By Kim J. Harmon

Three-time Olympic gold medalist Lenny Krayzelburg delivered a message to some 110 age group swimmers on Sunday afternoon at Newtown High School and it pretty much boiled down to three simple words.

Never stop kicking.

Of course, what he was referring to were individual strokes and about getting from one end of the pool to the other as quickly as possible, but in retrospect Lenny hasn’t stopped kicking since his father sat him down several years ago and convinced him to stick with a sport he was thinking of quitting.

Now he is the No. 1 backstroker in the world.

“My father told me swimming could teach me so much,” said Lenny. “It could teach me hard work and teach me dedication. In this life, especially as you get older, nothing is given to you. You have to work hard.”

After spending about 20 minutes talking with the swimmers (as well as 70 coaches and parents) Lenny held an Ultimate Technique clinic – not only getting into the water to demonstrate the stroke that has helped him earn three world records, but also getting the swimmers in the water with him to work on things like streamlining, shoulder rotation and hip movement.

He stressed time and again how technique was the key to everything.

“If you have a good technique,” he said, “then the sky’s the limit on how fast you can be. The key is being comfortable in the water and being efficient.”

All during the day, Lenny posed for pictures and later on signed autographs and with just a few words here and there people had a little bit of a chance to get to know the young man who was born in Odessa, Ukraine. At the age of 13, Lenny’s parents decided the family needed a change and, thus, moved everyone to America.

Right away, Lenny got involved with a youth swim program.

“At first,” he said, “everyone was excited because they had this new kid. But it was hard, too, for the first few months because I wasn’t getting any better. I wanted to quit – and I did, too, for about two weeks.”

But his father convinced him to go on.

“I was fortunate enough to stick with it and not give up,” said Lenny, and sure, he got better. And even after his first – and only – Junior Nationals at the age of 16, when he finished 27th in the backstroke, Lenny became a convert.

“Now, I never think about how hard swimming is,” said Lenny. “I think about how much I love it, how I love getting up at five in the morning to practice. The most important thing is to do something because you love to do it.”

And when it comes to the work, the next most important thing is to set goals.

“You have to set goals for yourself,” said Lenny. “I always, always write my goals down. Every day when I walked into my room, I see these goals and see why I wake up at five in the morning – to be the best backstroker in the world.”

All that work can be tough, too.

“You swim, go to school, swim, go to sleep – people say that’s not much of a life,” said Lenny. “But I’ve been all around the world, to 25 different countries, and that’s an opportunity not a lot of people have. It’s a great thing.”

Lenny owns the world records in the 50-, 100- and 200-meter backstrokes. At the 2000 Sydney Games, he won the 100- and 200-meter backstrokes and was the backstroke leg of the gold-medal winning 400-meter medley relay.

Lenny’s visit to Newtown was sponsored by Speedo and made possible by the efforts of Joan_Conlan, Brian Neumeyer and the coaching staff of the Newtown_Torpedoes.

This was Lenny’s only Connecticut appearance.