“We have to up the standards and aim high”
15-09-2015 15:30:00:
Af: Anna Birkbak
Dean Boles har været på landstræner-posten i 100 dage. SvømmeSport gør status i et spændende interview fyldt med overblik hos den lune canadier.
Man hører altid om ”de første 100 dage” i politik: Hvad har man nået? Hvad lovede man? Hvad halter bagefter?
SvømmeSport har talt med den danske landstræner, canadiske Dean Boles, der blev ansat 1. juni og derfor nåede 100 dages ansættelse den 9. september, om netop disse spørgsmål. For mange kan det desuden også bare være interessant at høre lidt om Deans arbejdsopgaver, siden hans parløb med cheflandstræner Nick Juba kan virke en smule forvirrende.
Og det er ikke så lidt, der har været på programmet for den nyansatte cheftræner:
- I came right into the mix of performance coaches from Denmark, and we had an inspirational meeting where I learned a lot about the way you do things here, fortæller Dean. Then Nick Juba put me in charge of The Vikings (landsholdsbruttotruppen, red.) and Great Danes, which was also an eye opener for me.
- I then went to a lot of club visits, and I am still visiting them around the country. Talent clubs, elite clubs and so on. I visited KVIK, Aalborg, Odense and Sigma to begin with, but next week I’m going to Faaborg, Herning and Holstebro as well. I met with the coaches, got to understand the clubs and their challenges, which mostly are the same – daily running, the financial challenges, getting pool times, keeping the coaches in the clubs and so forth, forklarer Dean og fortsætter:
- Then I worked at NTC for a while with Stefan and Nick and the swimmers, where I got to be in my comfort zone on the deck training the swimmers and getting to know them. Then on to a visit at the Age Group Championships, later The Nationals and a meet in Portugal, and just recently of course we went to the Worlds in Kazan.
Der har altså ikke været meget pause for Dean Boles, der i den grad er kastet ind i dansk svømning og hurtigt har skullet danne sig et overblik over arbejdsgange, klubbernes og organisationens opbygning, landsholdene og træningsformerne.
Hvad har han så lært de første 100 dage?
- Rather quickly, I discovered a problem not unique to Denmark, but still something to work with: That young swimmers drop out of the sport even though they have great potential. We are still working on how to get a grip on that. I like to say: We must inspire our youth to aspire to be our future swim heroes, fortæller Dean og fortsætter: I also found an interesting thing, which is that the coaches move around between the clubs a lot. They seem to be out for the great places to be, and the clubs pay the coaches well, which is good.
- This is a thing that I also emphasized on the coaches’ Aqua Clinic last weekend: We need to invest in people and improve the product and the people who are working with the swimmers all the way down to the youngest teams. Those are the ones to drive forward and keep motivated.
- In relation to the different meets I went too, I was very happy with the Age Group Champs, I saw a lot of tall boys and an overall good purpose with the meet. At Nationals I saw that there was a big difference in some disciplines. Some have the best of the best, some don’t. This told me, that we need a better domestic program that stretches all the way from everyday training to the big swim meets.
- At the Worlds which was a great experience for me, we saw how we won something but also how we missed something. We saw it with other countries as well. It was a constant reminder that everyone in a team – staff, coaches, swimmers – has to be responsible. That way we can take the next step and make sure we are really good next summer. We have to up the standards and make sure to aim high, because everyone else will do the same.
Det lyder altså som om, der er nok at tage fat på for Dean og resten af det danske team frem mod Ol i Rio, men faktisk også i forhold til OL i Tokyo 2020:
- Sometimes I feel that Danish swimming is pretty young in the sense that I still hear Mark Regan, Paulus Wildeboer and Shannon Rollason mentioned when discussing swimming. I really think that especially Paulus brought good work ethics and discipline to the Danish swimming. But they are not here now, so I think we have to make our own story, fortæller Dean og slutter:
- That’s why I’m here. I’m here to do what I can do, add as much as I can and help making an impact. I hope to bring some life to the programs and to the 2020-focus ahead of us.
Mange tak til Dean for hans tid.
