Chapter 4
Swim practice always started at five P.M., which meant in your Speedo and in the water by 4:59. Coach Ken had no patience for latecomers—if you even stepped out the locker room door at 5:01, he would make you lie down on the bleachers and pump out a hundred sit-ups while counting them out loud, the numbers echoing across the aquatics center. When you were done counting, you had to stand at the edge of the pool and apologize to the rest of the team for being late, then ask their permission to get in the pool and practice with them. If any fellow teammate said “No,” then you simply had to leave and go home for the day.
Coach Ken believed that a team had to be a team in every way, and that included practice and competition. If a single swimmer was competing in an event, the entire
