Read on down in the article for a story about Rory … just scroll down to the highlighted section…
4D Sunday, January 31, 2010 The Journal News
COACH’S SPOTLIGHT
Coach Kieth Furey
Keith Furey, Clarkstown boys swimming:
Number of years you’ve been coaching: USA Swimming for seven years, high school the last three.
What is your favorite part of coaching? Watching kids develop both as athletes and as people.
What is your least favorite thing about coaching? Dealing with overzealous parents.
Who on your current team would make the best coach and why? One of my captains, Pat Neville. He is dedicated, responsible, shows great patience with the younger athletes and has a great outlook on things; he is a leader.
Do you have an all-time favorite swimmer you’ve coached and, if so, why is he your favorite? If I had to pick just one, I would have to go with one of my 2008-2009 captains, Bryan Farm. Bryan was all about team. He was, and is, a true leader. I remember a meet official coming up to me at one of our USA Swimming meets to compliment me on one of my swimmers who he just saw taking care of a younger swimmer (from another team no less) who was upset in the locker room. The swimmer turned out to be Bryan. When the coaches had to make a decision about a relay at the section championship meet that took the spot away from Bryan (and a chance at another school record for him) for the benefit of someone else, he was nothing but happy for his teammate getting that opportunity — truly selfless.
How do you unwind after games? Go home and have dinner with my wife and five kids
Do you have any superstitions? Just the silly sports ones like I had when I competed — like this season, every time I wore a particular shirt we won, and if I wore a different one we lost (only once, but that was enough!) so I started making sure I wore the “winning” shirt to the rest of our meets.
What is your favorite sports movie? Two-part answer — as a sports fan in general, my favorite movie is “Brian’s Song.” Don’t ask me if it still brings a tear to my eye to this day because I will probably lie—real men don’t cry at movies, you know! But from a coach’s perspective, “Remember the Titans” is the best. The way the coach brings together those kids is so powerful. It is what we all aspire to. He was building responsible young men, not just football players.
What Is your most cherished coaching moment? At the 2008 Section 1 Championship Meet we were deciding who to swim in the team’s 400 freestyle relay at the end of the meet. I had co-captains of the team that year, one of whom, Bryan Farm, had much better times in the 100-free than the other, Rory Viss-er, but Rory was one of those kids who has a ton of “heart” We knew if everyone did a personal best we could break the existing school record in the event, but the decision on who to give the last spot on the relay to was a tough one. Rory had not gone faster than a 54+ for the 100-free at a high school meet all season, and we would need him to go at least 52+ with all the other athletes doing their best times to get the record if he was on the relay. After discussing it among all the coaches, we decided to give the spot to Rory for a chance at a team record. (Bryan was already on the record board in the 200 freestyle relay.) As the race unfolded, the second swimmer on the relay missed his best time by over a second, and it didn’t look like we were going to get the record, but Rory dove in third with the typical heart I had come to expect from him and proceeded to have the swim of his life, going a 51 flat, and the boys did end up breaking the school record. Those are the kind of moments I live for as a coach!
