20 Question Tuesday with Keenan Robinson

Keenan Robinson is not a household name in the swimming community, but his work has gotten your attention – he is Michael Phelps’ trainer, and met Phelps when the two joined the swimming program at Michigan in 2004. Robinson explains his accidental and anonymous entry in the sport, and what his impression is of swimming – and Michael Phelps – now.

1) How did you get into working with swimmers?
Keenan: Actually, by luck and by chance. I finished up my master’s degree down in Arizona in the summer of 2004, and I was just looking for a job. I knew I wanted to work in Division I sports or professional baseball. I had done a seasonal internship with the San Francisco Giants. I thought if I could get in with a Division I baseball team, I’d be set. As I looked around – I’m from Michigan – I saw that the University of Michigan had an opening for swimming and I thought that might be interesting, even though I had never watched a swim meet, and knew nothing about swimming! I figured I’d go there, buy some time, and then find my dream job. So in August of 2004, I headed to Michigan.

2) Were you excited to work with that group of swimmers?
Keenan: I walked in there knowing nothing about the sport or the people! Someone said, “You’ll probably run into Phelps.” I answered, “I don’t know who he is.” So I started working there, and obviously walked into the most pleasing environment – the best anyone who didn’t know anything about swimming could hope to go into! I walked into the Michigan swimming version of Lloyd Carr and Bo Schembechler in Jon Urbanchek and Bob Bowman. Those two guys were amazing introducing me into the sport. There were and are other great coaches at the University of Michigan and Club Wolverine that were tremendous helping me learn about the sport, the athletes and the mindset.

3) Did you know how fast Phelps was?
Keenan: To evaluate swimming, I decided to look up the records at the various pools we were going to – I was so green to the sport – and that was my frame of reference. Of course, those records were gone in a hurry.

4) How long did it take you to understand the collection of talent at the University and Club Wolverine at that time?
Keenan: I don’t know if one specific day it dawned in me, but last year, post-Olympics, it really hit me hard. Many had retired or moved on; Bob and Michael had moved back to Baltimore, Kaitlin (Sandeno), Klete (Keller), Chris DeJong, and Erik (Vendt) had retired. Looking back after the Olympics – which was the first Olympics in which I had watched swimming – I knew that I had worked with the most amazing swimmers. Not just the post-grads either, but all of them. A guy like Matt Patton who is still at Michigan would have been the best in many other environments, but there, he was maybe sixth or even eighth – and he’s a great swimmer. Every day I was privileged. You know what were the most memorable days looking back when I got to Michigan? We’d go to Colorado Springs for 30 days. We’d line up guys eight across and you’d have Phelps, Peter Vanderkaay, Chris Thompson, DeJong, Davis Tarwater, Vendt, Tyler Clary, Scott Spann was still there back at the start of my time there, too – it was just awesome, eight of the best in the world in so many events.

5) How long did it take for your learning curve to end?
Keenan: I don’t think the learning curve has ended for me. In school, you learn the textbook way to treat musculoskeletal injuries. I don’t remember if it was Bob or Jon, but somone made the analogy for me that yes, if it was serious, the swimmers would sit out. But when they lost a day, it was like losing a week, and if they lost a week, it was like losing a month. So unless they were really good, an injury could just totally destroy their schedule. So I was always looking for different things to do, like if they had an upper-body injury, what could they do kicking wise, or if they had an ankle injury, what could they do pulling-wise so they could still be in the water. You don’t want them to lose that feel for the water. I’d also think about what they could do on land to maintain aerobic or anaerobic conditioning, depending on their events. I worked with two of the best coaches in their events in the world, Bob Bowman and Jon Urbanchek, and then after the Olympics, in came one of the greatest sprint coaches in the world, Mike Bottom, so I got to learn what I needed to do for guys who swim the 100 and the 50.

6) What are you doing now that you have left Michigan to join Michael and Bob at NBAC?
Keenan: I have started in another totally new environment at NBAC with the age-group swimmers. I can’t think of better people to work with than Scott Armstrong and Murray Stephens.

7) How hard was it to leave Michigan?
Keenan: It was an extremely difficult decision. I loved working at the University of Michigan. Last year working with Mike Bottom was just outstanding – I can’t think of a better human being and coach to work with. I still stay in touch with the boys up there. There is not a better training facility anywhere in the country than Michigan. But I love swimming and working with swimmers, and working with kids at the developmental age is an opportunity I could not pass up. NBAC had just been declared a USOC Center of Excellence. I knew Bob Bowman and how ran things, in addition to being an outstanding coach – I have learned all I know about swimming through him – and it was something I had to consider. I was sitting in the airport in Rome – that was the first meet where I had been part of the group working for our team at a meet like Worlds – and I talked to Mike Bottom. I asked him what he thought, and he said, “You should not even be asking this question, go right now. I’m sad to see you leave, but there’s no better opportunity if you want to stay in the sport of swimming.”

8) Hard to leave the Michigan winters for Baltimore?
Keenan: Funny you say that, we’re just having our first Michigan-like winter days, and that reminds me of home.

9) What sports did you play in school?
Keenan: I played football and lacrosse in high school, two years of Division III college football at Adrian College in Michigan.

10) How’d you end up in Exercise Sports Science and training?
Keenan: I was always really good at science, and I loved sports, so the two merged pretty easily. I wanted to get a medical background and work with athletes. I work with them and facilitate an environment when they are hurt to get better. As a former athlete, I know you don’t enjoy sitting out when you are hurt, and you don’t want to lose your conditioning.