Head Coach Gregg Troy Previews All Florida Invitational At All-Sports Press Conference
Monday, September 27, 2010 | Men's Swimming & Diving
University of Florida head coach Gregg Troy addressed the media Monday morning as part of the Gators' All-Sports Media Day.
Coach Troy talked about the annual Splash Club Alumni Weekend that took place last week and featured the largest number of returning alumni since the event's inception.
He then previewed the 2010-11 men's and women's teams, which begin competition on Friday, playing host to the inaugural All Florida Invitational, featuring swimming and diving programs from around the state.
Coach Troy also discussed and fielded questions about starting the season at home, on the development of the All Florida Invitational, on the level of competition throughout the state, on the 2010-11 season and on junior Shara Stafford.
CLICK HERE to view Coach Troy's participation at Monday's press conference, or visit the GatorVision Online section located along the bottom on the swimming & diving home page to view previous media appearances.
TRANSCRIPT:
On the past weekend:
“We had a pretty unique weekend. We had a lot of alumni come back. We had our awards banquet for last year's team on Friday evening and some of them (alumni) attend that. We had an alumni swim meet on Saturday morning and a tailgate and barbeque before the game. It's great to get the old and the new together. We have athletes from the 40s and 50s that actually swam in the alumni meet; not real fast, but great efforts. We had athletes that graduated last year. You get a real unique connection, and at the same time all of our athletes that have finished practice stay and watch. It's a connection with the old and new - a big tradition. Everyone sang the Alma Matter at the end, all together. I think it shows how rich the history is. It gives us a good finishing point from last year. It's all to bed now and it's gone. It's time for us to get started for this year.“
On the all Florida meet:
“We get started this week in unique fashion. (The meet) presents some real interesting challenges because we are going to face eight times on the women's side and five on the men's, all from the state of Florida, but a very good FSU team, one of the best in the ACC. Miami is also good in the ACC. The other teams in the state, maybe not quite as strong at a team standpoint, bring in some great individuals. It's going to give everyone an opportunity to swim and we will get to see a lot of different things.”
On advantages of kicking off the season at home:
“It's a tremendous advantage because it at least gives us one meet under our belt before we have to travel. We kind of know what we are looking at. It's going to give us a little better feel for actually selecting who the travel squad is going to be and what the roster is. In the past, we were a little bit shooting in the dark because you had practice competition but you didn't have any real competition to see who was going to stand up on meet day. This is even more important because it's very unusual to start in a three-day prelim and then final format. So versus seeing one day of competition, we are going to see three full days and see a lot of different swims. It's a little more challenging for the athletes - six swims real early in the season. They will be pretty tired by Sunday afternoon, but it will be a good point. Being at home is always fantastic.”
On the inaugural All Florida Invitational:
“We played with the format a few years ago. Our original intention was to get a team from the ACC, the Big 12 and the Big 10. We couldn't get all three conferences together. So, we came up with this. We always felt that if we swam everyone in the beginning of the year, it would be a tremendous opportunity for the freshman. They are very use to high school competition, where maybe you don't have to be your best in the morning. But, when you get to the end of the season in the SEC, if you're not your best in the morning you don't score any points and you don't get a chance to swim at night. The format for this is a little unique, in that each school can only swim three at night. So if you are the fourth best one in your own team, we are pretty deep in some places, and you put that with the other schools, it's going to be real hard for people to get a competition at night. The all-Florida thing, in today's budget world, is a great budget opportunity for everyone. We designed the start for times late on Friday morning so that they can actually come in Friday morning. We finish our finals early on Sunday so you can get back Sunday evening. It saves a lot of traveling and you don't miss too much school and you get three days of competition.”
On the level of competition throughout Florida:
“FSU is very good. Florida Atlantic has some very good individuals. Miami's team on the women's side is real strong. The two Division II schools - Florida Southern has an ex-Florida grad, Duncan Sherrard is the head coach. He has done a great job down there. Nova Southeastern is a first-year school, but Hollie Bonewit-Cron, who was one of our assistants here, is the head coach there and has done a tremendous job recruiting. We probably have two top-five Division II schools. While they might be a little over their head in a team standpoint, they do have some real good individuals.”
On what to expect this season:
“The women's team is very experienced, but very young. We only have one senior and a very good junior class. We have a few seniors we are going to have to replace: Gemma Spofforth, Stephanie Napier, Liz Kemp; people who have been here four years and done a fantastic job. We are going to have to have some freshman stand up. The nucleus looks good. We have seen some good things from the freshmen. We maybe have one of the best ones in country (Elizabeth Beisel). Certainly she was one of the best swimmers in the world last summer. I don't now if we can translate that to the 25-yard course, but if she can, Elizabeth Beisel is very good. Teresa Crippen is coming off a great summer. Shara Stafford is a great all-around athlete. On the women's side, we lost leadership. On the men's side, we've got some real good leaders, a good senior class with a lot of experience. Those types of things, the men have the potential of being real good. We will be a little shorthanded this weekend. We have a few athletes competing in the Commonwealth games in India. We are minus three men and a couple women. We have both good groups; I think we will have a good season.”
On junior Shara Stafford:
“She has just matured tremendously since her freshman year. She came in as a tall lanky girl from Topeka, Kansas, that didn't have a lot of strength. Matt DeLancey is our strength coach and just does a fantastic job. She is a lot stronger with a great ability to race. She was a key factor in the NCAA because she is fairly versatile and has a lot of speed. She is one of the rare ones that can swim the shorter events and save up for the long ones. If she gets a little more confidence, she could be one of the best in the NCAA. Just by way of one of the coaches in Kansas, he suggested maybe she had some good tools we might want to take a look at her. She was a little out of the way; a little unusual. I don't think we've had one from Kansas. She came down and loved her weekend. She had a little hard time at first; she's just use to being a real big fish in a small pond in Kansas. She's turned into a pretty big fish in our pond too.”
