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Mark Taylor Chat Wrap
UH swimming coach chatted with Cougars fans Wednesday
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| Moderator: Good afternoon everyone and welcome to today's on-line chat with UH swimming head coach Mark Taylor.
Coach Taylor has joined us and will be answering your questions. We already have a line of questions that have been submitted, but please feel free to ask as we go along. Thanks for joining us. |
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| Szandra Szanto-Hastings: Hi!
I'm Sziszi's sister!
How is she doing? |
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Mark Taylor: She is doing outstanding. As you know, she is not native English speaker but her English skills are some of the best that I have come across with any of our foreign student-athletes. She is doing outstanding in the classroom and in the pool. She is a very hard worker and tell your Dad as soon as the schedule is complete, I will get it to him. |
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| dallas: I have noticed the large freshman class that your program has brought in. As far as leadership on the team, who are you depending on to help lead these girls? Which newcomers do you expect to make immediate impact? |
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Mark Taylor: We require all of our girls to take leadership roles. Of course, the upperclassmen particularly our captains Lucile Turpin and Kristina DeWitt, will play a pivotal role in setting an example and showing the large group of newcomers what team rules we have and how we expect them to be obeyed. Our freshmen impact players so far would have to be Haley Menard, Szintia Szanto and diver Anna Kiess. They have already shown outstanding qualities. We also have many other girls who are getting used to training at a higher level and so the jury is still out on them. |
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| DERAL, (Houston): Whats your expectation for the big
freshman class this year? and do you think the cougars can win Conference USA this season? |
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Mark Taylor: If we are to successful as we think we can be, we will need our freshmen class to step up and become contributors right away. We are not favored by any poll to win the Conference USA championship, but we don't pay too much attention to polls. |
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| Fort Benning, GA: Who is the swimmer that influenced you the most during your time in Arizona and why? Do you still respond to his emails? |
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Mark Taylor: That athlete would have to be Ted Westphal. He is an outstanding young man who has always carried my highest respect. he was an outstanding leader at West Point and will be a great representative of our country as he serves it both domestically and abroad. If all of my athletes had this particular swimmer's attributes, our team would always be at the top. Get well soon, Ted. |
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| John (Houston): What do you think of the new facility? |
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Mark Taylor: The new facility is outstanding. It should be classified as one of the top 10-15 facilities at the Division I level. As soon as we get all of the things that we are still trying to get (lane lines, electronic timing system, the largest color scoreboard in the country, plus seating for 800-1000 people), we will really be on the map. It also puts a great deal of pressure on us as coaches and athletes with the tremendous support from staff and administration plus the University giving us the opportunity to train and compete at one of the best facilities, we don't take our situation lighthly and wish to have a program that would befit this type of facility. |
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| William (Houston): Coach
Do you think we have any swimmers that are on the team right now that compare to some of the great athletes you have coached in the past? |
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Mark Taylor: As people and individuals, the athletes that I am working with at the college and club level correspond to the quality people that I have been lucky enough to work with. As with anything in life, it is not the talent that they have; it is what each individual decides to do with that talent. I am currently coaching athletes that I feel could be equal to or better than some of the athletes I have been lucky enough to work with before. It will all come down to their dedication and commitment to see if they can rise to the level that some of my previous athletes have. |
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| John: I see you've done a great job with recruiting this year. How do you think the large number of girls on your team will affect performances this season? Do you think that a larger team will benefit your results and standings at conference? |
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Mark Taylor: It is always nice to have a large pool of talent to draw from. In some situations such as training and tracking performances, it makes it more difficult to have so many people. We are trying now to determine which athletes will be the nucleus of our program for years to come. These athletes should enhance our ability to score points at the conference level and hopefully soon be added to our diving points at the NCAA Championships. |
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| Mary (Houston): I've been looking into joining the swim team. What does it take to be on your team? |
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Mark Taylor: To compete at the Division I level, it should be understood that you must come in with a strong background and base of training that has spanned several years. It would be hoped that the athlete trying out would be a strong high school and year-round competive swimmer. To be successful at the Division I level, they should have been able to score points at the sectional, Junior or Senior National-level competitions. That is the type of athlete that we are currently recruiting. |
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| Davis (Texas): I was just wondering what you feel is the ideal number of swimmers to have on your team in order to benefit and recieve enough personal attention from your coaching. |
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Mark Taylor: When we started the season, we had 29 athletes. There were 25 swimmers and four divers. The NCAA rules say that you can only take 18 individuals to the conference championships and the NCAA Championships. Because divers do not swim in relays, they are limited to three events. A swimmer may swim three individual events and up to four relays. Since we have one of the best diving programs in the world, that would mean two of those 18 spots would go to the four divers, because divers count as one half in the mathematical formula. That would leave 16 people on a traveling team that would be swimmers. We would always like to have four or five more athletes on the team, so the number of 20-25 athletes on a team is about right. Occasionally, there will be more or less. |
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| William(Houston): What do you think are the most significant differences in your team this year compared to last years squad? |
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Mark Taylor: Depth and quality. The incoming girls are much faster and there are more of them. This allows us a greater flexibility and gives us the opportunity to try many different lineups, so we can better use the individual girls' strengths and avoid any weaknesses as a team. |
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| Moderator: That's all the time that we have for now. Thank you for joining Coach Taylor in today's chat.
The UH Athletics Department holds on-line chats with its coaching staff throughout the season, so stay tuned to www.UHcougars.com for the latest chats.
UH diving head coach Jane Figueiredo will hold an on-line chat during the week of Nov. 6 so stay tuned for more information about that.
Thanks again for joining us this afternoon and take care. |
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