TEMPE, Ariz. – For many swimming and diving teams, winter or even the entire collegiate season signals a move indoors. For Arizona State, there's no such problem in their Tempe home and sharing their home pool this week with another top-10 team during winter training provided a unique, shared advantage for both squads.
The teams mutually deciding to cancel a previously scheduled meet between the No. 4/10 Hoosiers and No. 10/RV Sun Devils, Indiana kept their travel plans intact, traveling to Tempe for a week of training and team bonding, not only with each individual team but between the two.
"Having Indiana spend this week training with our team is an invaluable experience for our student-athletes," said Arizona State head swimming coach Bob Bowman. "They are truly a high-performance team."
The teams and coaches participated in joint, collaborative practices as well as team-bonding experiences throughout the week, like AcroYoga and a hike up nearby Camelback Mountain.
"The dynamic between the athletes and staff from both programs has been fantastic and has created a challenging and motivating training environment," Bowman continued. "It's always good to mix things up and gain a fresh perspective on your sport. The Sun Devils and Hoosiers will both benefit from this unique experience."
With the caliber of coaches and student athletes between the two teams, the week serves as an "Olympic-style training camp", according to Keenan Robinson, who traveled to Tempe from his new home in Colorado Springs this week.
Robinson, now the USA Swimming National Team High Performance Director, came from ASU, where he served as head of high performance services for aquatic sports as well as a long-time advisor to Bowman. He acknowledged this week of training represented a special partnership, one that follows ASU Vice President for University Athletics Ray Anderson's goal to make ASU an "Olympic training ground".
Bowman served as head men's coach for Team USA at the 2016 Rio Olympics, also an assistant coach in Athens (2004), Beijing (2008), and London (2012). He, of course, has also served as coach and mentor to the most decorated Olympian of all time, Michael Phelps. Indiana's head coach, Ray Looze, most recently was the assistant coach for Team USA's women's team in Rio.
Hoosier Associate Head Coach Mike Westphal coached the Ukrainian Olympic Team in Beijing (2008) while Senior Assistant Coach Rachel Stratton-Mills (ASU) and Associate Head Sprint Coach Coley Stickels (IU) coached Olympic medalists in 2012 and 2016.
Assistant coaches Michael Joyce (ASU) and Mark Hill (IU) have experience placing athletes on Olympic teams and in the Olympic Trials while other assistant coaches swam in the Olympics and/or Olympic Trials – Dan Kesler (ASU), Joyce, Caitlin Hamilton (IU), Stickels. ASU Director of Operations Tim Hochradel even has international experience, recently serving as team manager for the USA Swimming Open Water Team at the 2017 FINA World Championships.
The opportunity for the rapidly-improving Sun Devils to train with Olympic gold medalists like Lilly King (100 breast) and Blake Pieroni (4x100 free relay) is also invaluable as they prepare for the final stretch of duals going into championship season.
After the holidays, the No. 10 Sun Devil men host Harvard, who is receiving votes in the latest poll, on Jan. 6 before the men and women host No. 2/5 Texas on Jan. 26 and No. 16/17 Arizona on Senior Day (Feb. 3). On the road, the women take on Washington State (Jan. 13) before ASU faces No. 1/3 Cal and No. 5/2 Stanford on back-to-back days (Jan. 19-20).
Sun Devil Diving also hosts Boise State in a holiday meet on Dec. 31 (11 a.m.), a meet free to the public at Mona Plummer Aquatic Center.
First day of winter? Still swimming outdoors! ???????????? pic.twitter.com/NukavB9bGX
— Sun Devil Swim/Dive (@ASUSwimDive) December 21, 2017
The teams mutually deciding to cancel a previously scheduled meet between the No. 4/10 Hoosiers and No. 10/RV Sun Devils, Indiana kept their travel plans intact, traveling to Tempe for a week of training and team bonding, not only with each individual team but between the two.
