Breakthrough Swimming Paperback - 2002

Cecil M. Colwin, who passed away in summer 2012, is a legend among swimming coaches. He had a distinguished international coaching career in which he developed Olympic medalists, world-record holders, and national champions. Colwin is also acknowledged as one of the swimming world's most influential coach educators and historians. His indelible mark on the sport spans from pioneering swim training in South Africa to coaching Canadian national and international competitors.

A former national technical director of Canadian swimming, Colwin was instrumental in researching, designing, and implementing Canadian Swimming's National Plan for the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games as well as the Canadian National Apprenticeship Program for training coaches in all sports. He also designed and conducted coaching certification courses for Level III coaches in the United States and Australia. In 1985 and 1986, he received the American Swimming Coaches Association's (ASCA) certificate of excellence for outstanding coaching achievement in the United States. In 1993 he was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame.

Colwin authored hundreds of articles, papers, and books on competitive swimming, and served as a consultant to administrators, coaches, and swimmers worldwide. He was a regular contributor to several swimming magazines, including Swimnews, Swimming World, Swimming Technique, and The American Swimmer. Known as one of the swimming world's most inspirational lecturers, he addressed the World Swimming Coaches' Conference on several occasions and gave hundreds of lectures and clinic presentations worldwide. Colwin was the founder of Cecil Colwin's International Swim Camps, a leading stroke clinic and training experience for swimmers and coaches from many countries.