{"id":515306,"date":"2022-11-02T03:05:14","date_gmt":"2022-11-02T10:05:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=515306"},"modified":"2022-11-02T08:13:17","modified_gmt":"2022-11-02T15:13:17","slug":"a-qa-with-former-breaststroke-star-and-now-standout-coach-michael-norment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/a-qa-with-former-breaststroke-star-and-now-standout-coach-michael-norment\/","title":{"rendered":"A Q&#038;A With Former Breaststroke Star and Now Standout Coach Michael Norment"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>A Q&amp;A With Former Breaststroke Star and Now Standout Coach Michael Norment<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Pursuing excellence can be a lonely task. For young lad, future CSCAA All-American, professional swimmer and world champion coach, <strong>Michael Norment<\/strong>, that meant leaving home at age 12. He, Olympian\/world champion <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/nic-fink-better-with-time-after-becoming-olympian-world-champion-in-2021\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Nic Fink<\/a> <\/strong>and thousands of swimmers are better for his move.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u2022 University of Georgia, B.S., education, 1998<br \/>\n\u2022 Founder\/head coach, Metro Atlanta Aquatic Club, 2013-present<br \/>\n\u2022 Co-founder and coach, Swim with a Purpose Swim School, 2013-18<br \/>\n\u2022 Assistant swim coach, Georgia Tech University, 2018-present<br \/>\n\u2022 Coach, DeKalb Aquatics, 2005-13<br \/>\n\u2022 8x CSCAA All-American, 8x honorable mention<br \/>\n\u2022 9x SEC medalist (UGA rank 8th), 1994 SEC 100 breast champion<br \/>\n\u2022 Ranked fifth in world in 100 breast, 1998<br \/>\n\u2022 Pan Pac team member, 1997<br \/>\n\u2022 2x USA Swimming national team member, 1997-98<br \/>\n\u2022 USA Swimming national junior team member, 1992<br \/>\n\u2022 Coached 7 NCSA national champions, 3 Georgia high school state champions<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q. SWIMMING WORLD:<\/strong> You started swimming at age 5, swam for three years and didn\u2019t like it. What kept you in it?<br \/>\n<strong>A. COACH MICHAEL NORMENT:<\/strong> My parents. My mother stopped running track at 14, and my father played football and ran track at Ball State University. My dad worked nights at a commercial bakery through high school and was a 4.0 student-athlete. Both were born into the Great Depression in the Deep South and were very persistent. They were hard workers and they believed in finishing what they started. I wanted to quit because I was a skinny kid and the water was cold! I stayed because my parents didn\u2019t let me quit, and I loved my friends on the team.<\/p>\n<p><strong>SW:<\/strong> The nation\u2019s top-ranked breaststroker at 12, you left Long Island for <strong>Jim Ellis<\/strong>\u2019 Philadelphia Department of Recreation (PDR) team in Philadelphia.<br \/>\n<strong>MN:<\/strong> I first saw Jim Ellis at an All-Star meet when I was 12. I loved my current team\u2014Trot\u2019s Finmen. <strong>Bobby Trotman<\/strong> was one of the best age group coaches in the business. Jim was just on another level. He had two swimmers, <strong>Jason Webb <\/strong>and <strong>Atiba Wade<\/strong>. Jason was 13 going 1:55 in the 200 back, Atiba was 10 going :32 in the 50 yard breast and would later break the NAG record in the 50 LC breast.<\/p>\n<p>My dad approached Jim, who invited us down for the summer. We really didn\u2019t plan on moving to Philly permanently. I loved New York and my neighborhood, but Jim had so much knowledge and had such high expectations. I believed in him and felt he would take me to the next level. He did just that.<\/p>\n<p><strong>SW:<\/strong> How did you end up at the University of Georgia?<br \/>\n<strong>MN:<\/strong> When I was 16, my 2:00 in the 200 breaststroke at junior nationals put me on the radar. I wanted to go someplace warm. I was looking at schools in the South and in California. We saw <strong>Harvey Humphries<\/strong> at juniors every year, so there was already a level of familiarity with the coaching staff.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Pat Gallagher<\/strong>, father of my PDR teammate, Kyle, told <strong>Jack Bauerle<\/strong> about me. Jack called, and I visited UGA in the spring. The staff was genuine. Jack understood how important education was to my family. Both my parents are educators. Jack put education first, and I knew he was building something special at Georgia. I fell in love with the weather, the people and the school.<\/p>\n<p>I saw a lot of the qualities in Jack and Harv that Jim Ellis and my family members possessed. They were just good people. I wanted to be a part of a program where I knew I could make a difference.<\/p>\n<p><strong>SW:<\/strong> You were an eight-time All-American and eight-time honorable mention at UGA. Why were you a better long course than short course swimmer?<br \/>\n<strong>MN:<\/strong> I hated short course swimming. Back in the \u201990s when I swam breaststroke, it was about stroke length. Today, it\u2019s about both stroke length and tempo. I loved long course swimming because it was easier for me to build my speed, which was more difficult for me in short course swimming. Also, Jack and Jim had much stronger focus on long course competition. You can\u2019t make an international team in a 25-yard pool. We were focused on making U.S. national teams.