Swim Coach Confidential: Oberlin College Coach Andrew Brabson

Courtesy of Trevor Ziegler

It’s always exciting to reconnect with former teammates/opponents and learn that swimming is still very much a important part of their lives. On this edition of Swim Coach Confidential, I spoke with fellow Maryland Swimming LSC alumni and Oberlin College Head Coach, Andrew Brabson. Oberlin is a Division III program located in Oberlin, Ohio and they compete in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC). In just his second year as head coach, Coach Brabson has already guided the Yeo swimmers to a wealth of success both in the pool and academically. Brabson spent his own collegiate career at Denison University, graduating in 2010. Before assuming the head coaching role at Oberlin, Coach Andrew Brabson was an assistant at Hood College.

Read on to see what Coach Brabson had to say for our latest Swim Coach Confidential:

First dual meet opponent as a head coach?

Last year was my first year as a head coach. Our first meet was against Hiram College as part of a tournament style event (combined scoring). We came away victorious by a score of 347-106. The first traditional dual meet I coached was against Wittenberg University. The Men won 132-111 and the Women won 134-97. It was definitely a good start to my head coaching career.

What was your major in college?

I majored in Communication and minored in Sports Management at Denison University. I am currently in the process of completing my MBA.

What has been your most memorable swimming moment as a head coach?

In my short time as a head coach (a little over a year), two moments come to mind. Last season, at the Kenyon Fast Chance Meet, Maddie Prangley broke our school record in the 500 by seven seconds. We had been working on how to split it correctly all season and she finally managed to pace it the right way. During the course of the season, she improved from a 5:24 to a 5:06 including a seven second drop from a week earlier. Recently, at our mid-season invite, Nora Cooper, Samma Regan, and Maddie Prangley went 1,2,3 in the 200 free. That race was very exciting as well and both Nora and Samma were under our current team record.

What is your favorite set to give your swimmers?

I really like to make practices interesting, keep my swimmers guessing, and not repeat practices/sets very often. I believe that the best workouts are ones that my athletes can internalize, understand the purpose of, and get excited about. I particularly enjoy speed sets when the competition level is high and the swimmers are feeding off of each other.

Describe your relationship with swimming growing up:

I played almost every sport that I could while I was growing up. I started swimming competitively at 8 years old. However, it really only became the sport that I focused entirely on when I was 15. I got fed up with the politics of traditional team sports. The ability to control your own performance as well as the concrete, objective nature of the results drew me to swimming.

When did you first realize you wanted to be a coach?

I started coaching summer league when I was 15 and have always had an interest in writing sets, thinking about technique, etc. I did not realize that I wanted to make coaching my profession until my first year coaching as an assistant at the collegiate level (Hood College). I originally took the job to help pay for my MBA, but ended up enjoying it so much that I decided to continue in that direction.

Favorite/most useful drill you have your swimmers do?

A drill that I really like to have my swimmers do to work on balance and the timing of breathing in freestyle is one-arm. The goal is to breathe every time you take a stroke to the side that you are pulling with. Your other arm remains at your side. The motion needs to be controlled with a focus on rotation. When swimmers first start to learn this drill, the tendency is to get through it too quickly. By rolling smoothly, slowing down, and focusing on when to breathe, this drill helps to correct a variety of issues that I commonly see with freestylers.

Describe your coaching philosophy in 3 words:

Swim. Fast. Er.

As a spectator (or coach), who has been your favorite swimmer to watch (any level)?

Katie Ledecky has been my favorite swimmer to watch lately. She has been dominating her races and has put up some absolutely incredible times. I have to say that the Phelps/Lochte show-downs are exciting as well. As a former breaststroker, I am partial to a well-split 200. I have always enjoyed watching Daniel Gyurta swim. I wish more of my swimmers were able to back-half a 200 as well as he typically does.

Although, the athletes above are my favorite elite swimmers to watch, I get excited about improvement in general. Some of my favorite swims have not necessarily come from the fastest swimmers, but rather swimmers who have improved a great deal. As a coach, there is nothing more rewarding than seeing your athletes improve.

Are there any individuals who have directly-influenced your coaching style?

Don Feinberg, Jeb Beaver, Gregg Parini, Andy Lehner, Chris Gibeau, and Brendan and Shawn Rodrigues have all been major influences on my coaching style. I have taken bits and pieces of everything I learned from coaching with and/or swimming for them and have applied it to the way I coach my current swimmers. Don and Jeb, in particular, have been extremely instrumental in my development as a coach.

My swimmers also directly influence the way I coach. Oberlin is a unique school with unique individuals. Regardless of whether someone is a conservatory student or a pre-med student, they demonstrate a constant thirst for knowledge. When writing and explaining sets, I make sure that they know and understand the purpose of the set, how it is applicable to their races, and what their goals should be. Together we are able to create a fun, competitive, and purpose-driven environment in which they can accomplish their goals.

What are you commonly doing when you are not fulfilling your coaching duties?

I try to be as active as possible when I am not coaching. I am really into basketball and will play anytime the opportunity comes up. I have pretty much every kind of athletic equipment possible in the trunk of my car so that I can be prepared at all times for any sort of pick-up game. I also enjoy hiking, mountain biking, canoeing, kayaking, and disc golf.

What would you consider to be the key to becoming a successful student-athlete?

Finding balance is integral to becoming a successful student-athlete. Typically, those that are able to manage their academic, social, and athletic commitments well are the ones who have the most success. This mirrors life and the “real world” in a lot of ways and certainly helps prepare student-athletes for their endeavors post-graduation. Balance is particularly important at a highly academic school like Oberlin. I have been very impressed with how my athletes are able to handle the heavy academic workload, other extracurricular activities, and practices.

What are/were you most excited for in the current season?

With how successful our midseason invite was, I am really looking forward to our conference meet. We are way ahead of where we were at this point last year and I am very excited to see some even better performances at NCACs.

Do you follow any sports other than swimming?

I am a sports-junky. I follow as many other sports as I possibly can.

Do you go into a season knowing the type of team atmosphere you want to cultivate, or do you take a more adaptive approach in creating team culture?

Every team is different. I don’t believe that you can go into a season knowing exactly what kind of culture you are going to have. We are looking to create an environment in which the team is having fun, highly motivated, and confident. However, a team is an ever-evolving entity and should be treated as such. Because of this, the way to go about creating such an environment depend on the team make-up and vary from year to year.

What has been your favorite “toy” to use with your swimmers during practice (useful or dud)?

I’ve always been a fan of using bands for sprint assistance during taper. The swimmers feel fast and high on the water. It provides a great mental edge leading up to championship meets.

Trevor Ziegler is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts-Amherst where he also swam for the Minutemen. In addition to being well-immersed in the swimming world, Trevor is also a self-proclaimed pop culture aficionado. He spends most of his time brainstorming how he can write about both his favorite bands/tv shows and swimming in one coherent article.