Special Announcement

ASCA Partnership Deets

The "Inside with Brett Hawke" podcast has joined forces with the American Swimming Coaches Association (swimmingcoach.org) to revive some of the most outstanding conference speeches over the last 50 years.

Here's the true story of how it all came together...

I was standing in line waiting for a cocktail at ISHOF 2022. It was hot and I was extra thirsty. Who was in front of me? None other than Ariel Hodges, Director of Communications and Online Education for ASCA.

I said, "Yo what's good with you!? I didn't know you were going to be here!" And she was like, "Yeah I live in Ft. Lauderdale ya jabroni. I lifeguard at the Hall of Fame pool for kicks."

And then POOF! We came up with this idea to bring old ASCA talks back from the dead.

Actually it took far more work than that. Chuck Warner and his team at Arete Aquatics Services have been the uncovering and dusting off all the old transcripts. Plus, ASCA's premier utility player, Bernie Dickman, is behind the scenes getting whatever needs to get done, done.

These talks hold valuable insights that we can still discover. There is a wealth of knowledge to be gained.

What's the old saying from French writer Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr? The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Episode #001 proves this time and time again - and it's from 1971!

First up, Doc Counsilman and his famous talk from the World Clinic in Montreal discussing, "The X-Factor in Coaching".

Here is an excerpt from Doc's International Swimming Hall of Fame bio about this very speech. Not a monthly donor to ISHOF yet? Here's the link. We've got a sport to preserve. Join us by chipping in.

The ‘X’ Factor 

Doc sometimes adopted a folksy way of putting his message across. His talk at the ASCA World Clinic in Montreal in 1971 on “The ‘X’ Factor in Coaching” remains a classic. He spoke about a mythical coach, ‘Frank Zilch’ who, hard as he tried to become successful, lacked the ‘X’ factor.’

Doc explains the ‘X’ factor as the ability to recognize the important things in coaching, and to work on them, and to minimize the unimportant.

“The great coach must have two basic abilities – he must be a good organizer and a good psychologist,” said Doc.

“The good organizer will have the large team, will attract the good swimmers from other teams, and develop the Mark Spitzs and Gary Halls of the future. The good psychologist will be able to handle the parent problems, get along with the city council, and be able to communicate successfully with the swimmers – he will have the ‘super’ teams.”

You can find new episodes every other Wednesday on ASCA's YouTube Channel. Click here to subscribe. 

Or, listen on Apple Podcasts, here.