SwimSwam Interview With Dan Stephenson, Author & Masters Swimmer

Dan Stephenson has been a swimmer his whole life:  First as an age grouper and as a high school phenom  from Ann Arbor, Michigan, later as a collegiate swimmer for UCLA in the 1970’s.  In 1976, Dan just missed making the Olympic Team by a few tenths of a second, and in 1980, his swimming career ended on March 21, the same day President Carter announced the boycott of the games. But you can’t keep a good swimmer out of the pool forever, and today Dan is back at it as a Master’s Swimmer, holding world records in several events. He has also written a book, The Underwater Window, which is both a fictional story of friends and rivals competing for a spot on the Olympic Team, and a reflection on the life lessons of our sport.

A few weekends ago Dan was the keynote speaker at a Masters Intensive Training Camp, put on the Walnut Creek Masters.  Head Coach Kerry Obrien read Dan’s book and immediately knew he wanted Dan to come speak to the group.  One passage in particular caught Kerry’s attention.  It was about how swimming trains the mind.  Dan’s talk began with a reading of that passage, which has been re-printed at the end of this interview, and it finished with Dan sharing his thoughts which have been informed by nearly 5 decades of swimming experience.  Afterward, SwimSwam caught up with Dan.

SwimSwam:  Dan, each chapter of The Underwater Window begins with a story, a reflection, or a life lesson you learned through swimming.  These passages range from your love of the water to a meditation on what a Monarch butterfly must do before it can even attempt one of the most remarkable migrations in the animal kingdom.  The passage you read at the clinic began with “Swimming trains your mind.”  Can you talk a little bit about the connection between swimming and the mind, and can you share an example or two from your life where the training you did in the pool served you in the “real world?”

Dan:  I’m a lawyer in my day job, and a few years ago I was in the middle of a long jury trial and had a really bad day in court. My witness was just awful. That night, I had to get ready for the next witness and I felt exhausted, couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep. But I forced myself to trudge on. I worked all night. The next day went swimmingly and we won the trial. That was when the light bulb went on and I said “hey, the stuff I went through in swimming really can be parlayed on dry land.” There are so many parallels between swimming and “real” life. The mental toughness aspect is one of many. I’ll give you another example. I was a shy kid – painfully shy. I’m now in a profession where you’re required to be aggressive, to speak up, to perform in front of an audience (judge and jury) with a lot on the line. I really enjoy it. So what changed me? I honestly believe swimming gets the credit. I have never been more nervous than when I anchored the final relay for UCLA with the meet against USC on the line. My knees almost buckled under me on the starting block. But I did my job and it made a lot of people happy. I learned I could handle stress and perform at my best with adrenaline shooting through my veins.

SwimSwam:  I suspect that there’s something about pushing yourself every day in the pool that helps you to get used to pushing outside your comfort zone.  This is a good skill to have.  Like you, I’ve also noticed years later in professional situations, that I can push through the long nights when called for.  What about staring at that black line for all those hours?  A lot of people think it’s mind numbing, but in your talk, you spoke about how it increases your focus and awareness.  Can you talk about that a little bit?

Dan:  Swimming engages your mind on multiple levels at once. You’re monitoring stroke technique and body systems, doing math (counting strokes, repeats and laps), running a subconscious pace clock, racing other people, spotting turns, the list could go on. There’s a repetition side that just makes you mentally stronger – gives you mental stamina – and there’s a sharpening side that fine tunes your “mind muscle.” If you’ll indulge another story, five months after the 1980 boycott was announced, I was interviewing for a job with a fairly prestigious law firm. The partner who interviewed me went to bat for me with the hiring committee. He said “you know what this guy’s been doing the past ten years? Staring at a black line on the bottom of a pool five hours a day!” When he first told me that, I didn’t know how he thought that qualified me to be a great lawyer. But I got the job, and I still have it – 33 years later. The guy who hired me is still with the firm too. I’ve heard him tell the “black line” story to other people, never elaborating in the least. So a couple years ago I asked him, what did you mean? Did you mean that I would do any insanely hard task I was asked to do? Did you mean I knew how to be disciplined, to work hard and out-prepare the other side? Were you calling me stupid or smart? He still thinks it needs no explanation whatsoever and by now I agree with him.

