HARVARD GAZETTE ARCHIVES

Different Strokes

Junior Tim Martin's unorthodox but effective swimming style powers him past the competition

By Becky Blaeser
Special to the Gazette

Tim Martin '00: "People are always coming up to me and saying that I'll never improve again, but that only motivates me to work even harder." Photo by Tim Morse.

The first time Tim Martin '00 stepped foot into a swimming pool was in the backyard of his parents' La Palma, Calif., home. He was barely a year old.

Eighteen years later, the Harvard All-American found himself diving into yet another pool, this one on the campus of Auburn University at the NCAA Championships.

For the precocious youngster, who spent much of his childhood watching his three older sisters compete at the national level, the road from the family pool to the nation's top collegiate swimming event was perhaps foreseeable, but never easy.

The arduous training schedule of the sport, which requires nine practices a week, coupled with daily battles with coaches over his unconventional stroke, have at times pushed Martin to the brink of retirement. Yet, somehow he always finds his way back to the pool as an even stronger, more inspired swimmer.

"For most swimmers, you must have a fair degree of passion and you have to develop a work ethic that you feel good about," says men's swimming head coach Tim Murphy. "Otherwise, the length of the season and the environment can work against you.

"My first reaction when I watched Tim train was that he was willing to push himself in practice with intensity," continues the first-year coach, who came aboard in July. "He sets high goals for himself and he doesn't waste time when he comes to practice. The work ethic is always consistent with him."

As a high school All-American and four-time high school MVP, Martin expected an easy transition to the collegiate level. Instead the English concentrator found himself struggling with the delicate balance of academics and athletics - as well as a dislocated shoulder suffered in the early stages of the 1995-96 season.

"There were times when I didn't want to swim my freshman year because there was just too much to do and it was too hard," Martin said. "I put the same time into swimming as I did in high school, but the academic workload here was so much more demanding."

Martin quickly learned to balance his time, however, and recovered from his shoulder injury to finish as Harvard's fastest distance freestyler. At Easterns, he captured the 1650 free with a personal-best time of 15:14.83 and followed that performance with a 13th-place finish at the NCAA Championships.

Martin bettered those first-year marks during his sophomore campaign and firmly established himself as one of Harvard's most prolific distance freestylers. After cruising to a second consecutive Eastern title in the 1650 (finishing more than 21 seconds ahead of the next competitor), he added a first-place finish in the 500 freestyle, a performance that helped Harvard win another EISL title and gained Martin the Phil Moriarty Award as the event's top swimmer. His next stop was the NCAAs.

On the first day of competition at Auburn, Martin garnered Honorable Mention All-America accolades for his 12th-place finish in the 500 free, but his most memorable contest occurred two days later. In perhaps the biggest race of his career, Martin delivered a personal-best time of 15:00.75 in the 1650 free to earn All-American honors and move into second place on Harvard's list of top all-time performances, behind only Olympian Bobby Hackett '79.

"As a freshman, my goal was to make the top eight at NCAAs, but that didn't happen," Martin remembers. "I didn't necessarily expect it to happen [my sophomore year], but I thought that it was a realistic goal. Now, one of my goals is to break the school record in the mile because I missed it by less than a second last year. And Bobby Hackett, who holds it now, went on to win a silver medal in the Olympic Games."

Before any dreams of an Olympic medal are realized, however, there remains the issue of Martin's awkward stroke. Unlike a traditional freestyler - who rotates fully to one side while extending his body forward, then pulls his arm back to mid-thigh in one continuous, graceful motion - Martin applies his own unique style.

"My stroke technique is bizarre because I have a very fast turnover so I don't pull a lot of water and I don't extend too far," he explains. "I've never had a coach who hasn't tried to change it, but I think it works better for me than the traditional technique.

"People are always coming up to me and saying that I'll never improve again, but that only motivates me to work even harder."

Although Murphy has not yet fully embraced Martin's style, he is impressed by the junior's results.

"That kid can crank his arms like you've never seen," acknowledges the coach with a laugh. "I know that unless it is something that makes it impossible, Tim will always be there at practice and I enjoy that. I enjoy working with guys like that who are committed and willing to work in order to get to the next level."

In swimming, the sacrifices to reach the highest levels are unique in that they stare you in the face every morning when the alarm goes off at 6 a.m.

"About ninety percent of the time I question whether or not I should get up because I can always make up an excuse, but then you think about your goals and the reasons why you have to get up," says Martin, now eyeing a third-straight trip to Nationals. "To me, swimming is a great life lesson because it teaches you to deal with many things. I believe that even if you're not the most talented swimmer, but are willing to go the extra mile, then you can still accomplish all the things you want and can compete with other, more talented people who otherwise should be beating you."

And that's pretty good advice from someone who took his first stroke before taking his first step.

The first meet of this season takes place on Saturday, Nov. 21, at Columbia with Army, at 1 p.m.