{"id":447267,"date":"2020-09-24T07:16:40","date_gmt":"2020-09-24T14:16:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=447267"},"modified":"2020-09-27T19:24:53","modified_gmt":"2020-09-28T02:24:53","slug":"how-the-peddie-school-swim-team-became-a-national-prep-school-power-under-chris-martin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/how-the-peddie-school-swim-team-became-a-national-prep-school-power-under-chris-martin\/","title":{"rendered":"Chris Martin’s Influence Re-Launched Peddie School to Powerhouse Status"},"content":{"rendered":"

Swimming World first began recognizing the top high school teams in the country in 1971. Since then, three schools stand out as the most successful among independent schools. Featured in the magazine\u2019s September print issue<\/a> is The Bolles School<\/a><\/strong> of Jacksonville, Fla., which has captured the most national prep school titles with 18\u201410 boys\u2019 and eight girls\u2019\u2014as well as 12 combined championships (public and independent schools).<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Following Bolles for most national independent school titles are Germantown Academy<\/strong><\/a> (Fort Washington, Pa.) with 10 and The Peddie School<\/strong> (Hightstown, N.J.) with nine. Germantown\u2019s girls have also won four combined championships, while Peddie\u2019s boys\u2019 and girls\u2019 teams have each captured three public\/independent school titles. Below is the story of the Peddie School’s success.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

When 26-year-old Chris Martin<\/strong> was hired in 1986 as the head coach of the swim team at The Peddie School, it had been years since their glory days as a high school team. The New Jersey school last won a national championship in 1982, and the school was eager to see success again as they had with Coach Jeff Lowe<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Martin, who had swum four years at Germantown for legendary coach Dick Shoulberg<\/strong>, quickly instilled his philosophy at Peddie.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe best compliment I ever got was from a colleague who said, \u2018You don\u2019t coach teams, you coach anti-teams!\u2019\u201d said Martin, who is now the national team coach for Malaysia. \u201cWhat it meant was I had a different outlook on what teams were about and a lot of times people use the idea of teams, community toward a word called the greater good, and often that involves someone sacrificing for someone else without the choice.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I know I had a thing with the kids where I said I would never ever sacrifice anyone\u2019s personal potential or development for the good of the group. And that became a thing with us. The things that happened were a result of that outlook on life. Nobody sat around saying, \u2018Can we win this? Can we win that?\u2019 Everyone put in.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

THE START OF SOMETHING GOOD<\/b><\/p>\n

\"Chris

Chris Martin was head coach at the Peddie School from 1986 – 1992. Photo Courtesy: Swimming World Archive<\/p><\/div>\n

It didn\u2019t take long for the kids to buy in, as Martin vividly remembers Laurie Matheson<\/strong> dropping nearly 10 seconds in the 500 yard freestyle in one year from a 5:00 to a 4:51.95, where she won the 1987 Juniors in Martin\u2019s first season at Peddie.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat started it all. Everyone started coming and working hard and getting faster.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

By 1989, the Peddie girls\u2019 team won its first combined national championship (public and independent schools), as compiled by <\/span>Swimming World<\/span><\/i>. Prior to that, the magazine recognized Peddie as the national independent school champions for girls in 1982 and for boys in 1977.<\/span><\/p>\n

But as far as Martin\u2019s first national title in 1989 was concerned, it was only fitting that it came over his former mentor, Shoulberg, and the Germantown Academy: \u201cShoulberg taught me everything about swimming,\u201d Martin said in 1989.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"B.J.