SwimSwam:  (laughter).  Maybe a little of both.  Dan I read your book, The Underwater Window, about a year ago when it first came out.  I was struck by two themes.  I was hoping you could talk a little about each.  The first is the dynamic that all swimmers share, your best friends and your biggest competitors are often the same people.  What do you make of that?  And the second theme, a little more under the surface, has something to do with coming to terms with having worked extremely hard, sacrificed much, but not quite reaching your goal.  The US Olympic Swim Team has to be the most difficult athletic team to make in all of sport.  Only two people (used to be three) make it every four years.  Everybody else, at all levels, even some who make the team, probably fall short of their ultimate goal.  It’s been thirty years since your attempt to make the team, what insights and perspective can you share?

Dan:  Those two questions are related – let me take them in reverse order. I’m certain that had I made the Olympic team back in the day, I would not have written The Underwater Window. The 30 years I spent coming to grips with the meaning of it all was a huge part of the motivation for writing. Almost everyone in swimming has to come to the same grips – you train hard, you sacrifice, you have a dream, and almost no one’s dream comes true. Where does that leave us? Well, it took me 30 years and lots more (masters) swimming to figure it out, but it leaves us in a pretty darn good place. It leaves us with goal-setting and relentless preparation in our DNA. It leaves us with great habits. And best of all, it leaves us with great life-long friends. You know, my UCLA teammates and I get together at least once a year, and we interact on almost a daily basis. We’re all over the world, and this is 38 years after we met as teenagers. We don’t even have a team anymore, and our coaches have passed away. So those are pretty strong bonds. I think one of the reasons for the strength is this unique aspect of our sport – the overlap of friendship and rivalry. You battle the same guys in practice every day and you race against them in meets, even though they’re on your team. And when it’s all done, the shared experiences and the memories are permanent. I wanted to share this with swimmers, people who know swimmers, and  people who want to understand the sport. That’s why I wrote the book and that’s why it’s called The Underwater Window. There’s a lot more to this sport than what you can see at the surface.

SwimSwam:  Dan, I love that answer.  My experience is the same.  My teammates and I from 35+ years ago also have a reunion most every year.  We also e-mail frequently.  Sadly, some of the old jokes just won’t die, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.  It’s great fun.  Those friendships are irreplaceable.  And now, you find yourself at the other end of a lifelong swimming career, competing in Masters, chasing records.  Tell us a little about your Master’s swimming, your goals, and what you get out of it.

Dan:  As we say in the law world, “the record will reflect” that I’ve been swimming Masters off and on for 28 years, I’ve been a national champion 50 times, world champion 13 times, and set 10 world records.  Winning is certainly fun, and records are woven into the fabric of the sport. But if that’s what it’s all about, I wouldn’t be doing it. What I really like is being in shape. I like challenging myself. There’s a tendency with guys my age to want to coast, but I don’t want to become a fat cat. I like learning new things, such as new stroke technique and training theories. I like being on a team, having a coach, swimming relays, cheering for other people, scoring points. I like going to the world championships and making friends with guys who don’t speak English. There’s a lot more, but let me finish with my favorite. My old friend Mike Bottom asked me to talk to his Michigan swimmers right before final exams. He wanted me to tell them how they could go to class, study, and still go to swim practices. I’ve been known to juggle a lot of chainsaws myself, so I have some experience. I told them that swimmers “stretch the day” better than anyone. When the discipline motor is in high gear, which it has to be if you’re an elite swimmer in training, you don’t waste time. You don’t spin your wheels. You never get off task. What I enjoy most about “training mode” is the ability to get a zillion things done in a day.

SwimSwam:  So swimming not only trains the mind, it focuses it too.  You are a husband, a parent, a grandparent, an attorney, and probably 50 other things as well as being a swimmer.  As you suggest, when you get to be an old guy like me, the temptation is always to put your feet up on the dashboard and leave them there.  Yet, you still have some pretty big swimming goals.  Are you willing to talk about those, especially in the context of your other roles?

