At the recent Bulldog Grand Slam meet in Athens, Georgia, NBAC head coach had a lot going on. He was focusing on the performances of his Olympic gold medalists, Yannick Agnel, Michael Phelps, Allison Schmitt, and Conor Dwyer, among his expansive elite squad.
He still, however, was able to find a few minutes out of the meet to talk with SwimSwam’s Shanda Crowe about his other stars: Paralympic gold medalists Jessica Long and Ian Silverman.
These two swimmers got to the point that they’re at, where they’re the best in the world in their specialties and training at NBAC as one of the best groups in the world, in very different ways. Silverman is a Baltimore native, through-and-through, and came up through the NBAC system like Phelps did.
Long, on the other hand, just came to NBAC in the last year, like Dwyer and Agnel, and according to Bowman she’s fit right in.
There’s not a lot known among the general public about how America’s Paralympians train, and Bowman here gives a little insight: as it turns out, not a whole lot differently than the rest of the team.
I think the biggest thing for Paralympic swimmers in training is the acknowledgement that they may function a little differently, but to treat them and train them the same.The deficits don’t matter, it’s maximizing the assets!