Charlotte draws Ryan Lochte, others training for Rio

CHARLOTTE -- Ryan Lochte wasn't unhappy with his coach or his experience in Gainesville, Fla., — but he was a bit stuck.

"I was at the University of Florida for 12 years," Lochte says. "That's where my swimming career started, so I love that place. But I got to a point in my swimming career where I needed a change. It was a 'big fish in a small pond' kind of thing. It just was kind of that feeling. If I wanted to take my swimming career to the next level, I had to do certain things that were a lot different from what I'd done from a training aspect."

So he showed up in Charlotte, called coach David Marsh and joined SwimMAC Carolina's Team Elite program.

Tyler Clary did the same about six months later, leaving the University of Michigan to train with Marsh's postgraduate swimmers chasing dreams of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Clary and Lochte join Cullen Jones, who has worked with Marsh since 2008, as the program's three most high-profile swimmers. The three claim 16 Olympic medals among themselves.

SwimMAC Carolina offers exactly what Lochte and many other postgrads are seeking, which makes it surprising that so few centers like this exist. The other postgrad center of note is Bob Bowman's North Baltimore Aquatic Club, a private center where 18-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps and others train.

The other option for postgrad swimmers is to train alongside college programs. While the resources at certain schools admittedly are better than those at a place such as SwimMAC — the organization is in the midst of a fundraising campaign for a new training center with a 50-meter pool — there are problems that postgrads routinely encounter.

First, college coaches are paid by colleges; their priority must be those swimmers. Second, those programs train on a different schedule, with March's NCAA championships as the focal point. Postgrad swimmers train with an eye on a couple of national and international meets a year, such as the national championships beginning Aug.6 in Irvine, Calif.

Here, elite swimmers train together with nationals, world championships and, most important, the 2016 Olympics in mind. For the most part, they're training with those around their own age instead of teenagers. They can pursue other interests out of the pool and, ideally, prepare for careers after swimming. Clary, for one, is taking steps toward a future in NASCAR.

"It makes it so much easier," says Jones, 30. "You're not sitting around people counting down the days until they get to retire. You're not around people waiting for NCAAs or ACCs or SECs. All of us have one goal. ... The program works. That's why I think it's only going to evolve in the next two years, heading into Rio. You may see more people coming out here or to programs like this."

Bowman, who coached at Michigan, agrees that postgrad centers are appealing. It helps when you have a reputation that helps attract talent as well as funding. Bowman made a name for himself with Phelps; Marsh made his while winning 12 national championships at Auburn.

"There's certainly a need for (postgrad centers)," says Bowman, who is currently training 22 elite swimmers. "Whether everybody needs to do it, I don't know. But I know I ran the program at Michigan, and it's ideal for the college kids and ideal for kids who are just shortly removed from college. I think once you've done it, you think about being someplace for 12 years. That's a long time. It gets harder. It's also not set up for that."

"At some point, when you're the college coach at Michigan, you've got to make all the decisions based on what's best for the Michigan college team. That's not always what's best for these (elite postgrad) guys. I think David and I have the luxury of being able to put their needs at the top of the list."

Bowman took in more postgrad swimmers after the 2012 London Olympics, and Marsh's program also has grown since then, hinting at not only a desire for these types of centers but also a need.

Marsh's long-term vision includes a nationwide network of postgrad centers. He's essentially testing out that system with Clary, who spent a few weeks back at Michigan working on aerobic training for distance events last month. Then he returned to Charlotte and refocused his training on speed and technique work, Marsh's specialty.

"Dave wants to set things up so ideally professional athletes can go to different programs ... specialize in certain things," Clary says. "That is what will take USA Swimming to the next level, if we have the ability to go to these different training camps and turn it into one main place you train, then you can go to these other programs to get what you need."

What swimmers get at SwimMAC Carolina is Marsh's keen eye. Known for his attention to detail, he focuses on technique and works mostly with sprinters.

Since moving to Charlotte, Lochte, 29, primarily has worked on his 100- and 200-meter events (when he has been healthy). Practices are not about the total distance swum but rather saturated, focused segments.

"It's a little more race pace involved," Marsh says. "Training is directed around the duration of the race. For about 50 seconds to two minutes, that's the range of (Lochte's) races. To do long sets of laps for an hour, No.1, Ryan's going to lose interest. No.2, I'm not sure it's going to help his preparation for those events. ...

"I play with everyone's techniques."

For example, in the week leading up to the Bulldog Grand Slam this month — Lochte's first competition in more than two months — they worked on his backstroke turn, trying to make tweaks that could save him hundredths of a second. They've also worked on keeping his butterfly strokes flatter and more aggressive.

Each swimmer had an individualized workout plan. They might do some of the same sets, but for the most part, if Clary needs to work on starts, he'll do the work on his own. If Lochte needs to work on kicking, he'll do it.

"We get a lot of world-class technique work," says Clary, 25. "I think a lot of programs and coaches should really take some notes about what happens here. I've been swimming for a long time, obviously, and I've been in contact with a lot of coaches. Nothing compares to the attention to detail that's here."

This is all by design. Postgrad swimmers require a different approach, one that Marsh has seemingly mastered since he joined SwimMAC Carolina as the CEO and director of coaching in 2007.

"The new challenge of the 24-plus-year-old swimmer is, how do you keep it interesting?" Marsh says. "How do you keep it challenging? How do you respect their need to be their individual selves while still pursuing their swimming ambitions? When you come through high school and college, it's a lot coach-directed. Now, I think with the older swimmers, really, I'm following their lead. They need to bring their motivation and the clarity of what they're trying to get accomplished."

Marsh still tries to help, though. He brings in local sports performance consultant Jeremy Boone, who doubles as a trainer and mentor, to speak about the dynamics of the group, challenges the swimmers face as elite athletes and mental toughness.

Marsh understands that swimming is, at its core, an individual sport. But he believes a sense of camaraderie helps with training. He uses a sliding scale to demonstrate his point — on the far left: teamwork; on the far right: selfishness. At Auburn, he wanted his athletes pointed to the left as they set their sights on winning titles.

Here he trains those who must swim more selfishly — their Olympic hopes depend on it. Even as his swimmers slide toward the selfish end of the spectrum, Marsh requires them to have meals together and focus at least a portion of their energy on team-bonding activities.

"It's a nice, challenging dance to try to figure out how to make all those pieces work," Marsh says.

And he plans to do just that. It's why the pieces picked him.