NY Breakers Hosting Team Camp In Turkey, Setting Up 2 Year-Round Training Bases

International Swimming League franchise the New York Breakers will create two year-round training bases in Europe and in San Diego, along with a team training camp in Turkey before the coming ISL season.

The team announced in a press release that it will host a two-week training camp at the Gloria Sports Arena in Soutwest Turkey. The major aquatics facility will host members of the Breakers roster ahead of the start of the second ISL season this fall. So far, seven Breakers athletes are committed to attend:

• Michael Andrew
• Jeanette Ottesen
• Peter Stevens
• Ryan Coetzee
• Tevyn Waddell
• Svetlana Chimrova
• Damian Wierling

In addition, the Breakers say they are “in the late stages” of planning two long-term training bases. Breakers head coach Martin Truijens will run one training hub out of Europe (potentially in Italy or Spain) and assistant coach/co-owner Peter Andrew will host a second in San Diego, California.

Peter Andrew coaches his son, Michael, who is the Breakers captain. The Andrew family became well-known for their unorthodox training program based around Ultra-Short Race Pace Training, or USRPT. The low-volume, high-intensity training program has been a popular and polarizing topic within swimming since Michael Andrew burst onto the scene as an age group phenom almost a decade ago. It’s unclear whether the San Diego training hub would be entirely USRPT-based, but could allow more athletes to experiment with that training program.

The full press release is below:

The New York Breakers, one of 10 member clubs that compete as part of the International Swimming League (ISL), is presenting its professional athletes with a unique opportunity as the league prepares for the 2nd season of competition in 2021.

Members of the Breakers will participate in a two-week swim camp-in-residence at the Gloria Sports Arena in Southwest Turkey. Situated on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, the Gloria Sports Arena is the largest sporting complex in Turkey, and one of the largest in the world, with over 5,800 square meters (60,000 square feet) of aquatics facilities. That includes an outdoor 10-lane 50-meter Olympic pool, an indoor 50-meter pool, an outdoor 25-meter pool, an Olympic-scale diving pool, an Olympic-scale water polo pool, and a sports rehab pool.

This will allow the Breakers athletes to live, train, and bond as a team in one all-inclusive facility as they activate a long term strategy to build a winning culture and prepare for their 2nd season in the ISL.

For the Breakers, this is just the beginning of bigger plans on the way for the future of professional league swimming.
The Breakers, led by general manager Tina Andrew, is in the late stages of planning a pair of year-round home training bases. One will be based in Europe under the guidance of Breakers Head Coach Martin Truijens, while the other will be based in San Diego in the United States under the guidance of Breakers Assistant Coach Peter Andrew.  The exact location of the European base will be announced at a later date, but both Italy and Spain are being explored as leading candidates.

The New York Breakers are currently seeking partners and investors while they continue to create commercially-viable products in the swimming space.

This will make the Breakers one of just two ISL teams with a permanent year-round training base as part of their club operations, and the only one with a base on multiple continents.

“This is a dream starting to become a reality, we are starting to connect the dots to a long term vision one step at a time,” General Manager Tina Andrew said. “It is only the beginning. We’re looking forward to the opportunity to bring members of our team together for the first time since last season after months of uncertainty and isolation.  We are also looking forward to NY Breakers coaches and athletes getting to know each other and the bonding that will take place while we have a first-hand opportunity to learn from the best team and their leadership in the league as we seek to explore new opportunities to develop our team and build a winning culture based on community and relationships”.

Peter Andrew is the co-owner and coach of Breakers athlete and co-owner Michael Andrew, a World Champion in the 100 IM, while Martin Truijens has had a number of major international appointments, including as head coach of the Danish National Training Center from 2017 through 2019 and of the Dutch National Training Center in Amsterdam from 2005 through 2017.

“I have been a part of many big projects and training centers in my career, but I have to say that I’m most excited about this one,” Trujiens said of the opportunity. “With the support of the ISL, I think this is a vital next step toward building a sustainable professional league that can elevate opportunities for swimmers globally.

“The 2020 camp and 2021 training base will be our way of finally giving professional swimmers the resources and respect that they deserve, with coaching and support available to maximize their potential in the water.”

The full Breakers roster and the location of the 2020 competition camp, as well as the 2020 league finale, will be announced in early September.

Athletes Committed to attending the New York Breakers’ Team Camp in Turkey:

• Michael Andrew, USA
• Jeanette Ottesen, Denmark
• Peter Stevens, Slovenia
• Ryan Coetzee, South Africa
• Tevyn Waddell, USA
• Svetlana Chimrova, Russia
• Damian Wierling, Germany

Professional Athletes interested in learning more about opportunities to join NY Breakers and train at the NY Breakers’ training bases in 2021 can reach out to Tina Andrew at [email protected].