Testimonials

July 3, 2006

Dear Gary, Bebe, Jon, Gary Jr and Andy,

We got home at around 2:30 this morning, and while we are very tired, we all feel very invigorated and energized by our week with you. We haven't stopped talking about what an amazing experience we had, and we just want to thank all of you for the time and energy that you put into our week at The Race Club. Everything was perfect and we are already trying to figure when we can come again. I think we are all better swimmers for sure, but also better people for having spent the week with you. It was the best and we just want to say thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

See you at Stanford!

Fondly,
Susan, Richard, David and Aly

(7-Day camp in June '06, 4-Day camp in December '06)

September 9, 2006

My first Masters meet after working with The Race Club was yesterday. I set a new personal best for the 50 free! 24.77 Woo hoo! I think it is due to getting my left arm working better per Jon's advice, and also a little better front end catch setup. If I were a year older that time would put me in the National top ten for my age group. So I just have to get even faster over the coming year. I learned so much from the camp and still have quite a few defects to correct, so watch out!

- Don Graft (7-Day camp)

December 28, 2006

I want to thank you and everyone at the Race Club for a fantastic experience for Anne. She has never had a coaching experience like that and she absolutely loved working with Jon and Andy.

-Holly Novak (3-Day camp)

January 1, 2007

Thank you for the hospitality and letting Lindsey be part of the camp, she has not stopped talking about it. Her favorite story and the one that got the biggest response from Neil Walker is the open water swim with Gary Sr.

Lindsey has been studying the video and working on incorporting Jon's comments into her strokes. I will let you know how her next meet goes.

We had a great vacation and look forward to visiting in the future.

Regards,

David Ulin (2-Day camp

Thank you for all the help you have given me it really helped over the course of the season. I didn't make it to high school state though. This week end I had the Wisconsin State Regional meet. I had personal bests in all my events. I swam events I usually do not swim, like the 50 free and the 100 free. I also swam the 200 IM and the 100 back. The 200 IM I had a 2:18 and the 100 back I am stuck at 1:04.74 and I can't get lower than that. In the 50 I almost made it I needed a 23.49 and I got a 24.49. In the 100 free I got a 54.14, which is my best time. I was checking my times and when I swam at Carthage College in October I had a 1:01.54. So just in that amount of time with John and Andy, I dropped that much time.

Thanks for everything,
Dalton Anderson (3-Day camp)

May 9, 2007

The Race Club Family,

Thank you for the tremendous opportunity that you've created for swimmers of all ages and backgrounds to train with The Race Club. We truly enjoyed our week in the Keys and the opportunity for our daughter to spend time with world-class athletes and coaches. We decided to bring Nadia to train with you because the values and mission you shared with us for The Race Club aligned with our family values and the type of coaching we wanted our daughter to be influenced by. As non-swimmers we were not clear whether she had the talent needed to pursue her dreams but we knew a week at The Race Club would definitely challenge her swimming abilities and her desire, will and confidence. While we were excited about her opportunity, we were a little nervous since she was only nine, and not sure how she would respond. We were amazed with her response.

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June 30th, 2007

The Race Club coaches were very informative and worked with us one-on-one focusing on technique and details in our strokes. I liked working on technique in the morning and doing aerobic based work in the afternoon. It gave us an opportunity to apply what we learned earlier into our strokes. Andy was great in our strength training session. I liked how he taught us certain exercises he knew that we could take back to our schools/ clubs to work on. The camp was above and beyond what I expected. The one-on-one feedback and help with stroke work was so helpful. I also loved the experience of being surrounded by so many talented athletes and individuals. My favorite part was boxing with Andy and having dinner with The World Team, the Hall family, and The Race Club staff.

-Kailyn Finnegan (6-Day camp)

June 30th, 2007

The coaches were so great and taught me so much. I learned how to swim with great body and head position and rotation. My expectations were fulfilled. We worked on technique and how to improve our strokes, starts, and turns. I really enjoyed the whole camp, and my favorite part was boxing and watching the videos of my strokes.

-Lauren LaRocco (6-Day camp)

July 1, 2007

Dear Gary, Gary and Bebe:

What a fabulous week. We cannot thank you all enough for exposing our kids to some of the finest coaches and trainers. Most times when you ask your kids "So how was practice" you get some mumbles and if you are lucky some grumbles. This week they were all eager to share what had happened that day and excited to go back for the afternoon session. Everyday they seemed to have a new experience that made their eyes light up when they told us what happened. The undivided attention they got was something they were not used to. I think we all had to pinch ourselves a few times because we could not believe what a great experience our kids were having. Not to mention the added excitement of meeting some top World Swimmers.

