Author: Colin Moyer
Newly instated Head Coach of the swimming and diving team and Aquatics Director Alex Kuhn is no stranger to competition. He has spent most of his life in the pool racing for victory. However, his most recent success was in the contest to coach Occidental’s swimming and diving team and direct the aquatics program at Taylor Pool. Kuhn triumphed over more than 200 applicants who were attracted to the bright lights of Los Angeles and the prospect of coaching the Oxy Tigers.
Kuhn has proven his abilities as a coach at both the high school and college level. He coached programs with winning records at Kent County High School (MD), Grinnell (IA) and, most recently, Sweet Briar College (VA).
In an article for the Oxy’s athletics Web site, Director of Athletics Jaime Hoffman said, “[Kuhn’s] recruiting experience at both Grinnell and Sweet Briar is what was most impressive to the search committee.”
While at Sweet Briar, Kuhn led his team to a third place finish in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference and tripled the size of the team from 2007 to 2008. Kuhn was also named 2008 Coach of the Year for the Old Dominion Athletic Conference for his work at Sweet Briar. “It [Sweet Briar] is a little different [than Oxy], [since] it’s an all women’s college and our school colors were pink and green,” Kuhn said. Despite the differences, Kuhn plans to use his proven training regimen and recruiting experience to build a national-caliber program at Oxy.
Kuhn explained that his training program involves “quality focus groups,” which means that swimmers train with the people who do similar strokes and distances. These groups attend each of the three daily practices to focus on their specific events. They also take part in an “explosive” weight training routine designed to hone swimming-specific muscles, which allows for faster starts. Another piece of the team’s training this year is yoga. Kuhn said, “I am a big believer in body awareness and body balance.” He is hoping the yoga will allow the swimmers to become more flexible. The increase in flexibility allows the swimmers to have fuller range of motion in their strokes and outreach their competitors at the end of the races.
In addition to physical training, Kuhn is an advocate for the use of sports psychology. He believes mental training helps athletes and pushes them farther than they believe they can go. According to Kuhn, psychological training is essential to a successful program. “You want to make your average athletes good, your good athletes great and your great athletes elite,” Kuhn said.
Although swimming season does not begin until December, the team has already started its intense training schedule. Every swimmer is required to attend nine practices a week, three in the mornings and five in the afternoons, each of which are two hours long.
Their final weekly practice is four hours on Saturdays. “We’re definitely focusing a lot more on dryland work and strength training, but we’re also changing the way we practice in the pool, putting a lot of work into reevaluating our stroke mechanics and increasing our efficiency in the water. All in all, we’re definitely in for some fast swims come race day,” said swimmer Will Carlson (senior). Unlike most sports, regular swimming competitions have no bearing on the team’s post-season standing, so they are all hoping for a strong showing at the SCIAC championships in February.
The swimming and diving home opener against Cal Lutheran will be held on Dec. 4.
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