Date: Fri 01-Mar-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: KIMH

Quick Words:

Terry-McGovern-Feature

Full Text:

Terry McGovern Feature

Fortune brings in some boats

that are not steered.

- Shakespeare

Cymbeline, IV

B Y K IM J. H ARMON

Brian Reiff doesn't like to think about it. Avoids it, actually. But bring up

the thought of what his coaching life at Newtown High School would have been

like over the last three winters had Terry McGovern not gone out for the swim

team, and it's all he can do to stop from shuddering.

That's because Terry, 18, a senior wrapping up a very successful three-year

career with the swimming program, might have never gone out for the swim team

if the indoor track program - in a state of flux in December of 1993 - had a

coach.

But as practices and tryouts were starting up in the last month of that year,

the indoor track team still didn't have a coach and Terry - who is the third

child in a family that just runs, runs, runs - simply decided to get into the

pool.

He showed up the second day of practices.

And was hooked.

"I don't know how those kinds of things happen," said coach Reiff. "Maybe it's

fate. It's just great for swimming, for the program, and for everyone who has

seen him swim that he found his way into the water."

Learning To Fly

Terry was a rookie in the pure sense, but he wasn't a novice.

He swam with the Newtown FAST (Fairfield Area Swim Team) program and learned

all the strokes, but never put in the kind of time that a lot of other

swimmers put into the sport.

It made that first month tough.

What made it easier, though, was that he had a lot of good swimmers to train

with. There was Matt Burns and Christer Rundlof, Sean Martins and Brian

Monahan. And the team was good, finishing 8-2 during the dual meet season and

claiming second during the Western Connecticut Conference championship meet.

Terry knew the strokes and was probably a better freestylist, but the Indians

needed someone in the 200-yard individual medley and someone in the 100-yard

butterfly.

Terry fit the bill.

"He was a solid swimmer right from the start," said coach Reiff, "but he

wasn't spectacular likes he's become. Right from the start you knew he was a

special kid just from his attitude, but no one knew how good he was going to

become."

There were no illusions on Terry's part, just effort.

"I just wanted to help the team if I could," said Terry. "I wasn't expecting

anything. After the first day, I liked it a lot. The team was a nice group of

guys and I felt welcome. After the first meet, with New Fairfield, I had a

sense of where I was and what I could do."

Times that started out around 1:08 in the 100 fly and 2:20-something in the

200 individual medley steadily began to fall and by the end of the year, with

his fly time hovering around a minute, Terry - with coach Reiff exposing him

to the concept of shaving and tapering - began to focus on real, solid goals.

The minute became a barrier.

A barrier he wanted to break.

"Coach gets excited," laughed Terry, "and it kind of got me excited about the

sport. He made me realize swimming was something I could do and he got me

pumped up."

As good as Terry became by the end of the year, he wasn't a team leader. He

didn't have to be. There was Burns and Rundlof and Martins and Monahan to lead

by example, to show the way.

But the following year, his second with the team, Terry had to become a

leader. Three of those guys - along with coach Reiff, who had retired - were

gone. The only returning swimmer was Monahan, a senior.

It was time to take charge.

It was difficult, early, thinking about facing an unsettled season without the

coach that got him excited about the sport and without three of the guys who

taught him how to shine.

"I couldn't imagine a different person coaching," said Terry, "but we sort of

figured whatever happened he would take care of it. If it wasn't him, then he

would make sure the best possible coach would be there. When we found out he

was coming back, it was almost like a rebirth."

Even with Terry and with Monahan, the Indians finished 7-6. Without Terry, who

knows what would have happened. But after being able to focus on the IM and

the fly the year before, Terry learned something about versatility.

"You needed to be there to give the team the best possible chance to win," he

said, "so I went prepared to swim whatever coach Reiff needed me to swim. We

lost a few close meets, which were disappointing, and won a few close meets.

Of course there's always those few you would like to win to boost you up a

little."

Then it was over and Terry, who tasted butterfly life on the other side of the

minute mark again and again, had to face the prospect of being the No. 1 man,

right there with Dave McCrodden, on a team that was losing Monahan, the last

of its four progenitors.

"I think it was something I looked forward to," said Terry. "Some days, you

have to do something different. But that was something that challenged you to

become a better swimmer in different areas."

And Terry found himself at the head of a team that was seemed to twist and

reshape itself every week. The Indians started out with nearly 20 swimmers,

but that number - through attrition and outright banishment - found itself at

14 midway through the season.

"You'd like to have a few more guys," said Terry, "but the 14 we have are

doing their job. The younger kids are working at it hard and are becoming very

competitive. When I leave, I feel confident the team will be good again. They

are getting some new guys in and the guys who are developing now will reach a

new level next year."

Terry has been trying to reach his next level, too, trying to bring his fly

time down to 56-something and trying to bring his IM time down past the 2:16

mark. And never mind that whenever coach Reiff and the winds of fortune put

Terry in the 500-yard freestyle, he, finishing around 5:40, is the best on the

team.

"The minute barrier (in the fly) has been tough," Terry said. "It's kind of

annoying when you do one minute, one minute, one minute all the time, but I

had a consistency thing going. I really wanted to break a minute before I

shaved and tapered to prove to myself that it could be done. I was just

excited to get under a minute."

He did that against Masuk just a couple weeks ago, marking a 58-high, giving

him the hope of finishing near 56 when he finally shaves and tapers - this

week - in preparation for the SWC meet.

And Terry would love to take first place in the 100 fly at the SWC meet this

weekend. Who wouldn't? One gets the sense, though, for Terry, the greater

glory in first wouldn't be the medal he could take home and cherish, but the

extra points he would earn by not finishing second or third.

"There is nothing that he does that comes ahead of the team," coach Reiff

said. "He is a great leader in and out of the water. There are some people who

have a special quality that people look up to and Terry is one of those guys.

Terry doesn't even have to talk. The kids want to do it just like he does."

And Terry has set an example for a group of young guys who have brought the

Newtown High Indians through a surprising 8-7 season, a winning season that

few thought was possible.

But like Terry knows, expectations don't always transform into reality.

"When I first started," he said, "I didn't have too many expectations. But

after the first meet, I'm, like, `wow.' And then after shaving down the first

time, I'm, like `whoa,' shaving down to this.

"From what I've put into it," he added, "I think I've gotten so much more out

of it. There have been good times for me, I've met an excellent coach, and

I've met friends I might not have met otherwise. So, for me, swimming has

probably been one of the best choices I made in high school."