Craig Johnson, From the MIAC to Coaching in Kuwait

By Allie Clark and Wilson Josephson, Swimming World College Interns

Following up on a previous Swimming World article on young coaches in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC), we reached out to Craig Johnson, a MIAC swimmer and coach, to discuss his lifelong passion for swimming. Johnson was a distance swimmer for St. Olaf from 1987-1991, competing in the 200, 500, and 1,650, as well as the 400 IM. He began coaching at Carleton College in 1997.

Johnson left the MIAC after the 2013-2014 season to take a position teaching science at the American International School (AIS) in Kuwait. While there, he has continued to coach, leading the school’s swim team in their first Hour of Power, an event that began during Johnson’s tenure at Carleton and has since grown to include thousands of athletes from hundreds of teams.

We reached out to Johnson, who is in the middle of his first year teaching in Kuwait, to ask him about the role swimming has played in his life.

Q: HOW WAS THE TRANSITION FROM ATHLETE TO COACH?

Craig Johnson: It was natural. I started coaching for the St. Cloud Swim Club when I was in college and had a lot of fun working with the little swimmers. After graduating from St. Olaf, I was able to coach high school in Apple Valley and Bloomington [both in Minnesota], as well as coaching club in Bloomington.

I spent the summer of 1992 at the Longhorn Swim Camp at the University of Texas in Austin. While there, I was coaching three practices a day and providing feedback for every kid. I really learned a lot about technique and how to coach. Working with Eddie Reese, Kris Kubic and Richard Quick during an Olympic year was fantastic.

I wish I could have applied what I learned there to my own swimming, but my time at the Longhorn Swim Camp has always served as a great benchmark for my coaching career.

Q: WHAT WAS THE TRANSITION LIKE FROM ST. OLAF TO CARLETON?

CJ: The Knights welcomed me with open arms. The tough part for me was cheering for the right team. At the first MIAC women’s relay meet at the old St. Thomas pool in 1997, it was tough to focus on the blue caps from Carleton and not the Ole caps that I had cheered for as an athlete.

Q: WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE MEMORY OF THE MIAC AS AN ATHLETE? AS A COACH?

CJ: Freshman year at the conference championships, in our home pool, I was able to make the NCAA time standard in the mile. I went to Emory for NCAAs in 1987. I had never worked so hard to reach a goal in my life, and making the NCAA cut was a massive accomplishment.

There are so many memories I could pick from my time coaching. It could be any huge time drop from a variety of swimmers- swimmers that didn’t even make it back to compete in finals. It could be winning three conference titles with the Carleton women’s team.

But what takes the cake is my memory of watching Marie Marsman break her first national record in the 100 freestyle. She got a several minute standing ovation from all of the MIAC fans at the University of Minnesota.

Q: WHAT MOTIVATED YOU TO GO TO KUWAIT?

CJ: My wife Tina and I were in Kenya with the Peace Corps before we had kids. We wanted our three children to have an international experience and to see different cultures. We both teach science at the American International School in Kuwait, and I’m also the boys’ swim coach.

Q: WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MINNESOTA AND KUWAIT?

CJ: Living in an Arab country has been great. We enjoy the food, and the people are very friendly. Obviously the weather has been nice- when it’s been below zero in Minnesota, it’s only a bit chilly here.

My first meet as coach of the AIS swim team was their conference championships. We had to travel all the way to Qatar. It’s one thing to take a bus the hour from Northfield to Minneapolis, but it’s quite another to take 20 high school students on a four-day trip to a whole different country for a swim meet.

Our team has practice only two times per week, which is obviously very different from a collegiate schedule. We practice in a pool with five lanes and only one lane line. I had to buy backstroke flags for the team when I arrived.

The pre-existing swimming infrastructure in the U.S. is easy to take for granted. Coaching in Kuwait has taught me how to do a lot with a little.

It’s fun to coach here. I’m able to coach my sixth-grade daughter, Emma, and my eighth-grader, Anders. There are kids from seven different countries on the AIS team. Only a couple of them have ever seen a 50-meter pool, so the meet in Qatar was an exciting experience for them.

For over half the team, the championship meet was their first meet ever. We had to teach them how to use the blocks during the 40 minute warm-up before the first session. One swimmer wasn’t even allowed into the country because of an issue with his visa. I had to put him on a flight back to Kuwait at 2:15 in the morning.

Other than that it was a fantastic meet. One swimmer won every event she swam, and a couple of others made it to the finals. The best part was that everyone had huge smiles after finishing their races – mostly just because they finished their races.

Q: WHAT ARE SOME OF THE MOST IMPORTANT LESSONS YOU LEARNED FROM BEING IN THE MIAC THAT YOU NOW USE IN KUWAIT AND IN LIFE?

CJ: I have always enjoyed the camaraderie and fun competition between the teams in the MIAC. The NESCAC meet had a similar camaraderie- it was common to see athletes cheering for other teams, especially some of the rookie swimmers who weren’t very fast.

It was fun for our swimmers, who were from lots of different countries, to swim against athletes from Dubai, Qatar, Jordan, and Kuwait. I made sure to stress the importance of cheering, both for your teammates and for swimmers from other teams.

The best part of swimming for me has always been the sense of community. This community exists on every team, in every conference, and, really, between any two people who share a passion for the sport. I’m thrilled that I can help spread this community wherever I go!

 

Pictured: Brooke Plotz, Andy Clark, and Craig Johnson at the 2009 MIAC championships.

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Kathy Walker
Kathy Walker
9 years ago

Allie,
What a great article! Craig and family are here this weekend with me in Oman. They have met Gustie swimmers, Oles, Tommies, and others from our MIAC family. It was 75 and sunny all day today….and we talked about your internship while driving in the car. You are thoughtful in interviewing Craig-a stellar man and coach!

Allie
Allie
9 years ago
Reply to  Kathy Walker

Thank you Kathy!

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