to be
self-accountable, to recognize that they have the
tools, and our job is creating an environment where
success is possible but we can't do it for them.
I think an athlete that respects an honest
conversation, is honest with themselves and will
mature and make the decisions are, for me, what is
most fulfilling, and that those rules apply no matter
who you are, whether you're Natalie or Sally Smith
on my team, that there are certain expectations
that that's the way we're going to do things.
GREGG TROY: That's a pretty good
observation. Teri and I have talked a lot, we have
exchanged some ideas, been fortunate to travel
together quite a few times, and there are all kinds
of ways to do it, it's like making chocolate chip
cookies, there's all kinds of different recipes,
you've just got to figure out which one works for
you. But I think the one constant, no matter what it
is, you've got to follow the recipe.
Our basic ingredients are the same, but I
think both of us are pretty honest with the athletes.
I talk with Teri a little bit, sometimes I'm almost
blatantly honest with them, but that makes them
function pretty well because it's pretty honest when
you get on the blocks.
It's about you and
performance, and that's what it gets down to.
Q. Teri, I wanted to ask you about Dana
Vollmer. Obviously, 2008 was so disappointing
for her, and I know you had just started
working with her at that point, but how different
is she now than in 2008 and how much does
that experience drive her in this one?
TERI McKEEVER: I think the first thing
you said about how disappointing not to make it,
and I know at the time and I've said to Dana if the
worst thing that happens to you is that you didn't
make the Olympic Team in 2008, that's a pretty
darn good life, so let's keep it in perspective. I
think she definitely did struggle for a year, and I
just challenged her to figure out why you're doing it
and get clear on why you want to do this and do
you want to keep doing it, and what are the
changes that you're going to need to make if you
want to continue to improve.
And I think it's similar to what Gregg said
about Elizabeth, like no matter how old you are, I'm
more mature now than I was in 2008 as well, and I
think it's just maturing and a perspective.
She is married now and life is fuller, and I
think it keeps it in perspective, and that has really
helped her find sort of to be more comfortable in
her own skin, I think, and to know she can deal
with whatever is going to happen.
Q.
Teri, there is so much on the
Phelps/Lochte rivalry, but Natalie and Missy is
enticing as well and will be going head-to-head
and good events for both of them. How do you
think Missy is going to handle that? What's
your thought on those two going at each
other?
TERI McKEEVER: I don't think Natalie
looks at it as going head-to-head with Missy or with
anybody. I think the way Natalie has looked at her
career is going head-to-head with Natalie. That's
what the challenge is in the next eight days, for her
to be her best and work on where she is now
compared to she was in '08 or '04 and, again, just
that process and that journey.
She and I have no -- absolutely no control
over what Missy or anybody else does, so I don't
think she spends too much time thinking about
that. I think other people spend a lot more time on
that than she does.
Q. Gregg, these will be Michael Phelps
fourth and last Olympic Trials. Can you reflect
on his career?
GREGG TROY: I'm glad he's doing one
more Olympic Trials.
We need him.
He's
obviously the best. I think when you look at
Michael, the thing that's missed is his race
instincts. He is one of the best at preparing for a
challenge and it extends in every event he swims
and very seldom you never see him swim an event
that isn't all full bore. His versatility is amazing. If
the program were different, he would probably go
three or four different ways in events he swims.
His importance to the sport is gigantic because
we -- 10, 12 years ago we wouldn't have had this
many reporters at a swimming press conference,
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and I think that's a direct result and tribute to
Michael and how he's handled things.
Q. Teri, I'm wondering in your years of
working with Natalie, how you have seen her
change and how she is the same?
TERI McKEEVER: I think how I've seen
her change is just a little bit -- a broken little girl
walked on to the deck in 2000, and now there is a
young woman that is very confident and very
interested in so many different things, just like
the -- what's the right word, I want to say the -what is it when people get more to them? When
any of us are 18, you know, you're 18, and as
you're a 30 year old you got more -- there is more
to you. There is the swimming piece, the food
piece, there is the how are the chickens doing,
there is the professional piece, the wife piece, the
friend piece and it's just been fun to -- I was talking
to my assistant yesterday, in a lot of ways we've
grown up together in this sport, and that's been -- I
have a hard time sometimes even remembering
the one that I first met, you know, because you see
the one you have now.
I think in the ways that she is the same is
that she is very determined and focused and
purposeful in what she wants to do. She listens to
Natalie and is going to do the things that bring
Natalie joy, and I really have always admired and
respected that. I think that she's just stayed true to
what has been important to her.
Q. Question for both of you: We just
had Missy Franklin here, she just graduated her
junior year, incredible recruit. What's it like
to -- for you guys to watch her? What kind of
talent do you see in her? Is there anybody to
compare her to coming down the pipe? Some
have compared her to the biggest recruit to
college swimming since Natalie Coughlin, and
how hard is it not to recruit her now during
Trials? She said most coaches are going to lay
off her right now and let her focus on the Trials.
