New coach brings fresh attitude and style to the Morgan Hill
Swim Club; adores Aquatics Center facility
Morgan Hill – Even on a dark, wet, dreary day new Makos head coach Mark Scott can be found beside the pool at the Morgan Hill Aquatics Center coaching and training members of the Morgan Hill Swim Club. Hired by the Morgan Hill Aquatics Center in October, Scott often works 16 hour days on 25 day stretches, but feels fortunate to have made a living doing a job he loves.
Scott has been involved in swimming nearly all of his life, as he started competitively swimming at the tender age of 5. Scott’s parents managed a swim and tennis club with his mother teaching swimming classes and his father coaching the city team in Wenatchee, Wash. Scott, who doesn’t competitively swim any more, is entering his 20th year of coaching and is ecstatic to be with the Morgan Hill team.
“Even on the really challenging days, it feels like I’m doing something worth while,” said Scott. “It’s a beautiful sport, there’s a lot of power and grace and beauty. I’ve always been attracted to it.”
Scott was attracted to the Morgan Hill job because he enjoys the area and was a bit tired of living out in the fog of the Monterey coast in Aptos.
“I like this area a lot,” said Scott, pausing to bark orders at the swimmers working out at the Morgan Hill Aquatics Center on Thursday night. “I think this is a tremendous area and the growth potential is unlimited. It’s a good opportunity to do what I’m good at, do what I love.”
Scott brings an eclectic coaching style to swimming and stresses the team aspect of a sport that is often seen as an individual activity. He also weaves in martial art teachings from his training in Judo and Jiu Jitsu into his team’s swimming training and conditioning. Martial arts also helped him develop self awareness and to love the sport he was involved in and the team aspect of an apparently individual sport.
“When I was doing martial arts, I stepped into a program being taught by an 82-year-old seventh degree black belt,” said Scott who took about a five year break from competitive swimming and coaching while in college. “He worked on our awareness and where we were coming from. He also found ways to work on our love for the sport and work on the arts part of it instead of the martial part of it.”
In 1976, when Scott returned to competitive swimming at the University of Puget Sound for his final year of eligibility he won the comeback of the century award and swam well in the 50-yard butterfly and backstroke. According to Scott he left swimming because he needed a break and some time to explore other avenues. He found himself burnt out.
With a renewed sense of love for swimming, Scott returned to coaching and found himself along side his college coach Don Davis. Scott returned as Davis’ assistant coach for the men’s team at the University of Puget Sound before taking over head coaching reigns for the women’s team. Scott led the women’s team to several National titles.
Now after 20 years, Scott’s style of coaching integrates his teachings from martial arts and things he learned from mentor Davis.
“I coach as a team sport,” said Scott. “That would have to be the biggest difference between me and the former Makos coach. There’s a group of kids that have been receptive to try something new.”
Winter months kick training into high gear for the Makos team as they prepare for competition and events. Scott holds workouts in the morning and evenings everyday, so the commitment to swim has to be there from the team members.
Scott delicately balances his role as coach and disciplinarian, dealing with children and teenagers from ages 6-18.
One of the things Scott enjoys most about coaching is running into the athletes that he has coached over the years and finding out they have shared their “nightmare” stories of their days on Scott’s teams to their children.
“It very small world in the swimming community,” said Scott. “I run into former swimmers that I coached all the time, even people that I swam with in college and high school.”
When Scott is not pacing up and down the sides of the pool at the Aquatics Center, he can be found building or playing acoustic guitars, rebuilding his old 356 Porsche and enjoys computer games.
For the most part, however, is pacing besides the pool; a home away from home. In January Scott will have the team begin work in the weight room as another aspect to their training.
“It is hard to tell yet what kind of difference his coaching style will make,” said Makos team member Katie Rick.
