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“Dave Salo and I recruited her to USC at the end of 2008, and she subsequently qualified for World Champs in the 800 the summer of 2009,” says Kase. “I got her to do an open water select camp in 2010, and she soon qualified for her first open water World Championships in the 25K. “She continued to compete in both open water and pool throughout college. During that time, she was not only a leader on the team, but an NCAA champion, Olympic silver medalist, Pac12 champion and Olympic Trials finalist. “Over the past 10 years, she has developed a passion for the sport and has consistently gotten stronger and faster, enjoying sustained success at the highest levels. Haley has competed in different bodies of water all over the world (rivers, oceans, lakes, varied courses) and has won races in water hot and cold. She is flexible, adaptable and responds to everchanging circumstances in a race. “Haley is tough and can handle just about anything in workout. She thrives in competition, can handle short-rest sets, loves racing-quality sets and has an ability to descend any distance. My job has been to stay attuned to her needs,” says Kase. “Dave Salo and I liked to vary practices, keep things interesting and challenge swimmers with different distances. We rarely repeated sets. However, at training camps or a few days before a competition, I often had Haley repeat a set of 3x (8 x 50). The results would give me a good read on how fast she was swimming. I could then tailor training to what I thought would build her confidence leading into the race. “Sometimes I would change intervals—i.e., 1 round on :40, 1 round on :45, 1 round on :50. Other times I would look for descending 1-4, holding each round faster, or 1 easy/1 fast and really get her going with a good kick. At a venue, I wanted to see her on the course, adapting to the environment—landmarks, buoys—just taking it all in. We would also practice turns and finishes. “In 2016, she had speed, endurance and was training better than ever. She used her fifth place in Rio (1:57:20.2, just 28.8 seconds out of third) to motivate herself and to continue to pursue her goals,” says Kase. “To her credit, she used that experience to grow and to ultimately produce two of her best career years in the pool (she posted her fastest times in 2018) and winning international open water races.”
HOW THEY TRAIN HALEY ANDERSON BY MICHAEL J. STOTT
O
pen water competition is a take-no-prisoners endeavor. Meteorological conditions (wind, weather, etc.) and elements such as waves and water temperature present physical and mental pressures unlike those found in shorter aquatic contests. Then there are seasoned opponents—e.g., the average age of female 10K competitors at the 2016 Olympics was 25.03; for men, 25.64. Among those in Rio was 24-year-old Haley Anderson. Her credentials include being an 11-time NCAA All-American (USC), three-time NCAA champion, 2012 Olympic silver medalist (10K) and five-time open water World Championship medalist (two gold, 2013 and 2015 5K; two silver, 2017 team event, 2019 10K; one bronze, 2019 team event). The Granite Bay, Calif. native also has four U.S. open water championships, two Pan Pac gold and two World University Games gold medals. A USA Swimming national team member since 2009, last season she wore the colors of the International Swimming League’s Cali Condors. In short, Anderson is decorated and determined. And at age 29, on her third U.S. Olympic team, she is headed for the Aug. 4 10K starting line at Odaiba Marine Park in Tokyo after an extended stay in Mission Viejo, working with Mark Schubert. Through it all, her main open water coach and training director has been Catherine Kase. “Haley is competitive, loyal, coachable, independent, adaptable, a DIY project lover and a great traveling partner,” says Kase. “She is extremely aware and observant of all things. Every day she brings her best to the pool, trains hard, smiles and leaves it there. Haley makes those around her better in training and pursues excellence in everything she does. She loves her snorkel, can train every stroke in workout, mixes it up and is great at changing gears.
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Michael J. Stott is an ASCA Level 5 coach whose Collegiate School (Richmond, Va.) teams won nine state high school championships. A member of that school’s Athletic Hall of Fame, he is also a recipient of NISCA’s Outstanding Service Award.
JUNE 2021
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[ PHOTO BY PETER H. BICK ]