TERI McKEEVER: I guess I'll start since
she is a female. I think that as you work with the
National Team and the assistants that ultimately
will be with us that we're very clear on that our -I'm very proud of the fact that I'm the coach at the
University of California Berkeley, but on July 3rd,
there shouldn't be anything to do with that. I'm the
coach of the U.S. Olympic Team, and that is a
higher calling.
Whoever ends up on the team, there is a
time and a place to take care of what her future
might look like or any other -- you know, it's an odd
dynamic, July 1st is the first time we can talk to
recruits, and personally I've made a decision for
our program and what my responsibilities are, I'm
not going to do any recruiting until August 5th
when -- you know, doesn't mean I'm not going to
send an email or things like that, but I'm not
interested in doing that.
For me to be my best, I need to be focused
on what an honor this is and what a responsibility
this is and I, and I'm sure Gregg, will do everything
we can to help Missy and everybody else be
prepared and in an environment where their focus
is on what's important. There is time for that down
the road, whether it be taking a break or am I going
to retire or where am I going to go to college.
Everybody, in a couple of weeks, is going to have
a lot of -- there's a lot of athletes here that this is
their, you know, not only where do I go to college,
but where do I get a job? Do I want to keep
swimming?
So I'll speak for me, but I've got people all
over on the group that I'm working with on -they're in different parts of their life, and it is a part
of what we're doing as coaches, but as far as
someone that you don't work with on a daily basis,
I think it's just to focus on Missy Franklin, the
Olympian, and how to make her first Olympic
experience successful. If we do this right, Missy is
going to be a figure like a Ryan or Natalie or a
Michael, and that's what I would like to focus on for
Missy, not so much right now but how do we have
a talent like that, like Gregg was saying, about
Michael.
I think Missy has the potential of being on
multiple Olympic Teams and help the U.S. not just
for the next month but hopefully the next
generation of great swimmers.
GREGG TROY: I was hoping Teri was
going to take off until December so I could catch
up a little bit. We're in the same dynamic. One of
my assistant coaches stopped me and reminded
me that she was, in fact, going to be a senior. I
thought she was going to be a junior, so I'm way
behind!
She has a tremendous future, great,
young, bright star, and we're cognizant that she is
a young lady and she has a long way to go, and I
think sometimes we put too much pressure on
people so young to be more than what they are.
Her versatility -- she is amazing. She has the
same characteristics that you see from Ryan,
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Michael, Natalie. She is a great racer, she is in a
close race, she knows how to get her hand on the
wall, and those are real, real hard things to teach.
From a recruiting standpoint we have put
everything on hold. It's way too important of a year
for these folks to worry about what they're doing
next fall. What they need to be doing is getting
ready for this summer.
Q. Four years ago it seemed like every
other question at these press conferences was
about the swimsuits. Assess where the suits
are now and looking back, if they were too fast
four years ago, please.
GREGG TROY: I think the suits, where
they are right now, is where they should stay.
We're back to a little more true sport. We're here
talking about athletes not about the equipment that
they wear. I think it's leveled the playing field to
the standpoint that if you're someone to make the
commitment to work hard, the equipment isn't
going to equalize things for everyone, it comes
back to natural abilities. It's put a premium on
performance again.
There aren't as many world records but the
ones that have been broken are premiere now;
they really mean something. Overall I think it's a
good thing for the sport.
TERI McKEEVER: I would echo that, from
a coaching perspective, it was frustrating too -- I
think it took away some of the joy of coaching, too,
you know, that if -- and rewarding good coaching,
not only good performance and hard work but
good coaching by putting, yeah, it took 45 minutes
to get it on, but that's easier than four or five
months of doing something and that's what was
going on. And different people, depending on your
body type or whatever, were getting different kinds
of bumps.
It was not enjoyable, and I hope that we
can get to where we just -- like Gregg said, where
we can talk about the people that are putting in the
work and are technically sound and emotionally
and mentally sound, and those are the ones that
are achieving the highest level in our sport, not the
one that gets lucky enough that they got the right
suit on that day or it didn't rip or whatever, you
know? It was just a lot of energy in places that,
unfortunately, we shouldn't be spending energy on.
GREGG TROY: There is an aspect to
those suits that was helpful from a coaching
perspective: It removed some glass ceilings for
athletes, as far as what expectation was. I think
that's one reason why there may be more people
that made the standards for the meet. It showed
you that there were capabilities, that you could go
out faster in events maybe than what you can prior,
but in order to do that you had to supplement your
training.
You had to increase what you were doing
training-wise to hold it, so I think it enhanced the
athletes abilities of what they can do.
THE MODERATOR:
Thank you,
everyone. Appreciate your time, thank you, Gregg
and Teri.
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