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Sun's View
Title: My
training report in the USA from April 99 to June 99.
Date of issue: 28th June 1999
Having gained a sponsorship from Hong Kong Sports Development
Board, the Head Coach Chan Yiu Hoi organized a trip for me to the
United States. I arrived on May 21st, 1999 and spent the whole
training period in Philadelphia. I stayed with, and was looked
after by my aunt, who lives on the outskirts of Philadelphia. My
aunt's house is about half an hour's drive from Germantown
Academy (GA). GA is a well-known private school with 250 years of
history. School fees are US 13'000 per year. The campus is
beautiful and there are all kinds of facilities including great
sports facilities with a 25-yard swimming pool.
The Head Coach of GA's swimming team is Dick Shoulberg. He is
over 60 years old and was the 1992 USA Olympic coach. He has
produced seven Olympians, two of them have set world records.
Dick is an old friend of Mr. Chan's and is very personable
character. Besides training he also teaches beginners and life
saving- consequently he is always very busy. Swimming coaches
from all over America telephone him for consultation.
Coach Shoulberg has 3 assistants. One of them is a Japanese woman
called Miss Hayakawa, who came from Japan to study coaching with
him. Dr. Ron Karnaugh is one of the swimming team members, who
received a bronze medal at the 1998 World Swimming Championship.
He is 32 years old, a medical doctor and is currently preparing
for the 2000 Olympic Games. Dr. Ron started training with Coach
Shoulberg from the age of 7. When he was 19 years old his
swimming time was similar to mine. He encouraged me greatly by
saying that I too could achieve what he has. I always used to go
to his home for lunch breaks- he lives in a small apartment,
which is fully equipped with work-out facilities- every corner
was filled with some kind of apparatus. I believe he spent about
5 hours a day in the pool as well as 2 hours of work out- that's
at least 7 hours of training every day! When he felt tired of
swimming he would take a break by doing a couple of hours workout!
Dr. Ron liked training with me- he kept telling me to come back
earlier from my summer holidays so we could train together.
Another outstanding swimmer in the team is Maddy Crippen; she
currently ranks No. 1 in the USA for the 400m IM. She graduated
from GA last year. Besides swimming she has just broken an 8-hour
exercise bike record. She trains for over 6 hours a day.
Maddy's brother, Francis Crippen, 15-year-old, is the 1500m free
age group champion in the country. He is also my training partner.
I lost to him in distance swimming but beat him sprints. He is a
very talented swimmer.
Another foreigner in the team, who is from Thailand is Guy Y. He
is 19 years old and is the 200m back national record holder. Guy
received a four-year sponsorship from his Thai Swimming club to
study and train at GA. He told me that there are quite a few from
the Thai National Team who are training and studying in the US.
Guy Y. is a very motivated and driven swimmer, when he heard of
my background he competed hard against me in all events.
Sometimes when I won other members of the team would cheer me on
saying, "Today Hong Kong beat Thailand..." Guy Y. was
the overall champion at the district high school championship. He
will graduate this year and go to the University of Virginia, one
of the best universities in the States. There were 5 swimmers who
graduated from GA this year and all of them are going to either
Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, or U Penn- quite amazing!
Coach Shoulberg wants me to study at GA for one year. I have
accepted his suggestion.
Daily training was very hard- every day I got up at around 5 a.m.
and started training by 6 a.m., finishing at around 8 a.m. All
the teammates would then go to classes. I don't have a driving
license so even going to the closest McDonald's took me half an
hour by foot. I would usually just stay by the pool and do some
reading or help the staff doing odd jobs. At 3 p.m. training
started again and went on till 6p.m. Somebody usually gave me a
lift home. After dinner I would study English and then go to bed
at around 10 p.m. On Saturdays we only had one practice but it is
from 8 a.m. till 12 noon. The distance covered per day was about
13'000 meters. Compared to Hong Kong, where I only do 5'000
meters per day, this was hell! Coach Shoulberg was very strict
and demanded that all members of swimming team attend every
training session. Even when somebody was sick or was studying
hard for an exam, they would still have to be at the pool side,
either working out or studying. It took me 3 weeks to catch up
with the rest of the team, sometimes they would beat me and
sometimes I would win. In quality swimming I always came first. I
think Coach Shoulberg was satisfied with my performance.
I came back to Hong Kong on June 20th in order to prepare for the
coming GA and various swimming competitions. I will go back to
the States after the City Games. Just before I left the States,
Coach Shoulberg sent me to Charlotte to compete and I came 3rd in
400m Im. Maddy and I were the only 2 from the team making the top
3 at this meet.
In the 13th Asian Games our team came 4th in the 4x200m free
relay. My goal is to win a medal in any major Asain competitions.
Only two swimmers from Hong Kong have ever won medals for
individual events; Mark Kwok and Robyn Lamsam. These two swimmers
exemplify the two different methods of winning a medal.
Robyn has always lived and trained in Hong Kong. In her
retirement interview she mentioned that for almost 10 years she
got up at 4:45 a.m. every day to train for almost four hours. She
has never taken any HKCEE or A-Level exams- but is now continuing
her education in Australia. Asian Games medallists from major
countries like China, Japan and Korea train as hard as her, if
not harder.
Mark grew up and trained in the US. He has been swimming for 18
years and is now the Captain of the swimming team at University
of Southern California. Asian Games medallists from Thailand,
Malaysia, Korea, even some swimmers from Singapore, all study and
train in the US.
In addition to the above examples I would like to mention Katie
Lau, who trained in Hong Kong and was Robyn's teammate. Katie
reached the peak of her sporting ability at around 14 years old.
Her world ranking for the 100m fly was very high. She was lucky,
however, as she was young enough to switch back to her studies
after training and did well in her HKCEEs. She is now a medical
student at the Hong Kong University. Katie's example is not
uncommon internationally for female swimmers.
Male athletes, however, peak later, at 20 years or older. That is
why many male swimmers in Hong Kong give up their swimming career
too early in order to still be able to do important exams. They
often chose exams over training, thereby losing the chance to
develop to their full potential.
When I was 16 years old I tried to follow Robyn's example. I
would wake up before 5 a.m. for training every day. Two months
later, however, my dad, who had been taking me to the swimming
pool, fell ill due to the stress put upon him, and could no
longer take me. Also, due to academic pressure, I had to give up
my morning sessions altogether. Recently, I have been trying two
sessions per day again in order to prepare for the Asian Games
and for the World Championships. As a result I have given up
doing my A-Levels. Now I am determined to study and train in the
US. I hope to be able to swim another 5-6 years for Hong Kong, to
share my experiences with others and to become a good example to
my successors.
