A Winning Stroke (PBP) 5-2-94A W G STROKE
North Palm Beach Swim Club
coach Dick Cavanah turns
swimmers into Olympic
contenders.
By BRUCE GOLDBERG
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
NORTH PALM BEACH Dick Cavanah
stands at the west side of the North Palm Beach
Country Club pool, his domain for almost 18 years.
He holds a kickboard over his head, and
undulates like a belly dancer as he demonstrates
the butterfly kick.
At the moment, his body English is benefiting
no one. The 15 Benjamin School swimmers can't
see their coach as they kick toward the east side of
the pool. Cavanah's demonstration lasts past the
point of usefulness, but his concentration contin-
ues.
. Otherwise, Cavanah misses virtually nothing
during this two-hour swim practice for sixth -
through eighth -graders. His deep, resonant voice
is in command as he announces the next drill or
stroke. An ear-splitting, two -fingers' -in -the -mouth
whistle can be heard throughout the complex,
piercing wavering attention spans.
Please see CAVANAH/3C
North Palm �� h�ob(ic Library
E.A. KENNEDY III/Staff Photographer
Dick Cavanah has enjoyed nearly 20 years in the area, turning swimmers into Olympic con-,
tenders. Cavanah says he's not interested in taking a job anywhere else.
Belo'Vvd coach
has support A?,,40
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CAVANAH
From I
It's been this way since 1976
when Cavanah, 44, took over as
coach of the North Palm Beach
Swim Club, a few years removed
from a moderately successful
swim career at the University of
Missouri. And it appears it will
stay this way for a long time,
Cavanah developing top swim-
mers from his youth, high schools,
college and masters competitors.
"I love the area so much. I'm
not interested in moving around,", s
Cavanah said. ..r,
Among Cavanah's best swim-
mers were Patty Clark, Jennifer
Davidson, Scott Colton and Chip
Martoccia, who began swimming
under Cavanah as children. David
son, Colton and Martoccia went t r
the 1984 Olympic trials in India-
napolis, with Colton missing the,'
U.S. team by one second. Theyy're
29 or 30 now, and call Cavanah
"friend" as well as "Coach."
He estimates he has coached
4,000 kids with the North PaI
Beach Swim Club, its master-,%-,
team and The Benjamin School's
high school and middle school
teams. He also is general chairman
for the Florida Gold Coast Swim
ming Association.
Through nearly two decades of
5 a.m. practices, long road trips,
triumphs and flops, Cavanah has
won the hearts and earned the i,
respect of swimmers and their,
parents. They shower him wifht--
compliments, talk about his posi-
tive influence, call him a g
family man and a great coach,
wonder why he shuns publicity.
"He's been one of the biggest
influences in my life," said Colton,
30, a West Palm Beach attorney
who recently won the Miami Mar-
athon.
Colton and his wife, Robin,
recently made 6,000 copies of heat
sheets for Cavanah for a weekend
swim meet. Jennifer and Mike
Davidson, who own a Jupiter
health -food store, donated 80
sandwiches to the meet.
Martoccia owns a cycle shop
in Juno Beach, and when swim-
ming wannabes ask for a recom-
mendation, he sends them to Ca-
vanah.
That's Cavanah's support net. A
work.
"It's really gratifying to see the
swimmers who swam for me ig,
high school go to college and 0()�,
well," Cavanah said. "The goals of,
the kids haven't really changed
much since the '60s."
But some things hal
changed. "We learned we have ti
appease the kids more mentally
than in the past," he said. "Be-
cause when I swam, the coach said
`do this,' and you did it. Now when
I say something, they kind of look
at me and say, `Why are we doing
that?' "
The pool is a second home for
the Cavanah family, where his.
wife, Sandy, coaches swimming,
and daughters Kristin, 14, and
Molly, 12, are training. It's where
Dick Cavanah starts his coaching
at 5 a.m., and where 12- to 15 -hour
days are common in the summer.
It's where Cavanah presides
over the annual swallow -the -gold-
fish routine on Halloween, a tradi-
tion started about seven years ago.
Kids don't want to practice on
Halloween, Cavanah says, and
since they were bringing goldfish
just won at school carnivals to
practice, he made an offer: If
someone swallowed a goldfish,
practice was canceled.
There hasn't been a. Hallow-
een practice since.