How To Unlock Butterfly Genius: Gil Stovall, Pace Clark and Jack Bauerle
When it comes to who can excel at Butterfly races, Jack Bauerle tells it like it is. The reality is, there are a lot of “Butterfly pretenders” out there. After all, all swimmers are tough, but Butterfliers are at a different level. Jack’s tried-and-true coaching philosophy and method produced some of the greatest Butterfliers of our time – Pace Clark and Gil Stovall just to start.
As a Butterflier who swam under him myself, I can attest to his genius coaching methods for Butterfly swimmers.
Jack preaches the gift of confidence to his Butterfliers. He believes it to be the greatest gift we as swim coaches can give our swimmers. If he’s challenging a swimmer to a goal, it’s because he himself believes with 100% confidence they can achieve it. And, he makes sure they know that. It’s amazing how our swimmers can feel that encouragement and self-belief and use it as fuel for their races.
After the goal is stated, Jack breaks it down into steps for his swimmers. The trick? Two swimmers can have the same goal, yet completely different steps to achieve it. Today’s blog compares and contrasts the Butterfly journey of Pace Clark and Gil Stovall to show you what this looks like!
Let’s Get Started…
Jack Bauerle’s Butterfly Philosophy
Coach Bauerle’s Butterfly philosophy might surprise you. In fact, he believes that NOT all Butterfliers who walk on deck the first day of college practice will turn out to be real Butterfliers. Jack’s approach to (at least) the first year of college swimming is to let the swimmers experiment with different events. This is especially applicable while they get used to the change in training regimen. After all, a swimmer might *think* they’re in the best events for themselves, but in reality, their natural skill set could best translate to a different race.
Or, maybe they’re just missing a crucial link to the stroke that you can help teach them!
For example, Jack believes that a 200 Butterflier also needs to have the ability to swim a great 200 and 500 Freestyle. Why, you ask? Simple. Because the type of person who excels in these events is tough as nails. It’s not necessarily just about the anatomy of a swimmer or their body composition in the water.
Pace Clark & Butterfly Side Breathing
When Pace Clark first burst onto the college swimming scene, it was almost unheard of to side-breathe in Butterfly. Many coaches had tried to get him to switch to the more conventional front-facing breath, but not Jack.
Jack saw who Pace was at his core; “a patient but impatient guy,” he described him. Pace is the type of swimmer who has a deep tenacity and drive to work hard to reach his goals. He was the exact kind of Butterflier Jack was looking for – his mental strength allowed him to excel at the 200 and 500 Freestyle as well as the 200 Butterfly.
Struggling to Coach Butterfly? Start With Our Essentials Of Butterfly Course For Coaches!
Instead of tweaking his stroke, Jack decided to throw him in the deep end to see what he did with it. At the time, UGA had a deep roster of great Butterfliers. Pace competed with them at practice day in and day out. “If you’re going to get good it’s simple – you have to beat these guys at practice,” he said.
Beat them he did. After slowly seeing progress, Jack set clear-cut expectations of what he thought Pace could do in the sport. Then, week by week he gave Pace steps in practice to get there. Pace went on to make the World Championship Team in the 200 Butterfly in 2016 and 2017. He’s still contributing to the sport of swimming, and was just named assistant coach for LSU Swimming and Diving!
Gil Stovall’s Path To The Olympics
Remember when we said that Jack believes there are a lot of “Butterfly pretenders” out there? Gil Stovall is not one of them. Not just because he’s an Olympian. From early on, Jack saw that Gil’s competitive advantage was being leg-driven in the last 50 of a 200 Butterfly. You know the moment that everything hurts, and you really start to watch swimmers fade? Jack decided to play into it with the practice steps he was giving to Gil.
Instead of just mindlessly swimming Butterfly up and down the pool, Jack programmed sets and exercises that were meant to hurt: to the point of purposefully hitting a swimmer’s mental and physical capacity. The idea was that his Butterfliers would practice for that last 50. That way, when it all comes down to grit and who can get their hand on the wall first, they’d come out on top.
One Of Jack’s Infamous Sets:
12x50s build it up to 16 (For tapering, coming down to 6 or 8x50s) comprising of:
1×50 Kick MAX effort with board on :35
1×50 Swim FAST on :30
Repeat until you reach the desired number of 50s.
Be careful if you choose to give this set to your swimmers: It is TOUGH. Instruct your swimmers to imagine that each 50 is the last 50 of their 200. That will help them build the confidence to keep going max effort even when they’re hurting at the end of their race. You can also reach the desired effect using max effort resistance training in and out of the pool.
Identifying this strength in Gil and purposefully training it ended up being the difference he needed. After years of practice, he started destroying swimmers on the last 50 of the 200, which increased his confidence race after race. Jack describes it as a “snowball effect of confidence” that led to Gil Stovall’s naming to the Olympic Team in 2008.
Unlocking Butterfly Genius Is The Same As Unlocking Swim Coaching Genius
As swim coaches, we can learn from Jack’s leadership when it comes to our swimmers. Although a swimmer might show promise in a certain stroke or distance, it’s important to stop ourselves from pigeonholing them. They may not actually be in the best events they could be.
Not only that, but keeping a swimmer in the same event over and over again will cause them to go stale, or even burn out of swimming an event. Jack teaches us to always stay open to the possibility that a swimmer can develop in a different event than they’re used to, and to allow them to experiment with you along the way.
Get Swim Coaching Mentorship 1:1 With Jack!
When you help a Butterflier have confidence in themselves, the same rules apply to yourself as a swim coach. Give yourself and your swimmers the gift of confidence by only saying out loud what you believe can happen. After that, break down the steps to get there. It’s no wonder that Jack has inspired generations of Butterfliers like myself, Pace Clark and Gil Stovall.
Until next time,
Abbie Fish and the Swim Like A. Fish Team