Ian Crocker Steps In To Replace New Father Brendan Hansen At Houston Clinic

By Roger Kuhlman

HOUSTON, Texas, September 17. BUTTERFLY champion Ian Crocker jumped in the pool when Brendan Hansen finished the breaststroke leg of the 400 meter medley relay in the 2004 Olympics in Athens. He took over again for Hansen in Beijing in 2008. Both times the result was gold for Crocker, Hansen, their teammates, and the United States. So maybe it should not be surprising that Crocker was there to take over for Hansen again on Saturday, Sept. 13, at the Lake Jackson Rec Center. Hansen was unable to run the Mutual of Omaha Breakout! Swim Clinic as scheduled, when his wife went into labor with their second child. But once again, Crocker was ready to take over for him, and he didn’t hesitate to jump into the pool.

(Editor’s note: The Hansens welcomed Annie Grace to the world last weekend!)

“I blamed the weather!” says Kristi McIntire, president of the Lake Jackson Aquatic Club (LJAC), when asked about the unfortunate timing of the birth. “But then I was ecstatic when I heard that Crocker would be coming. And we really are excited for Hansen and his family too!”

Head coach Sean McIntire echoed the sentiment. “I have worked with both of them at University of Texas swim camps,” he said. “And I knew that Crocker would be fantastic. I had a blast at this clinic, and I know everyone here was learning.”

Similar in format to last year’s clinic in Lake Jackson run by Josh Davis, Crocker filled the afternoon with healthy portions of story-telling, inspiration, advice, technical training, racing, and fun! He grew up in Maine, which is not exactly renowned for swimming stars, and failed to qualify for the swim team at age eight. His earliest memories of competitive swimming were simply trying to learn to swim a legal 25 free so that he could train with the big kids. When he watched the 1992 Barcelona Olympics at age ten, he was inspired by the prospects of traveling the world, and being on television, and he started to swim with passion. While he considered himself a freestyle specialist early on, high school and college coaches expanded his view, and he developed into one of the best butterfly swimmers in the world. By the end of 2004, he held world records in five events: 50m fly (short- and long-course), 100m fly (short and long), and 100m free (short). His 100m fly records were not broken until 2009. He swam in three Olympic Games, winning 3 gold medals (400m medley relays in ’00, ’04 and ’08), a silver (100m fly in ’04), and a bronze (400m relay in ’04).

Photo Courtesy: Josh Davis

While Crocker is best known as a butterfly specialist, he demonstrated mastery of all four strokes throughout his instruction at the clinic. The technical portion started with freestyle drills, followed by Crocker racing all comers in the 25 free. Some of the kids beat him, including Angleton’s Abel Black (11). But Abel admitted that, “He had already raced a lot of kids before so he might have been a little tired. And he gave us a big head start.”

After that, he progressed through backstroke, breaststroke and finally butterfly. For every stroke, the first drill emphasized kicking, and he continually stressed the importance of perfecting kicking, balance, coordination, and body position. He says the butterfly kick is sometimes called the “fifth stroke” because it is so powerful, and it’s particularly important because it is used to some extent in every race.

It was clear that he had made an impact on the participants in a lot of different areas. Asked what they liked best about the clinic, nearly every kid had a different answer. “Freestyle,” said Laura Bond (9), “Breaststroke,” reported Aaron Black (11), “Butterfly,” answered Julia Cook (6) and Avary Black (13). Then there was Luke Cook (7), who said “Backstroke, freestyle and breaststroke.” But not everyone named a stroke. “I liked racing him,” said Alaura Black (15), “and I was amazed by his butterfly kick.”

What Pablo Medina (10) liked best was “wearing his gold medal for the picture.” And the favorite part for Molly Kuettel (16) was hearing his first-hand account of his pathway to Olympic success.

After the event, Crocker stayed to sign every autograph, smile for every picture, and to answer every question:

What makes swimming unique?
“It’s an individual sport, but it’s a team atmosphere, so you get the best of both. It’s an honest sport. What I mean by that is that your performance is all down to you. If you do the work, you get the payoff. In some team sports, you can get lost in the mix.”

When do kids need to really focus on a single sport?
“High school is about the right time to start specializing, if you are looking to pursue the sport in college and beyond. But as long as kids are active, it will help them in whatever sport they eventually choose.”

What do you think about moving toward shorter, more technical workouts?
“For young swimmers, technique is paramount, and it will be the foundation for training higher volume workouts without injury. But the volume has to happen at some point. It’s both the good and the bad about swimming. At some point, you’ve got to do some real work.”

What is it like to move from competition to coaching?
“It was weird [not swimming in London Olympics in 2012]. It was the first Olympics since age 14 that I wasn’t training for. I actually got in the pool and started training hard out of habit, before I stopped and said ‘Wait a minute.’ As a coach, of course, I’m excited for the ones that do really well. But my heart is also with the ones who are struggling. So it’s more of a roller coaster, because I’m up and down with every swim, not just mine.”

While everyone was looking forward to a swim clinic with Brendan Hansen, there was no loss of excitement or anticipation when news came that Ian Crocker was coming to town instead. With almost no advanced warning, Ian delivered a fantastic clinic that improved the swimming and positively touched the lives of all the participants. Just like when he took over for Hansen in Athens in 2004 and Beijing in 2008, the result was golden.

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