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About Allen
- Techniques in Swimming
- Exercise Physiology
- Child Behavior/Development
- Principles of Flexibility
- Anatomy and Physiology
- Citizen Police Academy (Menlo Park)
- Injury Prevention
- Injury Emergencies
- Injury Rehabilitation
- Clinical Sports Medicine
- Fitness Assessment
- Pilates
- Strength Fitness
- Dispute Resolution
- Sports Nutrition
- Sports Psychology
- Coaching
- Swedish Massage
- Mental Skills for Sport, Work and Life
- Child & Infant Cognitive Development
- Human Development: The Aging Process
- Adolescent Cognitive Development
- Stress Management (Forgiveness)
- Advanced Stress Management
- Challenging Assumptions
- Peak Performance
- Experience Design
- Usability Testing
- Relationship Skills
- Sport and Spirituality
Beginnings
Allen began swimming at age 3, competing at 6 and started breaking records at age 8. He has set records in freestyle, breaststroke and butterfly with national rankings in the 50 free for the 9&10, 11&12, and 13&14 year-old age groups. In addition to the sprints, Allen had AAA and AAAA times in every competitive event and was also on a 13&14 200 Free Relay that was ranked #2 in the nation. As an elite athlete, Allen began learning muscle strengthening, flexibility and mental conditioning techniques. He also learned coaching techniques that he used to help out his teammates. Allen continued to swim, but more of his attention turned toward academics and other sports. He joined track and field and competed in the 200M, 400M and high jump events. He played soccer as a halfback, fullback and goalie and played water polo in the goalie and hole positions. He competed in national math contests during high school, graduated valedictorian and went on to Princeton where he received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science with a minor in Operations Research. Allen was on the varsity team at Princeton where he qualified for Easterns in the 50 and 100 Free.
Career
In 1986, Allen began coaching in his hometown of Itasca, Illinois. He then moved to LA to pursue a career in computer networks. Allen continued to swim and maintain his fitness which he improved on when he moved to Palo Alto. After the internet industry collapsed, Allen returned to swimming and coaching. He began extensive research on the latest swimming techniques, particularly those of Ross Gerry, Milt Nelms and Richard Quick all affiliated with Stanford University.
In conjunction with is swimming research, Allen realized he wanted to expand his understanding of sports, health and fitness, so he went back to school. He started with the Personal Trainer Certification program at Foothill College and then went on to get AA degrees in Physical Education/Human Perforamance, Injury Care Management and Adaptive Fitness all from Foothill College, an AA in Massage Therapy from De Anza College and an MS in Health, Physical Education and Recreation from Emporia State University.
In addition to his formal education, Allen also delved into coaching sports including track and field, Olympic weightlifting and triathlon. He trained in gymnastics instruction, aquatic exercise, aquatic personal training, aquatic therapy, group exercise and group strength and conditioning.
Over the years, Allen has held several management positions including a swim school manager, aquatic exercise program manager and aquatics director. In these roles, he passed on to his staff the ability to genuinely care for patrons and provide quality service.
Allen continues to expand his understanding of sports, health and fitness to increase the breadth of service he can provide while continuing to hone the skills he has already acquired to ensure the depth of quality he offers.
Interests
In addition to swimming, Allen enjoys ice skating (he is a Bronze level competitive ice dancer), hiking, running, juggling, aquatic exercise and finding new, challenging and fun exercises to do.
Below are his certifications, memberships and relevant course work.
Foothill College / De Anza College | ||
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Stanford University | ||
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Home | Healing | Getting in to shape | Swimming Lessons | Coaching & Group Exercise | About Allen |
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© 2004-2010 Allen Varner    Background source: College Swim Coaches Association of America    Last Update: May 2, 2010