Dan:  I’m glad you asked me about goals, because they’re at the heart of swimming. Even old swimmers have goals. My primary goal is to go 2:04 in the 200 free, long course meters, at the Masters World Championships this summer in Montreal. That’s a pretty tough goal – I went 2:06 last year. I’ve got to find a way to squeeze two more seconds out. It means I have to focus, sacrifice some things, get my weight down, find time to train hard, train smart, stay injury-free, eat right, sleep well, hone my technique, work on starts and turns, hit my taper, and it all has to come together on August 5. It’s kind of like writing a book, where you have all these threads you have to pay attention to – plot lines, characters, dialogue, scenes, etc. – they’re all winding toward a climax. It’s pretty similar to what I do as a trial lawyer, too. You have to keep your eye on the endpoint the entire time you travel the path. My goal of 2:04 and what it takes to get there shows that this is a complex, nuanced sport that engages mind and body on several levels. And what you develop in yourself while swimming can be parlayed directly on dry land. That’s what the goal thing is all about. It’s not just an approach to swimming, it’s an approach to life. Long term, I would love to be traveling the world competing in swim meets in my 90s, like my teammate Mo Kornfeld. She’s an inspiration to me. That’s more like a hope than a goal. My prediction is that swimming – particularly Masters – is going to mushroom in popularity in the next ten years. My goal is to give that a boost. I believe in the Bible verse that says “to whom much is given, much is required.” I think about that every day. A lot’s been given to me and I’m grateful for it. It fills me with a sense of duty to give back. I plan to do that by continuing to train and compete, write, speak, be an ambassador for swimming.

SwimSwam:  Dan, you have almost 5 decades of swimming experience, do you have any words of wisdom, advice, or encouragement that you’d like to share?  Would they be the same or different depending on where one is in the arc of their swimming life?

Dan:  I’ve spoken to young kids and old Masters, and the message isn’t all that different. That’s the beauty of this sport – there’s always something you can shoot for, whether you’re old or young, fast or slow. The message is: you’re involved in something bigger than you think. Invest yourself in it – not just time and sweat but mind and soul. Aim for something higher than medals. Be a student of the sport, look for rationale and meaning. You’ll get out far more than you put into it.

SwimSwam:  Dan, that’s  a really good point and really good advice.  We’re grateful that you are such a good ambassador to our sport, and your willingness to speak with us and share what you’ve learned.   I loved The Underwater Window, and we’ll be rooting for you to get that 2:04.

Dan:  Thanks! I need all the moral support I can get. Great speaking with you.

Passage from The Under Water Window – Chapter 10:

“Swimming trains your mind.  This may seem counter-intuitive, given the mind-numbing boredom of watching a black line for five hours a day.  You’d think swimming would deaden the mind.  The opposite is true.

“In some ways, the boredom itself works the strengthening.  Just like a muscle, the mind responds to repetition.  Something long and difficult becomes easier to do the second time around, and easier still the third time.  Why?  Because you’re familiar with it.  You know it won’t kill you.  Swimmers, therefore, are not reticent to take on hard tasks in real life.  They will handle the hot potato; they’ll draw enemy fire.  The boredom and the mental effort required to perform hard sets toughens your mind.

“There is a sharpening to go along with the toughening.  You don’t turn your mind off when you swim.  In fact, you’re required to engage it on several levels at once.  Proper stroke technique is complex and nuanced.  You have to monitor and adjust constantly.  You check rhythm and pace; you keep a clock and a counter going in your head.  Race strategies must be planned and implemented carefully.  Your brain has to multi-task.

“Swimmers must be observant and make decisions on the fly.  Adjustments are often required based on small, fleeting pieces of evidence—a splash in your peripheral vision may mean someone is racing you across the pool; a small tinge of new pain in your shoulder may signal the need for a stroke modification.  If you lose focus, you may miss the wall on your flip turn.  Continual concentration is mandated.

“Every lap and every stroke trains the mind as much as it trains the body.  Mental toughness is a premium attribute.  When the race is on the line and your muscles are full of lactic acid, the mind is what pushes you through the pain and enables you to bring it home.  You have to be able to tell yourself that you trained harder than the guy you’re racing.  In a world governed by hundredths of a second, the mental edge is crucial.”