Barbara Bedford. Photo Courtesy: Swimming World Archive<\/p><\/div>\n

The next season, Peddie swept the boys\u2019 and girls\u2019 combined national titles, led by Nelson Diebel<\/strong> and Barbara Bedford<\/strong>, who went on to win Olympic gold medals for the United States later in their careers: Diebel in 1992 in the 100 breast and 4×100 medley relay, and Bedford in 2000 in the 4×100 medley relay.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t quite hit the unbelievable things that happened at Germantown in terms of training,\u201d Chris Martin said. \u201cBut we did a lot of training! We had a thing where if you broke an hour 40 minutes for a 10,000 straight, you could go on a ladder and sign your name on the pool wall, and we probably had seven or eight boys do that…and a couple girls, too.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Martin coached Chuck Batchelor<\/strong> and Josh Stern<\/strong> during his time at Peddie, who both went on to have successful careers in coaching and were known for giving out punishing sets. Batchelor is perhaps most famous for coaching a 15-year-old Elizabeth Beisel<\/strong> to a spot on the 2008 Olympic team in the 400 IM and 200 backstroke, as well as leading a primarily-distance based program at Bluefish Swim Club. Stern is most famous for coaching \u201cone of the all-time great trainers\u201d in Erik Vendt<\/strong>, who once swam a 30×1000 in a workout.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI take pride in that,\u201d Martin said of his swimmer\u2019s dedication to training. \u201cThe thing about Peddie<\/a> was that every single kid who put up with it earned my undying respect. I sometimes feel like my coaching and life has been living up to their commitment because they went for it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

MEETING THE CHALLENGE<\/b><\/p>\n

And the kids weren\u2019t afraid of the challenge.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Swimming

Nelson Diebel, Chris Martin and Barbara Bedford on the cover of Swimming World in August 1990, celebrating the Peddie School’s national title.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThey always wanted to go do the extra mile,\u201d recalls Martin. \u201cThe kids that did 200s would try 500s. Kids that did the 200 IM would try the 400 IM. Kids that did 50s would try 100s. People would train over their race to try to see if they could stretch it out just as a concept. I really liked that. The best part about coaching was the \u2018faster\u2019 swimmers had the ultimate respect for the newest kids and slowest kids if they worked hard. That part I loved. That was the thing I really enjoyed the most.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

One particular selfless act done by the swimmers stands out to Martin the most all these years later.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOne year they came to me, and the big thing back then was those \u201cTruWest parkas.\u201d Those were cool then and everyone wanted them, so we got them for the team. They said, \u2018We want to get one for the pool maintenance dude,\u2019 who was called Chuck.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe swam in this old pool, and this guy did all he could to keep it up and keep us in the water all the time. When the kids came to me and asked if they could get a parka for him, I was like, \u2018Of course!\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd this guy had the big hair of the 80s, and he wore that parka every day! I was so proud, and he got all emotional when they gave it to him, and I was like, \u2018These are the kids you want to be around.\u2019 Even though they were working that many hours a week, they could see the bigger picture. I still have great respect for what they did.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

PEDDIE POWERHOUSE<\/b><\/p>\n

Chris Martin had built a powerhouse at The Peddie School, and by 1992\u2014after capturing two straight combined national high school championships for both the boys and girls\u2014their focus was beyond winning a high school national title. The 1992 Olympic Trials were held in early March, and they decided to go all-in on Trials.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Royce

Royce Sharp. Photo Courtesy: Tim Morse \/ Swimming World Archive<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Nelson

Nelson Diebel at the 1992 Olympic Trials. Photo Courtesy: Tim Morse \/ Swimming World Archive<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI asked them, \u2018Do you want to shave for the big high school meet?\u2019 Martin recalls. \u201cIt was (the) Olympic Trials year, and all the kids were like, \u2018No,\u2019\u2014and they knew they weren\u2019t going to make the Olympics, but they wanted to be able to say that they went for the highest thing and they did that. They chose that. I\u2019ve always asked people years later if that was the right thing to do, and they just laugh and say, \u2018Of course it was!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Diebel won the 100 breast and Royce Sharp<\/strong> won the 200 back, with both of them making their first Olympic team, and Chris Martin was selected as an assistant coach for Barcelona. The honor made him the first black swim coach in U.S. Olympic history.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI took maybe 13 or 14 kids (to Trials), and a bunch of them made the finals. It was a great meet for us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

THE LOOZE ERA<\/b><\/p>\n

Martin left the Peddie School for the University of Florida in 1992, and in came Ray Looze<\/strong> in the fall of 1993.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cChris would have been a hard person for anybody to follow,\u201d Looze said, who is now the head coach at Indiana University. \u201cHe was a very charismatic person, kind of ruled with an iron fist, so he would have been hard for anybody.”<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Ray

