Coaches for West Texas Swim Coaching
Tom Harris - Founder of WTSC and Head Coach
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Level 2 USA Swimming Coach
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Level 3 US Masters Swimming Coach
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Level 5 American Swimming Coaches Association Coach (Education)
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Member of the American Swimming Coaches Association
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Master’s Degree in Education (Counseling)
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Former Total Immersion Swim Coach
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Former Xterra Triathlete
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Retired USMC Infantry Officer
Kristin Dow - Yoga Instructor for the NWTX Islanders
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200-hour Yoga Certification
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Certified Fitness Group Trainer with 13-years Experience
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Former Elementary School Teacher
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Master’s Degree in Education (curriculum development)
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Marathon Runner
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Mother of Swimmers Owen and Grace
Blanca Ferrell - Strength Coach for the NWTX Islanders
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Certified Personal Trainer - International Sports Sciences Association (ISSA)
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Mother of Swimmers Christian and Kaylee
Jennifer Bagwell - Volunteer Swim Coach for the NWTX Islanders
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Level 2 USA Swimming Coach
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Level 1 USMS Swim Coach
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Level 1 American Swimming Coaches Association Coach (Education)
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Member of the American Swimming Coaches Association
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Master’s Degree in Chemistry
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Laboratory Director at Merieux NutriSciences
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Mother of swimmer Avree
Mission Statement
To provide USMC style leadership and technique-focused swim training to create joy through active physical lives involving fitness, camaraderie, and adventure.
Training Philosophy - Technique First
The NWTX Islanders is a technique-first team. This is what we do well. In the long run, it will, I am convinced, produce more swimmers who reach their potential.
Bill Boomer, without any experience in competitive swimming, became coach of the Rochester University swim team in 1961. Looking at swimming without the blinders
of tradition, he determined that reducing resistance is more important than conditioning, “The shape of the vessel matters more than the size of the engine.” (He also developed the modern track start for swimmers.)
This technique-first idea was revolutionary in swimming. Prior to Boomer, we had little understanding of efficient swim technique and depended on a natural selection process of finding and developing good swimmers. See Coach Doc Counsilman's 1971 The X Factor speech to the American Swimming Coaches Association for an explanation of this system.
Coach Boomer's technique-first ideas were used by retired swim coach Terry Laughlin and his Total Immersion (TI) coaching organization to successfully train thousands of adult swimmers during the triathlon boom of the last several decades. I was one of those triathletes and eventually a TI coach.
Coach Laughlin taught us that because water is a thousand times denser than air, minimizing resistance trumps conditioning in swimming, unlike in running or bicycling, AND resistance increases at the square of speed.
Technique-first thinking has become mainstream in swimming publications (see Swim Speed Strokes by Taormina or The Swimming Triangle by Baker for example.), but has had little effect on the conduct of most swim team practices. Coaches who swam tend to run practice the way their coaches did 30 years ago. And with little time to prepare large numbers of swimmers for a meet, coaches see little choice but to go for the quick fix of focusing on conditioning.
So that's the theory. West Texas Swim Coaching will always be technique-oriented and the Islanders will always be a technique-first team.
Coach Harris
USA Swimming - SafeSport Policy
As a member of USA Swimming, it is with greatest importance that we keep our athletes safe from abuse. Please read our Minor Athlete Abuse Prevention Policy (MAAPP 2.0) below.