TRAINING TRIP IN AZ! #following #readygo #GoIU???? pic.twitter.com/ePpNvbjcaH
— Mark Hill (@M4rkH1ll) December 17, 2017
"Having Indiana spend this week training with our team is an invaluable experience for our student-athletes," said Arizona State head swimming coach Bob Bowman. "They are truly a high-performance team."
The teams and coaches participated in joint, collaborative practices as well as team-bonding experiences throughout the week, like AcroYoga and a hike up nearby Camelback Mountain.
Y did I climb up this mountain after practice? ??#tempe
A post shared by Kennedy Goss (@kennedygoss) on
Had an AWESOME time this morning at AcroYoga with the lady Devils today! ????
A post shared by Rachel Stratton-Mills (@swimcoachrachel) on
"The dynamic between the athletes and staff from both programs has been fantastic and has created a challenging and motivating training environment," Bowman continued. "It's always good to mix things up and gain a fresh perspective on your sport. The Sun Devils and Hoosiers will both benefit from this unique experience."
This... this is going to be a very fun week!???????? #ASU #IU
— Grant House (@HousetheMouse) December 19, 2017
With the caliber of coaches and student athletes between the two teams, the week serves as an "Olympic-style training camp", according to Keenan Robinson, who traveled to Tempe from his new home in Colorado Springs this week.
Robinson, now the USA Swimming National Team High Performance Director, came from ASU, where he served as head of high performance services for aquatic sports as well as a long-time advisor to Bowman. He acknowledged this week of training represented a special partnership, one that follows ASU Vice President for University Athletics Ray Anderson's goal to make ASU an "Olympic training ground".
Bowman served as head men's coach for Team USA at the 2016 Rio Olympics, also an assistant coach in Athens (2004), Beijing (2008), and London (2012). He, of course, has also served as coach and mentor to the most decorated Olympian of all time, Michael Phelps. Indiana's head coach, Ray Looze, most recently was the assistant coach for Team USA's women's team in Rio.
Indiana freshmen girls breaking it DOWN!
A post shared by IU Ray Looze (@raylooze) on
Hoosier Associate Head Coach Mike Westphal coached the Ukrainian Olympic Team in Beijing (2008) while Senior Assistant Coach Rachel Stratton-Mills (ASU) and Associate Head Sprint Coach Coley Stickels (IU) coached Olympic medalists in 2012 and 2016.
taking advantage of the sun and scenery #IUinAZ ????
A post shared by Caitlin Hamilton (@iucoachcaitlin) on
Assistant coaches Michael Joyce (ASU) and Mark Hill (IU) have experience placing athletes on Olympic teams and in the Olympic Trials while other assistant coaches swam in the Olympics and/or Olympic Trials – Dan Kesler (ASU), Joyce, Caitlin Hamilton (IU), Stickels. ASU Director of Operations Tim Hochradel even has international experience, recently serving as team manager for the USA Swimming Open Water Team at the 2017 FINA World Championships.
A post shared by Sun Devil Swim & Dive (@sundevilswimdive) on
The opportunity for the rapidly-improving Sun Devils to train with Olympic gold medalists like Lilly King (100 breast) and Blake Pieroni (4x100 free relay) is also invaluable as they prepare for the final stretch of duals going into championship season.
"Recovering" with my people?? ??: @iucoachcaitlin
A post shared by Lilly King (@_king_lil) on
After the holidays, the No. 10 Sun Devil men host Harvard, who is receiving votes in the latest poll, on Jan. 6 before the men and women host No. 2/5 Texas on Jan. 26 and No. 16/17 Arizona on Senior Day (Feb. 3). On the road, the women take on Washington State (Jan. 13) before ASU faces No. 1/3 Cal and No. 5/2 Stanford on back-to-back days (Jan. 19-20).
Sun Devil Diving also hosts Boise State in a holiday meet on Dec. 31 (11 a.m.), a meet free to the public at Mona Plummer Aquatic Center.
A post shared by coach_bowman (@coach_bowman) on