Thank you for the wonderful scuba and spear fishing excursion. What a wonderful day for all. Toped off with delicious food caught that day. It does not get much better then that. You have such a lovely family it was so enjoyable to meet Mary, Elizabeth, Gigi and even cousin Christina. Please make sure when you come up to visit your son in NY you let us know so we can get together again.

Best to all,

Barbara

The swim sessions were fantastic. I liked the focus on strokes and other skills. The coaches were amazing! They were patient, skilled, knowledgeable, and fun. Our expectations were wildly exceeded. We were given such close personal attention and taught so much. I liked the day Gary Sr. incorporated stretching into the session and enjoyed hearing him talk about the sport. Thanks so much for a fabulous experience!

-Edith and Katie Adams (6-Day camp)

August 8th, 2007

Gary Sr. is outstanding. Other older Master guys like [me] and younger ones like Ben could benefit from his knowledge and experience. He is an excellent teacher and he seems to care about his students. Mark was awesome also. Mark's enthusiasm is contagious! Mark is also a good teacher. Sense of humor is important (life is too short!) and we liked that about all the people connected with the course. Fabiana (yoga instructor) was very good and seemed to understand older Master guys trying to bend and stretch!

-Bob and Ben Jones (4-Day camp)

September 15th, 2007

Dear Hall Family,

Hi, it's Geoff from this past summer at The Race Club. I'm writing to say hello and thank you for everything you did for me this past summer. This summer training at The Race Club was awesome. I learned so much about swimming and had an experience that will be with me for the rest of my life. Also, I made some reat friendships. I really appreciate how ya'll welcomed me into your home, cooking dinner and taking me out on the boat. You always made me feel comfortable even though I was so far from home. I hope everything is going well down in Florida. I'm sure the weather is nice and the "island time" is a luxury. Best of luck to everyone training as Gary and the guys gear up for '08. Again, I truly appreciate your kindness.

Sincerely,

Geoff Parrish (member of The World Team; Summer of '07)

P.S. Tell Gary that my sprinter spirit will never be broken no matter how much yardage I do. He taught me the importance of understanding how to practice smarter.

Dear Race Club,

Thank you so much for another great trip to the Race Club-I had even more fun on my second trip down. My training is going well and can't wait to see how my first short course meet is going to go. I miss you,

Nadia Nabhan (6-Day camp)

Dear Everyone at The Race Club,

Sometimes you wonder if the second time around will be as good as the first. We had high expectations after seeing the initial impact that Nadia's first week of training at The Race Club had on her development, her desire to be an even better swimmer and her precise skill improvement. I'm here to thank you and The Race Club team for making Nadia’s 2nd visit twice as good as her first trip down to train. Once again Bebe, you helped plan a great week for us and it all started when you pulled up to see Nadia on the first day and continued with your involvement in and out of the water during our entire stay!

Mark “The Drill Master” Hill, as Nadia admiringly refers to him is an exceptional addition to the team. His ability to focus on every detail by taking the swimmer back to basics through a daily drill sequence was amazing. His strategy during the week to pinpoint fundamentals and then transition those fundamentals through each stroke gave her an even greater appreciation for detail. Mark’s style was a terrific balance between humor and reality when she wasn’t executing to his standards. On top of the exceptional drill-work that he trained her on, his continued emphasis on “self-coaching” has had a lasting impression on Nadia. Since coming back and joining her new group, she focuses on 2-3 different specific fundamentals on top of what her coach is emphasizing. In addition to the great Coaching, his high-diving techniques were a real hit.

Andy “The Motivation Man” Deichert, was education, inspiration and exhilaration all wrapped into one. There isn’t a week that goes by that Nadia doesn’t bring up his name and something extraordinary that he talked about. He quickly identified that Nadia was holding something back and tweaked ever so slightly his approach to lighting a fire in her competitive spirit. Whether it was in the gym punching with boxing gloves, working on starts or holding those isometric positions, Andy was a ball of fire in and out of the pool and gym. His coaching techniques were in perfect balance with the work that Mark did with the swimmers.

