Swimming World Presents “Lessons with the Legends: Coach Jerry Holtrey”

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Lessons with the Legends: Coach Jerry Holtrey

By Michael J. Stott

Indelible—and successful—is the impression left on retired swim coach Jerry Holtrey by his mentors, Glen Hummer, Gus Stager and Doc Counsilman. Indelible—and caring—is the lasting impact he has had on the thousands of athletes he has coached and taught in a 53-year career, principally with the Lake Erie Silver Dolphins (50) and The Hawken School (47) in Gates Mill, Ohio.

Holtrey swam on Hummer’s 1957 Huntington (Ind.) YMCA national championship squad and competed for Stager (Michigan) and Counsilman (Indiana) while in college. His first coaching post was with Club Olympia in Fort Wayne, where he instructed Olympic gold medalists Sharon Wickham (1968) and Matt Vogel (1976) as age groupers. After brief stints in Indiana and Kentucky, he moved to the suburbs of Cleveland. Once there, he never left, teaching physical education and coaching at Hawken and growing his uber-accomplished LESD program.

Holtrey’s Olympians from LESD include Diana Munz (1996, 2000) and Melanie Valerio (1996) and 1998 World Aquatics Championship 5K open water winner Erica Rose. He counts U.S. national and 14-time Ohio high school champion Alyssa Kiel and U.S. national junior freestyle ace Byron Davis among his other myriad aquatic stars. Over the years, his club swimmers have captured 24 individual event titles at senior nationals and have won high-point awards at both senior nationals and the World Open Water Championships. USA Swimming recognized his prowess, leading him to coaching assignments on two Pan Pac teams and head coaching positions with national junior teams that went to Barcelona and Melbourne and as an assistant who traveled to Yokohama in 1998.

At Hawken, his athletes garnered more than 400 All-America recognitions and racked up 26 team state titles (24 girls, 2 boys, 16 consecutively). His career dual meet mark stands at 658-117-2 (85%) and his team district championships at 48. During his tenure, Hawken athletes captured 82 individual and 49 state relay crowns, including 19 400 yard free relay titles. In eight of his final 14 years, Hawken girls won all three relays at the state meet. He has earned multiple designations as Coach of the Year from the Ohio High School Swimming Coaches Association (eight), The Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Chagrin Valley Conference.

To hear from coach Holtrey about his lifelong lessons in coaching,
check out the full July 2019 issue of Swimming World Magazine, available now

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FEATURES

016 EXPLOSIVELY FAST…AND ONLY A SOPHOMORE
by Dan D’Addona
Torri Huske of Yorktown High School in Arlington, Va., is a national high school record holder, the fastest female this past high school season in two individual events and Swimming World’s Female High School Swimmer of the Year. And she still has two more years remaining of high school!

018 SHARING THE SAME PATH TO SUCCESS
by David Rieder
Swimmers Carson Foster and Luca Urlando: both are high school juniors…both were U.S. teammates and four-time gold medalists at the 2018 Junior Pan Pacs in Fiji…and both were named as Swimming World’s Male High School Co-Swimmers of the Year. And they also share the Olympic dream of competing next year in Tokyo!

022 THE BATTLE FOR FIRST
by Dan D’Addona and David Rieder
Not only did this year’s top high school swimmers turn in impressive performances, but six of the top eight will be returning next season, providing optimism for another year of fast swimming.

024 TOP HIGH SCHOOL RECRUITS
by Chandler Brandes
Swimming World takes a look at the swimmers it considers to be the 10 best high school recruits (both male and female) from the Class of 2019 and where they’ll be attending college in the fall.

027 HISTORY IS ON THEIR SIDE
by David Rieder
Back before Mack Horton, Mireia Belmonte, Tyler Clary, Kyle Chalmers and Caeleb Dressel became Olympic gold medalists, they were World Junior champions. Who will emerge from the 2019 FINA World Junior Championships and follow the same path as many of those before them?

029 PIONEERS OF TITLE IX
by Bruce Wigo
Swimming World takes a look back to the years when there were only isolated opportunities for girls to swim while in high school. We also remember two pioneers who helped make swimming a high school sport for women: Donna de Varona and Sandra Bucha.

032 NUTRITION: AROUND THE TABLE WITH MICHIGAN LAKESHORE AQUATICS (Part 3)
by Dan D’Addona and Dawn Weatherwax

COACHING

010 LESSONS WITH THE LEGENDS: JERRY HOLTREY
by Michael J. Stott

014 SWIMMING TECHNIQUE CONCEPTS: THE PREVALENCE OF SHOULDER PROBLEMS IN SWIMMING
by Rod Havriluk
Shoulder injuries are as prevalent now as they were 40 years ago. This is especially troubling given what we know about technique adjustments to prevent shoulder injury. To decrease the number of shoulder problems, it is vital that injury management strategies emphasize prevention and not just provide treatment.

036 SPECIAL SETS: LISA BRATTON—WOMAN AT WORK
by Michael J. Stott
Coaches preach that swimming is a process, a journey honed by dedication and perseverance. Presenting Exhibit No. 1: professional swimmer Lisa Bratton.

038 TRAINING PARTNERS
by Michael J. Stott
While pool and open water practice may seem dissimilar, the two are actually remarkably complementary. Open water offers a host of transferable skills, including variety, aerobic benefit and strategic training.

041 Q&A WITH COACH RICK ROWLAND
by Michael J. Stott

042 HOW THEY TRAIN SCOTT TOLMAN
by Michael J. Stott

TRAINING

013 DRYSIDE TRAINING: CHAMPIONSHIP SPEED
by J.R. Rosania

JUNIOR SWIMMER

034 GOLDMINDS: WE, NOT ME!
by Wayne Goldsmith
What makes swimming teams great? It’s the power of selflessness.

045 UP & COMERS: ERIN GEMMELL
by Shoshanna Rutemiller

COLUMNS

008 A VOICE FOR THE SPORT

009 BEYOND THE YARDS

031 DID YOU KNOW? CLARE DENNIS

044 HASTY HIGH POINTERS

046 GUTTER TALK

048 PARTING SHOT

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Patsy Patterson Martin

4 years ago

But… No one was a great as Charlie Sava.

Lesley Kuska