Swim coach demands the most ... and more

RALEIGH -- Paul Silver spots the problem with his ears.

One of the elite high school swimmers he trains with the Marlins of Raleigh club team is crashing the waters at Pullen Aquatics Center. She's working hard, but her technique has become counter-productive.

"I can hear with my one ear you going down the pool," Silver says. "Slide it in quietly."

It's an honest assessment delivered in a monotone that can come off as both caring and unsympathetic. That's on purpose. Silver sees his job as head swim coach as part counselor and part taskmaster.

For 25 years, he has instructed youth in the area on the fundamentals of swimming, helping some become proficient lap swimmers and others great collegiate competitors. Eight of his pupils have qualified for the U.S. Olympic trials.

From Thursday to Nov. 1, Silver will serve as head boys coach of the USA Swimming national select camp at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.

USA Swimming, the governing body of the sport, hosts training programs for the nation's top 16-and-under swimmers. The high-level sessions are designed to prepare youth for membership on the USA Swimming National Teams. Some members of those teams go on to become the next Olympic champions.

Coaches are selected from among 2,700 teams around the country. Silver has been an assistant coach four times since 1991. This is his first time as head coach.

"It's a result of having talented athletes," says Silver, whose athletes have gone on to swim for universities such as Harvard, Princeton and Brown.

Always ticking

Silver, 49, founded the Marlins of Raleigh team in 2001 after serving 17 years as the head coach of the Raleigh Swimming Association team. The Marlins are ranked second in the state and 32nd in the nation by USA Swimming.

Silver has been voted North Carolina coach of the year four times since 1991.

"He's been an instrumental person in the Raleigh aquatics community," says Vicki Peoples, a former swimming coach at Enloe High School. "He's really pushed for a lot of promotion of aquatics. He's always been a very big supporter of high school swimming."

Peoples worked with many of Silver's swimmers as she built one of the area's strongest prep teams. She recalled his reputation for developing exceptional technique and a strong work ethic among his athletes.

Silver often reminds his swimmers that the marlin is the fastest fish in the ocean. If they forget, they can always look at his T-shirt with the words printed in bold white letters: "Fast Starts Here."

Morning mood

The satisfaction he gleans from coaching is clear as he stands on the Pullen Aquatics Center deck, his T-shirt tucked in his shorts, a key string hanging from his pocket. Watching through rimless spectacles, he's searching for the smallest change in technique -- a hand turning differently in the water or a dolphin kick gone wild.

He whistles with his fingers to communicate. It's a searing jolt to swimmers who hear their names following the blast. He constantly checks his wristwatch and the clock on the wall.

Time, he says later, is always ticking. Every millisecond counts, and he reminds his swimmers of the times they've missed in meets, and not always in the friendliest of tones.

He's especially prickly early in the morning after waking up at 4:17 a.m. Diet Coke in hand, his voice cuts through the morning malaise.

"I'm not a morning person," he says. "My wife is, but I'm not. Pretty dumb career choice."

Three times a week, Silver meets his swimmers for early morning workouts, where he reminds them that "it's a great day to be a Marlin." He also informs them that the workout he's created for the day is his best to date. They respond by rolling their eyes, having heard that before.

"He can be grouchy," said Sydney Sweet, a senior at Green Hope High and captain on the Marlins team. "He's really tough and demanding. At the same time, he wants us to have fun."

High standards

Jonathan Watson, who is Silver's brother-in-law, has worked with the coach for three years. He says the old-fashioned values Silver espouses -- especially punctuality -- equips the swimmers to meet their goals.

"He challenges his swimmers from the moment they get there," Watson said.

Silver is a motivator in the traditional sense of a high school football coach. He once played that sport as a Chapel Hill High student but found swimming more suitable to his talents as a senior.

"Defensive backs that run the 40 [yard dash] in 5.1 [seconds] aren't in high demand," he says.

Silver, whose parents were both college professors, graduated from high school in 1978 and enrolled at Florida State, where he majored in recreational studies.

By his sophomore year, he found a love for coaching swimmers. Upon graduation, he found a job as an assistant coach in Jacksonville, Fla., studying under Gregg Troy, who is now head coach at the University of Florida.

It was Troy who showed him how to get the most out of swimmers. He learned to set high standards and help young people raise their expectations to levels they never dreamed.

Kelsy Smith, who recently finished her collegiate swimming career at Florida, has returned to complete an internship with the Marlins. She swam in the Marlins program for six years but only understood her coach once she left.

"He knows your goals, so he knows if you're not doing it," Smith says. "He'll correct you if you're not doing it. ... He's always kept me honest of my goals."

That's Silver's pledge to his swimmers. It's why he spends the long hours planning every detail.

"I love it," he says. "I couldn't think of what I'd rather do. It's exciting every day to go to practice and work with the kids on the team."

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