Insights From an Afternoon on Deck with Denis Cotterell

When in Australia I had the great fortune of attending one of Denis Cotterell‘s practices at the Miami Swimming Club. Cotterell, who is known best for his work in guiding Grant Hackett to Olympic glory and his substantial contributions to the development of Sun Yang of China, has been at the helm of the team since 1976.

Something that has never been easy to do, especially in the early years, “We had successes at the state level, but I wasn’t serious you know,” Cotterell explained to me in an interview almost 10 years ago.

“It was actually Don Talbot, I blame him. He came and talked in Australia and said you know Australian coaches are amateurs or they were doing what I was doing. Working a 100 hours a week at 1.50 an hour, hosing down the toilets, the change rooms working in the kiosks making sandwiches, teaching lessons all day; the whole thing that everyone has done.”

It was hard I than had to have three jobs to pay for your main thing coaching, you know and after the week was finished you were a 100 bucks down. So you had to have two jobs one to cover the 100 and one to have any money at all.I was a lifeguard and I worked at a night club for three years.”

“It was actually in the late 70s I just seemed to exist. I didn’t get a taxable wage for the first 14 years of coaching, so it was under 14 grand a year you know. I think at about 88 I started to get taxable income. Everyone does it, every coach.”

I chuckled at the time and I am laughing now thinking to myself, “Denis not every coach does it!” His path to where he is today shows you the passion that he has had for coaching for almost 40 years.

When I interviewed Cotterell, over a decade ago in Vancouver, I was taken aback by the energy and enthusiasm of the 56 year old. Watching him walk the deck and interact with his swimmers it is obvious, the now 66 year old, has not lost any of that energy or enthusiasm.

When speaking to a coach away from the deck it is hard to know if they practice what they preach. Cotterell was just as I imagined; focused, driven and passionate. Not only with his top group, a group that on the day included Hackett, Thomas Fraser-Holmes and Daniel Smith, but he was engaged with the entire team.

He told me that day in Vancouver that he liked to go down and interact with different groups of 11 and 12 year olds and eight to 10 year olds, “I like to go down there a couple of times a week, just 10 minutes so they know that I am looking at them,” said Cotterell

“I go down there and I can be silly, I can get down to their age and carry on. You get down there, but you are still selling a message. We have things like commandments, 10 commandments of swimming; thou shalt not interfere with a swimmer doing their job, though shalt not break stroke, etc…

“I will bring them five t-shirts and caps from the Santa Clara meet. I am going to go back and see who has trained well. I might give a cap to someone who has done well, but I am also going to go there and watch and make sure. I will pick another that is going well. I used to come back with 25 t-shirts from the Olympic Games, they love that sort of thing.”

“Reward what is good, not necessarily who is going the fastest, but who is doing the right stuff. Just to consolidate and underline the ethics and attributes that we want.”

“I have accepted to stay in the club system,” Cotterell said at the time. “I have lots of friends that are doing more elite groups and they say that they would never go back to clubs. At times in some areas it is definitely more enjoyable, easier, but to some degree it would be more boring. It is very satisfying as a club coach to take a kid at six or seven or eight and get them on to a team or up to a standard, so that they realize their potential. Whether they are a winner or not, but to where you think that you have gotten everything out of them that is possible, that is very satisfying.”

When I first arrived on deck with Morgan Knabe, who was the one responsible for the opportunity to be at the practice, Cotterell came out and greeted us. His hello was quickly interrupted.

The three of us were facing one of the pools where several very young age groupers were training, suddenly Cotterell stopped the conversation and turned to Morgan and I and said, “Did you see that?! Did you see that?!”

He had spotted one of the younger athletes doing freestyle in the pool which was 10-15 meters in front of us. He went over to one of his assistant coaches and asked how old the young swimmer was. When she touched the wall he proclaimed that her freestyle looked perfect and continued on with a little more feedback.

He came back to where we were standing and once again said, “Did you see that?!”

“That girl was seven years old, seven! Her freestyle was perfect and she is seven.”

When we talked in Vancouver Cotterell explained to me the tools that he thought a great coach needed to have, “You need everything,” he said.

“People say what does it take? You need to know your physiology, you need to be a great psychologist and you need to be a people person, that is one of the biggest things. If you don’t have that, than you aren’t going to be able to hold the squad, you aren’t going to be able to inspire them, you are not going to be able to demand or challenge them.”

When having a chance to see him work with his top group and talk to him at different points during the workout it was clear that he had all of the traits and skills he described almost a decade ago. His knowledge was incredible, his wisdom was insightful and the strength of the connection he has with his swimmers is obvious. The ability to have them accept and succeed in the challenges he doled out was that of a man who has dedicated his life to honing his craft.

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I want to thank both Denis and Morgan for making this experience possible.