Millfield Report 2003

Millfield Report 2003

Dolphin Luke gets a lesson in breaststroke from the master Duncan Goodhew

Set in the heart of Somerset, in the shadow of Glastonbury Tor, Millfield School was the host for this year’s ASA Summer Education Camp.

Southampton Dolphins Coach Dave Perry was assisting principle tutor Jenny Slater on one of the two Teacher Courses that were running for ten days in August while son Luke was assigned to the Club Coaches course to swim as a “guinea pig” for the trainee coaches.

Top coaches in the country were put through their paces on a gruelling ten day swim camp led by Malcomn Ferguson and Brian Brinkley.

A tutors course and an aquafit course also made use of the school’s own 50m pool, a stones throw from the lecture rooms and accommodation.

The camp was studded with stars of swimming, internationals and Olympians, notably Duncan Goodhew, Gold medallist in the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

Goodhew was a pupil at Millfield school before winning a scholarship at American University. A student of Paddy Garrett, Duncan admitted to being an awkward swimmer, “ Most coaches would have despaired of me….my breaststroke was so dominant it ruined every other stroke. I couldn’t tumble turn until I was 16 years old! But at 18 I took 4 seconds off my personal best and won my first medal at County Championships, a bronze.”

Duncan Goodhew and Brian Brinkley address the teachers
course at Millfield School.

Brian Brinkley, arguably the greatest British swimmer of modern times, a five time Olympic finalist, was the British team captain in the 1976 Montreal Olympics when Goodhew first made the team.

Still happy to follow captains orders, Brinkley led Duncan and the coaches through a detailed analysis of Goodhew’s breaststroke technique as he swam 10 x 50m on 1 minute. Driving the relatively flat style stroke was a huge leg kick.

The powerful, thrusting action of the whip kick was developed in America, “They got me to close my wide style and bring my big toes together at the end of each kick.. There was a lot of weights

to build strength in the lats and thighs, I was able to free squat 850lbs in the end!” explained Duncan, once he got his breath back, “ I don’t swim too much these days!”

Speaking of his early experiences of top class swimming Duncan spoke candidly

“ I vividly remember swimming in the all American Games in the early seventies, the biggest event outside the Olympics. The Americans had the top five swimmers in the world in all the events except

breaststroke. I came up for a breath with about 15 metres to go and I heard the race commentator say my name. I was a metre ahead of the two fastest

“ I thought, me? Why me, how can I be the best in the world out of all those thousands of people? I crumbled. It took four years to rebuild my self confidence”

“Dave Haller (Ex Southampton and British coach) taught me about visualization and emotionalisation, how to feel the victory.

Winning had to become as simple as shaving, something not out of the ordinary. Just jump in, swim two lengths and that’s it, the gold is your’s.”

“That was tough. Waiting for the Olympic final in a glass corridor with the other swimmers. No conversation, no noise. Just watching the silent monitors and looking through the (one way) glass. Forty minutes of the most profound silence you can imagine.”

“I learnt to believe. My coach knew how to create an atmosphere of expectation by exposing the swimmer at the right time, making the other athelets believe that they could not beat you”

Duncan perfected the start after many hours of practise, able to swim 12.5 metres underwater at
the start and just three more strokes to make the first length.

“In Moscow, the Russian coaches said I was the slowest swimmer in the final but I won the gold on my starts and turns”

Back at the Millfield pool and 23 years on, top coaches were not convinced. Armed with hand held digital replay cameras, they were able to analyse Duncan’s grab start frame by frame. “I think his dive is too steep – I would be looking for smoother angles” ventured Helen Slater

Duncan didn’t seem to mind his start being torn to shreds –“This new technology is wonderful. In my day in was all trial and error- and a bit of pain when you got in wrong!”

Still Duncan made time to have a look at Luke’s breaststroke, give him a few guidelines and pointers,

“He is a good little breaststroker. If he can bring some consistency to his kick and keep his head in line with his spine it can only get better. There are some great breaststrokers in British swimming at the moment, he just needs to get in and get after them!”

“If you train hard you swim easy. If you train easy the race will hurt. You feel no pain
when you win, losing really hurts. Don’t compromise – it is the cancer of achievement,
nobody gets what they want. Go for it!”

On last day of the summer swim camp the coaches organise a gala for all the children at the 50m pool.

As the picture shows, our ex Dolphin Luke was a little too enthusiastic at the start of the 50m breaststroke. Although he didn’t appear to have learnt much from the lectures on grab starts the daily training and private with Duncan tuition shaved two seconds off his previous best.