Gary continues to go out of his way to inspire the group training with The Race Club. He quietly arrived again during their training and quickly took the time to ask the swimmers lots of questions about what they’d learned and what their goals were. Then he slipped in the pool and trained right next to them as if they were all preparing for the Olympics. It’s priceless to watch their faces light up and their competitive spirit come out when he challenges them to seeing what they’re made of.

Nadia came back from The Race Club to her training with Tide Swim Team with an invigorated passion and new goals for her short-course season. Her initial month of training and her first meet resulted in significantly dropped times and tremendous improvement in her racing, she looked unstoppable in the pool against older and bigger swimmers (Andy, even her starts had improved!) When asked a few weeks back what she wanted to be when she grew up Nadia proudly announced “An Olympic Swimmer”…Gary, we hope you’ll keep The Race Club going because Nadia will be heading down to train with The World Team before you know it.

We can’t thank you enough and Nadia can’t wait to get back to The Keys and The Race Club!

All of our thanks for everything you do,

The Nabhan’s (6-Day camp)

October 27, 2007

October 28, 2007

The Race Club,

We wanted to follow up with you to tell you that after Laken's Race Club training camp with Mark, she swam her best time ever in the girls 100 yard Butterfly this past Friday at the High School Regional competition. She swam a 1:07.49 in preliminaries and then a 1:06.26 in finals.

She incorporated a lot of the techniques given to her by Mark in a very short period of time (5 days) and it paid off significantly. The look of accomplishment on her face when she saw her time was truly a Kodak moment.

Lisa (Laken: 1-Day camp)

November 21, 2007

Both Mark and Andy were excellent coaches. My sons, Christopher and Conor, basically received one-on-one training by 2 top coaches. Both swim and dryland sessions were great.  I think we need to give the camp a full week.  We did an abbreviated few days.  Mariner's Club Resort was excellent and we look forward to our next trip.

Tim and Susan O'Sullivan (Christopher and Conor: 3-Day camp)

The Race Club coaches were able to bring out the competitive spirit in Ashley and Tyler.  They provided them with a better understanding of how to push themselves in practice and set goals for a meet race. The kids loved the variety of drills (bungee chords were their favorite). The camp completely fulfilled our expectations and in most cases exceeded our expectations! The kids had a meet in Kansas City 2 days after returning from Florida. They both dropped time in all their events!  The staff provided everything we needed regarding the camp and things to do in the area.  We felt very prepared for our first trip to the Keys. The accommodations were beautiful. We loved having a condo that walked out to the lagoon pool. We enjoyed everything in Islamorada! We spent 3 afternoons at Founder's Beach and had an opportunity to kayak and paddleboat. Thanks for the best vacation ever! We look forward to seeing everyone at The Race Club next year for another camp!

Dawn Bowen (Ashley and Tyler: 5-Day camp)

Alfie Pardoe's Camp

Alfie & I got back last Wednesday – having spent 10 excellent & highly motivational days at the Race Club’s swimming facility in Islamorada, Florida.

Alfie’s Race Club camp was scheduled over 8 days. Each morning started with a 1 hour 45 minute pool training session from 8am. A 45 minute gym or yoga session was scheduled for every afternoon, and the day would finish with another 1 hour 45 minute pool session from 4pm. Additional time was spent on underwater filming for Dartfish and the provision of one-on-one feedback from one or more of the coaches.

Gary Hall Jnr took Alfie out to lunch and we spent a couple of evenings having dinner with Gary Hall Snr – not forgetting the afternoon we spent on The Race Club 70MPH speedboat. All very positive!

During most of the training sessions Alfie enjoyed a lane to himself and experienced hands on coaching and tips from the Coaching team and some of the World Class swimmers swimming in the lanes next to him.

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Paradise Found

By Bob Jones

My arms knifed through the water and I could feel my hips rotate and drive with my freestyle kick toward the wall. When I touched the wall, I looked up and the sun shone brightly on my head and shoulders. The water was warm, just right, I thought--- as I eased my body lower to get ready to push-off the wall for the final 50 meters in the set. The coach nodded encouragingly and said “I like your elbows and your pull ---make sure you rotate your body to provide more power. “

Gary Hall runs a program called The Race Club in Islamorada, Florida, just a few miles from Key Largo in the Florida Keys. It is a training camp for swimmers of all ages. But what is unusual about it is not only its elite and honored staff, but its core foundation and principles–based training.

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