US swimming coach Chad Onken was as enthralled with the island as Bermuda’s young swimmers were with his training sessions last weekend.

Onken was making his first visit to these shores as part of national coach Ben Smith’s ambitious plan to turn the island into a training hub for some of the region’s best.

While Onken displayed the kind of enthusiasm usually reserved for a tourist, praising the “beautiful country, amazing hospitality, great food and great people”, he is no ordinary visitor.

Onken has spent more than two decades at the highest level, shaping world record-holders, Olympic gold medal-winners and NCAA champions. He is the director of international clinics for the American Swimming Coaches Association and has been named a recipient of the ASCA Award for Coaching Excellence seven times.

Responsible for teaching and organising coaching clinics outside the United States, Onken nurtures international partnerships and ensures clinics are delivered by elite, experienced, championship-level coaches.

“My role is to travel the world to do clinics and usually I’m focused more on coaching the coaches,” he said. “But Ben Smith thought there was a little bit more of a need right now for more focus on the athletes, and I am happy to oblige.

“Having been here for a couple of days, potential is the word I would like to use. There are some really good children here, they're great listeners, willing to try new things and open to change.

“They are in a great programme here where they get to see a lot of different levels of swimming and they are fortunate in that they get to travel and see some very high-level swimming. The rising tide lifts all boats so my hope is that fast swimming brings more fast swimming.

“The facilities are great and you have an ocean that surrounds the entire country, so there is no excuse not to have a country that is focused on learning to swim and then be able to advance that to higher levels and elite-level swimming.”

The swimmer Onken is most associated with is Cullen Jones, who was the first African-American to hold a world record in swimming as part of the 4×100 metres freestyle relay team that won gold at the 2008 Olympic Games and featured Michael Phelps, Jason Lezak and Garrett Weber-Gale.

Onken is proud of that but you sense that he has pride in the achievements of his athletes at all levels.

“That’s why I love coaching,” Onken said. “I love talking to an athlete about how I think they are capable of achieving X, Y, Z, and showing them how we can do it.

“Unfortunately, swimming is a sport that doesn’t provide instant gratification. It is a sport that requires early mornings, intense work and sacrifice, but it’s really great to see after months and months of hard work, sacrifice, training, them achieve their goal. \

“That's what my job is all about and that’s what I take value in. That’s what really makes me tick as a coach is seeing athletes achieve the fruits of their labour and achieve their goals.”

He is equally thoughtful on what it takes to coach at elite level, with the qualities he prizes most having nothing to do with tactical knowledge or technical expertise.

“The biggest thing about being a successful coach is that it’s about we and not me,” he said.

“They have to be selfless and I know there are lots of coaches in our community who sometimes sacrifice family, sacrifice health, sacrifice holidays and so many things for their athletes.

“That is certainly a trait that is common among the best coaches in the world. It’s about the athlete and how they can help their athlete reach their goals and their potential.”