Knowing your sport inside and out, putting in the ground work, the early morning and late night trainings, building relationships and all the added extras.
Dunedin swimming coach Lars Humer exudes all those qualities and more, and has a proven track record in taking the most talented swimmers to the highest peaks.
Humer, who served his coaching apprenticeship under Dunedin great Duncan Laing, returned to the city in 2018 with an extensive background coaching at the elite level in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
But it has been his ability to coach across the whole gamut that stands out the most — from the juniors getting their first lessons, to taking Dunedin’s rising stars to the Olympics.
Humer is in Paris with the New Zealand Olympic team and has three Dunedin swimmers — Erika Fairweather, Caitlin Deans and Kane Follows — hunting for medals in the French waters.
Fairweather’s and Humer’s success has gone hand-in-hand.
Over the past six years under Humer’s tutelage, Fairweather has been a junior world champion, an Olympian and a world champion, won the coveted world cup series triple crown and broken numerous national records.
All three of his top athletes tell a similar story about Humer.
He takes care of them as people first, athletes second. His skills swing over a wide range of strokes. He knows every athlete is not the same.
"I think he’s just so receptive to the different athletes," Fairweather said.
"I’ve been working with him for six years, whereas someone like Kane’s only been working with him for a year.
"He’s really in tune with our different needs and is able to adjust our sets, and our training, to those needs, which is really good."
Perhaps it is Humer’s work with Follows that speaks to the greatness of the mastermind coach.
Follows, who moved to Dunedin about 18 months ago, had plateaued in the 200m backstroke until he started working with Humer and broke the national record and swam under the Olympic qualifying time in April.
Follows credits Humer with being the perfect blend of old-school coaching, getting athletes to grind when it is required, and the more modern approach of listening to his athletes and their needs.
"The three of us going [to Paris] are completely different swimmers and we all train together, so he’s got to give us all different things," Follows said.
"He’s just really flexible with everything and he’s just so knowledgeable — just a world-class coach, world-class guy."
Deans echoed her fellow Otago swimmers’ comments, saying Humer was the best of the best.
"There’s a lot to Lars that makes him a really incredible coach," Deans said.
"He knows what makes us tick and what works best for us, session-wise.
"He just really knows you as an individual."
That care and knowledge will be driving the New Zealand swimming team as they get under way in Paris tomorrow.