<\/p>\n<p><strong>SW:<\/strong> You were a two-time USA Swimming national team member, but your swimming career did not end the way you wanted.<br \/>\n<strong>MN:<\/strong> I wanted to make the 2000 U.S. Olympic team. I wanted it for my family because they made so many sacrifices for my career, and I felt as though I let them down.<\/p>\n<p>My continued sponsorship from Speedo was contingent upon qualifying for the 2000 Games. I didn\u2019t make the team, so the support went away, and my career was over immediately after 2000 Trials. I didn\u2019t perform well in my last meet, and I felt like I didn\u2019t reach my full potential. It was tough. I couldn\u2019t watch the Games, and I didn\u2019t swim or pay attention to swimming for years.<\/p>\n<p>I had a wife and a beautiful baby girl, and I poured my passion and love into my family. Being a father and a husband gave me life. It\u2019s been a blessing.<\/p>\n<p><strong>SW:<\/strong> What got you started coaching?<br \/>\n<strong>MN:<\/strong> My wife made me teach my daughter how to swim. I went to the Washington Park Pool in Atlanta and started teaching her. Ten minutes into the lesson, there were 20 young black boys who were surrounding me asking me to teach them how to swim.<\/p>\n<p>I wanted to coach with a program that was like PDR. About a year later, I found DeKalb Aquatics in Decatur, Ga. <strong>Melissa Wellborn<\/strong>, a former track athlete who swam at Auburn and founded a local swim club, offered me a job right on the spot. At that time, my wife was pregnant with my son, and I needed extra money for my family. I wanted to enjoy my second job, so I started coaching that same week and have been hooked ever since.<\/p>\n<p><strong>SW:<\/strong> And who were some of your influences?<br \/>\n<strong>MN:<\/strong> Melissa gave me freedom to coach, and I learned a lot from her. Jim Ellis, Jack Bauerle, <strong>Steve Bultman<\/strong>, <strong>Carol Capitani<\/strong>, <strong>Gary<\/strong> <strong>Binfield<\/strong>, <strong>Sergio Lopez<\/strong>, <strong>Dan Flack<\/strong>, <strong>Brett Hawke<\/strong> and <strong>Jonty Skinner<\/strong> have all been huge influences.<\/p>\n<p>I first met Jonty at 16 at a national junior team camp, and his intellect matched Jim\u2019s. When I started my club, Sergio Lopez invited me down to Bolles and taught me for a week. Shawn Campbell, my first assistant at MAAC, had a major impact on my creative thought process.<\/p>\n<p>I had been coaching my own club and had success, but I wanted to know why my process was working. My time at the School of Thought Clinic at University of Tennessee hosted by <strong>Matt Kredich<\/strong> was extremely helpful. My discussions with <strong>Dr. Jan Olbrecht<\/strong> at that clinic provided necessary guidance at that time in my career.<\/p>\n<p>When I started my club, a friend recommended <strong>Sam Freas<\/strong>\u2019 book, Sprinting: A Coach\u2019s Challenge, and the ideas helped energize my coaching. My good friend, <strong>Nick Folker<\/strong>, and I speak every couple of weeks\u2014sometimes for hours\u2014just trying to think differently about training. I can\u2019t understate how beneficial the daily post-a.m. practice coffee shop conversations with Coach <strong>Chico Rego<\/strong> have been. If I have an idea, I always run it past him.<\/p>\n<p>Jonty Skinner would say you have to understand why you\u2019re doing what you\u2019re doing. I try to do that. One of my best memories of a coach sitting down to chat with me was when I was at the 2016 Olympic Trials. We had taken a group of boys from MAAC, our club team, to Trials, and it was my first time at Trials as coach. <strong>Eddie Reese<\/strong> asked to sit down next to me at coaches\u2019 hospitality and talked to me about coaching and underwater dolphin kicking. It was amazing. That conversation benefited my career and my athletes.<\/p>\n<p><strong>SW:<\/strong> What are some of the things you do now as a coach that you have taken from Jim Ellis and Jack Bauerle?<br \/>\n<strong>MN:<\/strong> From Jim Ellis: relentless effort and the necessity of honest, straightforward criticism. There is no short cut for doing the work. You have to believe in what you\u2019re doing, and you must do research. Never give up. Be comfortable in your own skin.<\/p>\n<p>From Jack Bauerle: Consistent hard work&#8230;being honest in your effort. Jack taught me how to make things simple. Be good to people and treat them with kindness. Talk about things other then swimming. And don\u2019t leave a German chocolate cake that your mother baked for you around Jack because he will eat it!<\/p>\n<p><strong>SW:<\/strong> You started two swim programs: Swim with a Purpose Swim School and Metro Atlanta Aquatic Club with 200 members. Why do that rather than staying at DeKalb?<br \/>\n<strong>MN:<\/strong> I started MAAC because I had a vision for what a program could be, but Dekalb Aquatics wasn\u2019t my program, and I had a different vision. It was time to grow.<\/p>\n<p><strong>SW:<\/strong> Jim Ellis and Jack Bauerle had distinct coaching styles. What\u2019s yours?<br \/>\n<strong>MN:<\/strong> Jim had a fire in his belly that was contagious. He was a force on the pool deck. Many coaches have influenced my coaching style. I joke a lot with my swimmers. I also have very high standards and expectations for myself and my swimmers. I try to strike a balance between keeping things simple and teaching detail and nuance. I am also honest and positive. I make sure my swimmers know I care about them beyond performance.