Michael Phelps’ long-time coach and now new head of the Arizona State University (ASU) swim program, Bob Bowman, held his first team meeting with the ASU athletes this week.
The State Press reports that the six-time USA Swimming Coach of the Year already had some words of wisdom to set the stage with his Sun Devil swimmers: it all starts with attitude.”If we have the right attitude, we will be able to control everything else, including adversity,” Bowman said. “We want to have a growth mindset where we grow and improve to set the framework for the rest of the season.”
On his initial perceptions of the squad with whom he will be working, Bowman said, “I noticed that these guys really want to do well and want to win, just like I do. We are pretty much the same in that regard, which will be good for us going forward.” Going forward no doubt includes the ability to attract desirable and high-performing recruits.
Bowman also stressed to the team in this initial meeting that, “in addition to being swimmers, they have to be students as well. They have to put as much or more energy into their studies as they do in swimming.” The six-time USA Swimming Coach of the Year made it clear that the better the students are from an academic perspective, the better he believes the team will perform in the pool as well.
Bowman will join the ASU team full-time beginning in August and will be working to hire his full-time staff throughout the summer.
Lucky students!