Coach back to pool of hard knocks

Former Olympian and world champion gold medallist Jonathan Winter is just hoping he doesn't make a fool of himself when he is a guest of Swimming Wairarapa for their open championships and 50 th anniversary celebrations this weekend.
Winter has been cajoled into taking part in a celebrity sprint on Sunday afternoon but he reckons a lack of preparation could see him playing second fiddle to his opposition .
"Do you know if they have weight divisions........maybe if there is a heavyweight class I could be a chance," Winter said from Auckland yesterday while taking time out from his head coaching duties at the United club. "And tell me we only have to go 25m, if it's 50m I might struggle to make it to the end!".
Winter has fond memories of his competitive days in Wairarapa in the mid to late 1980's, first as a member of the Featherston club and then with Carterton.
Not so much because of the host of titles he won in age group competitions but because of the enjoyment he took from competing against a mix of friends and schoolmates.
"We had a lot of fun and got up to a fair bit of mischief too," he said. "There's probably a few officials down there still wanting to have words with me, I 'm just wondering whether I should turn up in disguise!"
To say Winter developed into a star performer on both the international and national stage would, of course, be a gross under-statement. Even a cursory glance at his record would indicate that would do him an injustice.
A high point was representing New Zealand at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, just one year after his most notable success, a gold medal at the world championships in Rio De Janeiro as part of the New Zealand 4 by 100m relay squad. Their time was a New Zealand record and the fourth fastest ever recorded
Winter also competed in three consecutive Commonwealth Games, starting in 1994, and he won backstroke titles at the Oceania Grand Prix on no fewer than four occasions, 1993 through to 1996. National records came his way in butterfly, backstroke and individual medley during a career which saw him win a remarkable 38 New Zealand titles, three South African open titles and 1400 plus medals at various meets here and overseas,
including more than 1000 golds! At the age of 31 he was still going strong, becoming the oldest male ever to have won a national crown when he took out the 50m freestyle.
In the coaching sphere too Winter has made a huge splash, three times being head coach for the national team contesting the Trans Tasman age group series and being named New Zealand Provincial Coach of the Year in 2005 and 2007. He has coached in Wellington, Hawke's Bay and now Auckland and his swimmers, from junior through to open, have won around 100 national titles.
Winter's latest sojourn to the Wairarapa has a a three way focus, contesting the special celebrity sprint event, finalising arrangements with Swimming Wairarapa officials for a visit by a team of United club swimmers to the Wairarapa during the July school holiday break and talking informally to Featherston club members, probably on Monday.
Just how many United swimmers will make the trip to Wairarapa hasn't yet been decided but Winter expects the number to range between 16 to 20 and he says they will be the best available talent-wise in a club which is not big in size -having just 58 registered members-but which is big in quality. "We (United) are heading for the top,make no mistake about that,"he said.
The prospect of returning to the Featherston outdoor pool has Winter recalling his training days there when swimmers often had to fight off the effects of a howling gale,"It could get cold, bloody cold," he said. "But noone seemed to worry too much, they breed 'em tough down there!".
Winter's appearance on Sunday will be an obvious feature of the Wairarapa championships , which actually kick off at the Genesis Recreation Centre pool in Masterton tonight with the staging of the 1500 freestyle events.On Friday evening will be the 800m freestyle races and then on Saturday and Sunday will be heats and finals over distances ranging up to 400m for all strokes.
Swimming Wairarapa general secretary Maryann Corrigan expects up to 17 clubs from all over the lower North Island to be part of the action at an event which will also mark the 50th anniversary of Wairarapa becoming an independent swimming centre.Individual entries are expected to exceed 120.