Special Sets: The Training of Rising 11-Year-Old Standout Millie Conner
It’s early yet. Still, that doesn’t stop 11-year-old Millie Conner from plotting her swimming career. It is mapped out in the 30-40 swimming journals she keeps “filled with words, time and personal goals, charts, graphs and thoughts about each meet she swims,” says her father, Nick. One aspiration is to swim at the University of Virginia, another is to be an Olympian.
Lofty thinking? Sure, but as of mid-December, she has the bona fides to entertain those ideas. Consider: she is currently the fastest 11-year-old in the United States in the SCY 50 fly (27.20). She ranks second in the 50 free (25.35) and the 50 back (28.63), fourth in the 100 back (1:02.26) and fifth in the 200 back (2:15.17), eighth in the 200 IM (2:19.53) and ninth in the 100 fly (1:02.56). Millie also possesses six other top-15 times as well as 15 Team Greenville records.
To top it off, she leads the nation for 11-year-olds in USA Swimming’s combined IMX and IMR scores with 7,962 points through its 10 designated events.
Courtesy: Nick Conner
Millie is home-schooled and also falls on the autistic spectrum which, in part, accounts for her singular focus. “She sees that as her super power rather than a stumbling block and is fully embracing the challenges that come with that,” says her father. “Physically she has a unique body build atypical for a girl her age and has very long, larger athletic arms and short legs that enable her to be very explosive like an NFL linebacker. Her kicks are fast, twitchy and she can hold her breath extremely well,” he says.
“Millie is an exceptional athlete possessing strength, endurance and agility,” says Team Greenville head coach Karl Kozicki. “Her commitment to her talent is driven with internal passion to be her best. As a competitor she thrives on racing the best and to push herself to the limit in her performance. She has been a part of Team Greenville for almost six years beginning with our developmental group level. She now trains and competes well in our high track performance program. Our system is based upon proper stroke mechanics and age appropriate aerobic and anaerobic conditioning. Athletes are also taught character building skills like dedication and resilience to handle the pressures of competing,” he says.
Aside from her internal drive, Millie has benefitted from her U-10 years with Team Greenville coach Danyelle Parker and an earlier association with her present coach Lorin Collins. “Millie operates on a different wavelength than everyone else,” says Collins. “She understands the full picture of what we are asking whereas most kids are focused on one thing. She also has an awesome, intrinsic feel for the water and is more sensitive to details and little tweaks to strokes. Millie has a comprehension concerning physical feedback that many don’t develop until their mid-teen years.
“She is just one of those kids who really enjoys swimming. It is her peaceful part of the day,” says Collins. “It’s ‘I put my face in the water, turn off my brain and noise and just focus on swimming for two hours.’ Millie is just passionate about swimming, focused on process and enjoying what she is doing.”
The Extra Mile
Far from just logging laps Millie buttresses her pool time with dryland and several developmental strength programs. This year at Team Greenville her group has begun a concentrated dryland program with SwimStrong. “My training group has been focused on developing core strength, coordination and learning basic foundational strength training. Those elements include: pushups, pullups, balance, jumping and bounding exercises and various core exercises. Millie has responded well to this so far. Her form and strength have improved considerably and are translating well into the pool,” says Collins.
“This season we are focusing on perfecting the small race strategy details, i.e.: when to breathe, head down for the finish, optimal number of kicks off the walls for specific races and so on. The idea is to build these habits into her races so they become instinctive.
“Millie excels at communicating and applying feedback to her races. Her intensity during difficult sets and in races is a big reason for her achievements,” says Collins. And that success is considerable, including winning seven of seven individual (and two relay) races while winning nine of nine firsts in February’s South Carolina Age Group Championships.
In addition to dryland at Team Greenville, Millie works four days a week with Tanner Pittman at 11.11 Elite Athlete Training. There, the emphasis is on strength, explosive movement development and injury prevention. She also visits Greenville Spine for other specific core work.
Another Conner hallmark is her embrace of hard work. “Swimming and racing is what she loves and would do anything asked of her to continue on her upward path,” says Collins. “We often joke that Millie does so well because she is Millie. The way she is as a person, is the reason why she finds success. Swimming is a grueling sport to love and often unforgiving. It takes a special athlete to rise to one’s coach expectations, have the consistency and concentration/effort asked for at practice.”