It would be impossible to describe the legendary Indiana University head coach Dr. James “Doc” Counsilman in four words. If pressed however, “scientifically-driven coaching persona” might come close. It is with no sense of irony then that Davidson College Head Coach John Young used those same four words to describe assistant Chris Brammer. The youthful Brammer came to Davidson from the IU-based Councilman Center for the Science of Swimming and he’s helped Young lead the Wildcat men to a pair of CCSA titles and women to the NCAA Division I Championships. They are but two of the reasons we recognize Brammer as an Honorable Mention selection for the CollegeSwimming.com Assistant Coach-of-the-Year – Rising Assistant. For more, we turn to Coach Young and to Davidson's first-ever Division I All-American, Lindsey Martin.
Nomination from John Young, Head Coach:
Chris Brammer has built upon his graduate studies at Indiana’s Councilman Center to craft a scientifically driven coaching persona that has contributed to Davidson’s success in a myriad of ways. His leadership and daily interaction with Davidson’s sprinters has helped to create unprecedented success at Davidson, highlighted by a two-year NCAA qualifier and five NCAA B-Cut relays. He’s taken responsibility for coordinating our strength and conditioning activities, serving as liaison with the weight room and managing sessions in our team’s throwing-jumping-climbing studio. His creativity and utilization of Hector Engineering’s Speed Analyzer allows us to overlay instantaneous velocity measurements on underwater video for the benefit of our athletes. His initiative has advanced our training environment to the cutting edge, despite the resource challenges that exist in one of the nation's Division I athletic campuses.
Chris is productive because the swimmers enjoy their relationship with him. He is authentic and cooperative, and has helped reinforce the necessity of a detail driven process with the student athletes that are driven to success. Davidson’s academics are rigorous, yet Chris has embraced the chance to encourage the academic goals of our athletes while, at once, supporting their competitive aspirations. Our program encourages perspective and joy, and Chris brings both to the pool. His demeanor keeps the athletes from taking themselves too seriously, while his inner-scientist keeps them focused on results-oriented activities.
Chris is a student of the sport. At this year’s women’s NCAA Championship, he undertook the video recording of an inordinate amount of racing, all with an eye towards quantifying race strategy, and learning from the best, to benefit our athletes. He has been a tremendous sounding board during season planning and workout planning – always honest as supporter or critic. He is willing to spend hours debating the intricacies of our sport, and that passion has benefitted our staff and our student-athletes.
Already in his career, his curiosity has led to impressive collaborations. As a student researcher, he contributed to the debate about high-tech suits; he blogged data-driven performance analysis, and presented at 2010’s Biomechanics and Medicine in Swimming Symposium in Norway. He provided feedback during the development of a suite of swimming products, and remains an important resource for the industry. Chris is a talented swimming mind who is committed to his own understanding and intellectual development, especially as it impacts the development of his athletes.
Chris is deserving of recognition because he is a collaborator who I trust with our team entirely. He has taken the time to understand the unique attributes of our college and program; every coach hopes to work with someone so competent and loyal. He is administratively sound, has done well to establish relationships with athletes and recruits, and – most importantly - he has made an impact by focusing on opportunities where others have focused on limitations.
Nomination from Lindsey Martin, Student-Athlete:
As a Division I swimmer with a season spanning fully seven months, it’s very easy to lose sight of how important daily practices are for the end-of-season swim meet. Around mid-November when classes are especially stressful and practices seem endless, a swim meet in February might as well be ten years away. I have been fortunate, however, to have Chris Brammer as my coach to get me through these tough times during my collegiate swimming career. Chris approaches our practices in a manner that keeps us in the moment and aware that every chance for improvement is one worth taking.
One of my fondest memories of Chris is watching him on the side of the pool, mimicking one of our freestyles and coming up with personalized ways to perfect our strokes. This is Chris’ way of things: constantly in tune with each of his swimmers’ unique talents and needs, and ready to help us succeed in every way possible. For every swimmer who stayed on campus over last summer, he was ready to create and supervise custom workouts according to our schedule. During the season, he is often found with a waterproof camera strapped to his chest for taping and subsequently posting videos on YouTube of our sprint sets and drills. Being able to watch my technique from the point of view of my coach was hugely helpful to me and my teammates, and enormously thoughtful of Chris. He also concocted a device called the “kick-cam” in which he attaches his waterproof camera to a kickboard and allows any swimmer who wishes to talk into it during a recovery kick set; he then posts the videos on YouTube. Though an exercise in fun, this was another ingenious way to keep swimmers excited about every practice and happy to be in the pool. Swimming laps 20 hours a week can get monotonous; Chris helps keep our workouts interesting.
Chris’ ability to improve each swimmer’s technique works in tandem with his understanding of individual swimmers outside the pool. Chris is perceptive in a way that enables him to motivate us while helping us balance our personal lives with our drive for success in the water. During a practice in one of his first months at Davidson, Chris noticed one of my teammates having an especially sluggish day. He pulled her out of the water and advised her to not feel guilty about experiencing the academic stresses inherent at our school, and to take the rest of the day off. Chris senses our individual tipping points, and his considerate nature makes practice an easy place to feel both highly motivated and accepted.
Chris was unable to attend my first NCAA meet in 2010. However, from thousands of miles away in Saudi Arabia he supported me through daily emails. While I envy the swimmers who will continue swimming under his coaching now that I’m graduating, I’m thankful to have had Chris’ example of kind, involved leadership from which I can always pull inspiration.