Ray Looze was head coach at the Peddie School starting in 1993. Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cMy first year at Peddie, we weren\u2019t very good at all. We did a training trip in Orlando and dueled with Bolles, and we didn\u2019t win one race. And Gregg Troy<\/strong> took me by the shoulder and said, \u2018Ray, if you keep working hard, in 10 years this will be a good meet.\u2019 And I told the team that. I said by next year, we are going to beat them\u2014not 10 years…we are not waiting 10 years.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Looze, only 25 in his first season as head coach, swam at the University of Southern California, then spent a season coaching at Harvard in Cambridge. It was at the Mass Bay Marlins in Boston where Looze was able to get some of his swimmers to follow him to Peddie.<\/span><\/p>\n

And when the school received a $100 million donation from one of its richest alums, Walter Annenberg<\/strong>, Peddie was in good financial standing.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf people had any financial need, we were able to take care of them,\u201d Looze said. \u201cIt was just really good timing. Peddie still had a pretty good name, we had really good financial aid, and I had a couple really good coaches who helped me out.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cRocco Aceto<\/strong>\u00a0was in Texas and sent me one of his kids, Nick Kaschik<\/strong>, and he had some of the nation-leading times that year, so we had a powerhouse very quickly.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Peddie was Looze\u2019s first head coaching job, so he was able to experiment with things he couldn\u2019t do as an assistant at other places.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI had only coached a year at Harvard as the men\u2019s assistant, but Mike Chasson<\/strong> let me coach the club team, so I had never written a workout ever. And he let me coach the club team and we got second at Juniors-East the one year I was there. I learned a lot, and I took that and applied it at Peddie.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI met with Jon Urbanchek<\/strong>, and I ran a system pretty close to what he did,\u201d Looze said. \u201cI was doing a lot of power tower work back then and underwater kicking work. We did really interesting dryland and weights.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI was able to do a lot of stuff that not a lot of people were doing at that time. We did power work and probably had four power racks. There were very few people doing power work and working the underwaters. I was able to do a lot of stuff that would be pretty effective, which, in some way, shape or form, I am still using today.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

So by 1995 in Looze\u2019s second season, the Peddie boys won <\/span>Swimming World\u2019s<\/span><\/i> combined national championship, edging out Bolles.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe had the benefit to see what (Bolles) went at their state meet in November, and we had an influx of talent.\u201d Peddie swept all three men\u2019s relays in the 1995 high school mythicals, and Looze was able to take down Troy\u2019s Bolles team that same year\u2014just one year after being told it would take him 10 years!<\/span><\/p>\n

But after two short years on the Hightstown, N.J. campus, Looze went cross-country to the University of Pacific in Stockton, Calif., citing the poor accommodations for a young single person in his mid-20s, as he was at the time.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, out went Looze and in came Jim Henry<\/strong>\u2014and it was a seamless transition between coaches.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey just did a better job of hiring, so the team did a good job,\u201d Looze said. \u201cAll those kids were still there, so the team was loaded. None of those kids were leaving, they were all underclassmen, so I think the \u201996 team was pretty much the same as the \u201995 team. They knew what to do at that point\u2014those kids were really good swimmers. They all went on to swim at major top five teams or in the Ivy\u2019s.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1996, Kaschik was a top six finalist nationally in the 200 IM and 100 breast, and Spencer Hawkins<\/strong> was a consolation finalist in the High School Mythicals in the 100 back. The 200 medley and 400 freestyle relays reached the top six, and Peddie won its second straight national prep school championship, although lost the overall title to public school Houston Cypress Creek.<\/span><\/p>\n

For Looze, his stop at Peddie was instrumental in his current success at Indiana University,<\/a> where he helped return the Hoosier men to the top four nationally for the first time in four decades.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m still really good friends with all those people,\u201d he said of his time at the Peddie School.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Swimming World first began recognizing the top high school teams in the country in 1971. Since then, three schools stand out as the most successful among independent schools. 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