<\/p>\n<p><strong>SW:<\/strong> You are responsible for your own two swimming operations and are also an assistant coach at Georgia Tech. How do you balance work and home life?<br \/>\n<strong>MN:<\/strong> I only own The Metro Atlanta Aquatic Club, LLC. I forfeited ownership of the swim school when I took full ownership of the swim team. I\u2019m still working at finding balance. When I started the team, it took all of my time. I\u2019ve learned how to say no to certain tasks. I\u2019m trying to find ways to keep swimming off my mind when I come home.<\/p>\n<p>I also have four coaches at MAAC, a team manager and an awesome parent group that helps things run smoothly. For MAAC, I write the season plan and direct the coaches, but it took about five years to be able to step away. I\u2019m in a good place with the program and my family.<\/p>\n<p>I have two days a week that I spend with my son, two days with my wife and two days together. My daughter is away in college. It\u2019s not easy. My family has been amazing through my coaching career, and we all had to learn how to make it work.<\/p>\n<p><strong>SW:<\/strong> You were an <a href=\"https:\/\/swimmingcoach.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ASCA<\/a> Coach of the Year finalist and have coached a young <strong>Dean Farris<\/strong> and world champion Nic Fink. What was it about Farris that made you think he could be really good?<br \/>\n<strong>MN:<\/strong> I first saw Dean when he was nine and knew he was special. He had balance, incredible feel for the water, and he never stopped kicking. He played soccer and golf in addition to swimming. We connected and believed in each other. Dean was just a great listener, a relentless trainer and ridiculously competitive. We learned together. I encouraged him to ask questions, and he was a swimmer who forced me to understand the \u201cwhy\u201d behind everything we did in training. He\u2019s just a class act!<\/p>\n<p><strong>SW:<\/strong> Nic Fink, an Olympian and world champion, spent his college years with Jack Bauerle at Georgia and Athens Bulldog Swim Club. How did you end up being his coach of record?<br \/>\n<strong>MN:<\/strong> <strong>Mel Margalis<\/strong> and Nic Fink reached out to me at the suggestion of the UGA coaching staff\u2014Jack, <strong>Stephanie Moreno<\/strong>, <strong>Neil<\/strong> <strong>Versfeld<\/strong> and <strong>Brian Smith<\/strong>. We all know each other well. I coached with Neil at Tech, swam with Stephanie, and I know Brian Smith pretty well. Nic was entering grad school last year and had moved to Atlanta and wanted to keep training, so we started in August of 2021.<\/p>\n<p><strong>SW:<\/strong> What are some of the special things you see in him?<br \/>\n<strong>MN:<\/strong> Nic is just a genuine good person through and through. He is very committed, intelligent and quick-witted. His path to making the Olympic team in 2020 and winning at World Championships speaks to his persistence and toughness.<\/p>\n<p>I witnessed how he managed grad school at Georgia Tech. He had a ton of work, group projects and exams during International Team Trials in April, and he still was able to compartmentalize his work and stress. It was truly amazing to see him function at such a high level. He earns it every day. I love coaching Nic. He has taught me way more than I can teach him.<\/p>\n<p><strong>SW:<\/strong> You often say coaches learn more from swimmers than swimmers learn from coaches. What are some important learnings that you have gotten from your swimmers?<br \/>\n<strong>MN:<\/strong> The way in which swimmers interpret coaching conversations and instructions is unique. The process of gaining trust between a coach and their athlete compels us how to be kind and respectful. It also pushes us to do everything we can to help our athletes succeed.<br \/>\nWe learn when we can lead and when we need to be led. Swimmers teach us that being strong is situational. We have to create a process that helps them reach their full potential. That is where we learn from our athletes. If you\u2019re coaching, it changes you, and you learn more about yourself. That is why I coach.<\/p>\n<p><em>Michael J. Stott is an ASCA Level 5 coach, golf and swimming writer. His critically acclaimed coming-of-age golf novel, \u201cToo Much Loft,\u201d is in its second printing, and is available from store.Bookbaby.com, Amazon, B&amp;N and distributors worldwide.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/product\/swimming-world-magazine-november-2022-issue-pdf-only\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-auth=\"NotApplicable\">Non-Subscribers can click here to download this issue for only\u00a0$5.94<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Q&amp;A With Former Breaststroke Star and Now Standout Coach Michael Norment Pursuing excellence can be a lonely task. For young lad, future CSCAA All-American, professional swimmer and world champion<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":331433,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,122077,18],"tags":[3887,33982],"class_list":["post-515306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-americas","category-coaches-education","tag-michael-norment","tag-nic-fink"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 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