Pocock continues to share knowledge
Olympian Martin to attend ceremony
Lou Pocock may have retired from the classroom but he never stopped teaching.
Many a day, Pocock can still be found poolside — minus the lounger and cold drink — instructing kids and adults alike on the finer points of swimming.
His success coaching not just swimming but cross-country and the countless hours he contributed to high school sports as the local association’s secretary– treasurer for 26 years, has landed Pocock in the Windsor/Essex County Sports Hall of Fame.
Pocock and the rest of the 2012 class will be honoured at the annual induction dinner Oct. 13 at the Caboto Club.
“It’s amazing,” the 71-yearold said. “It’s something you don’t think about when you’re out there coaching but it’s exciting.”
He’ll join one of his former swimmers in the hall in Olympian Doug Martin.
Martin plans to travel from his Vancouver home to see his coach enshrined.
Pocock spent his entire 33year teaching career at Massey. He coached the Mustangs to multiple OFSAA championships in the pool and he took the girls’ cross-country team to 21 city titles.
Dennis Christmas has seen Pocock’s methods through several different lenses, first as a student at Massey, then as a father and again now as a 55-year-old masters swimmer at the Windsor Aquatic Club.
“It was kind of scary when I first walked into the pool area (as a dad) and heard his voice yelling ‘Christmas, get off the bottom!’ It kind of knocked me back to when I was 13 years old,” Dennis said.
As a teenager swimming for Massey, Christmas won OFSAA three years in a row.
“He was tough on us but he also took care of us,” Christmas said.
“He tried to teach us lessons in life, not just swimming. We
“IT’S SOMETHING YOU DON’T THINK ABOUT WHEN YOU’RE OUT THERE COACHING.”
LOU POCOCK
did what he said – most of the time.”
Coaching and teaching were intertwined as far as Pocock is concerned.
“That’s what you’re doing when you’re coaching, you’re teaching,” he said.
An outstanding athlete at Assumption, Pocock knew as a teenager he wanted to teach and likely would coach as well.
He learned from some of the best in Duke Snyder, Godfrey Janisse, Jack Hool, Rev. Charles Armstrong, Eddie Chittaro, Al Newman, Bob Marchand, Val Motruk and Bob Martin.
“Those guys really influenced me,” he said. “You pick up bits and pieces from all of them.”
Besides Doug Martin, Pocock coached Beth Carmichael who went on to swim at Michigan State and Lori Scott who competed at the World University Games. He also served as a coach for Team Canada at the International Schools Federation World Championships in Cyprus in 1994 and in China in 1998.
Pocock will share his induction ceremony with a cherished collection of family and friends, including his two daughters, Lori and Lisa.