One of the most influential persons in my life is my club coach Jack Pettinger. He is one of the burliest, matter-of-fact, no bullshit people you will ever meet. To begin he is tough as nails, a former U.S. Marine, Jack takes no bull from anyone or any soldier. He is proud, and set in his ways. He went on to coach at Indiana under legendary coach Doc Counsilman, he coached Mark spitz and was part of the staff that won 10 NCAA national titles in a row. After coaching at Indiana, he moved on to become head coach at Wisconsin from 1969-1993, where he would coach: world record holders, olympians, and national champions. Impressive to say the least. After his collegiate coaching days he continued his career at the club level coaching for Badger Dolphins, eventually turning into Badger Aquatics Club. You either love Jack or you hate him, there is no in-between. He is the man who taught me how to be tough, both mentally and physically. I have seen him kick chairs and kick-boards at people, chase unruly teenagers through the Edgewood field until they cried, and walk out of a practice in the middle of a set. If you laughed or talked in practice, you were gone, if you were fooling around in dry land you might as well just leave then, because it was better than getting yelled at. But there was a method to his madness... he knew exactly what it would take to become a good swimmer, dedication to the job at hand, hard work and sacrifice. If you wanted to get to the top, he would get you there, however you needed to have the drive within you otherwise it would be a miserable 4 years. I started swimming under him at age 12, I remember the first practice when I moved up to the senior group, there I was this little (very overweight) middle schooler with no idea what to expect, I showed up at practice and he says "I'm Jack, now get in the damn pool" and off we went. There was no turning around from there. There were some mornings practice would start at 4:45 am, and the moon was still high in the sky, other practices where it was 43 degrees and the pool we swam at was outdoors with no cover to keep it warm. You either sucked it up, or you got the hell out of there.
Jack demanded respect. Yes he had favorites, but you earned that though working hard, not by being the fastest swimmer in the pool. If you showed up day in and day out, you made it on his good side... and that is a lesson I will take with me wherever I go in life. Respect is not given it is earned, and Jack instilled that principle into me at a young age. He was one of the coaches who barely said good job, but when you did hear it from him it was worth more than anything. His sets were grueling, quantity over quality was the name of the game, there were so many mornings that we would have 10 min left of our allotted time, and he was say the final set of 10x300's.... that would take at least 35-45 min, we would still be swimming as the lane-lines were being taken out and the flags coming down, but you didn't dare say anything. Learning to push through those tough sets prepared me for some of my life's biggest challenges, knowing I was capable of making it,it was going to be hard, but I was strong enough to get through it. He had his ways of cheering you on, they were subtle but boy did they work. I could go on and on about how he has taught me so much about life, but at the end of the day he is simply my mentor and now my friend. The biggest things I have learned from him are the value of hard work, the importance of respect, and when to dig in deep and keep pushing forward.
Some of his one liners are priceless, they never made sense, yet somehow applied to any situation..... for example: "if you want to have fun, put on your roller-skates and listen to the radio" or "Danny wins the can of beans for having the slowest 50 of the entire meet, congratulations Danny, now get out of the pool and go eat your beans" one of my favorites "Swimming is like diving for pennies in Lake Mendota". Today his advice to me was "Courtney, always carry toilet paper with you, just in case you're out walking and you need to take a shit, that way you will have something to wipe with instead of leaves, because no one wants leaves up their crack"..... Thanks Jack i'll keep that in mind!
Jack, you either love him or hate him. I love him like a grandfather, and look forward to continuing to learn from him. Also he insisted on giving everyone the finger when I asked him to take a picture with me this afternoon... typical, the man that taught me how to be tough, showing his tough side :)
Jack demanded respect. Yes he had favorites, but you earned that though working hard, not by being the fastest swimmer in the pool. If you showed up day in and day out, you made it on his good side... and that is a lesson I will take with me wherever I go in life. Respect is not given it is earned, and Jack instilled that principle into me at a young age. He was one of the coaches who barely said good job, but when you did hear it from him it was worth more than anything. His sets were grueling, quantity over quality was the name of the game, there were so many mornings that we would have 10 min left of our allotted time, and he was say the final set of 10x300's.... that would take at least 35-45 min, we would still be swimming as the lane-lines were being taken out and the flags coming down, but you didn't dare say anything. Learning to push through those tough sets prepared me for some of my life's biggest challenges, knowing I was capable of making it,it was going to be hard, but I was strong enough to get through it. He had his ways of cheering you on, they were subtle but boy did they work. I could go on and on about how he has taught me so much about life, but at the end of the day he is simply my mentor and now my friend. The biggest things I have learned from him are the value of hard work, the importance of respect, and when to dig in deep and keep pushing forward.
Some of his one liners are priceless, they never made sense, yet somehow applied to any situation..... for example: "if you want to have fun, put on your roller-skates and listen to the radio" or "Danny wins the can of beans for having the slowest 50 of the entire meet, congratulations Danny, now get out of the pool and go eat your beans" one of my favorites "Swimming is like diving for pennies in Lake Mendota". Today his advice to me was "Courtney, always carry toilet paper with you, just in case you're out walking and you need to take a shit, that way you will have something to wipe with instead of leaves, because no one wants leaves up their crack"..... Thanks Jack i'll keep that in mind!
Jack, you either love him or hate him. I love him like a grandfather, and look forward to continuing to learn from him. Also he insisted on giving everyone the finger when I asked him to take a picture with me this afternoon... typical, the man that taught me how to be tough, showing his tough side :)