Coach Tom Fraenkel
Coach Tom Fraenkel was born in the tiny African kingdom of SWAZILAND. He was educated at St. Andrews School in Bloemfontein and Kimberley Boys High School, where he was deputy Head Boy in 1967.
coachTom`s childhood years saw him living in Swaziland and in another African kingdom of Lesotho. Coach Tom also attended the Glen College of Agriculture after graduating from high school. coachTom is married to Anthea who is a very experienced swimming teacher in her own right.
coachTom has 3 children, twins Donna and Simon, who live in Cape Town, and Oliver who is an Iraqi veteran and lives in Knoxville. Anthea has two children, Catherine who lives in London with her husband Peter and daughters Rachel and Katelyn, and Michael who also still lives in Cape Town.
coachTom began his coaching career in Mafeking, South Africa( place of origin of the Boy Scout movement) in 1971. He then moved to Klerksdorp, where he established a team that was ranked in the top five teams in South Africa at the time. His most famous product in Klerksdorp was 9 year old Jeanette Kriek whose time of 1:29.30 for 100 meters breaststroke long course that ranked her fastest 10 and under swimmer in the world in 1975.
In 1976, coachTom moved to Cape Town where he remained until his re-location to the USA in 1999.
coachTom`s team in Cape Town was consistently ranked in the top three teams in South Africa from 1977 until the early 1990`s. His most famous swimmers in Cape Town were:
* Annette Cowley, who placed 5th and 7th in the world for 100 meters freestyle and 200m freestyle events respectively. She also won a scholarship to the University of Texas in Austin and trained under the late coach Richard Quick.
* Glen Hignett, who placed 7th in the world for 100 meters butterfly. He won a scholarship to the University of Carbondale where he trained under coach Doug Ingram.
* Sean Frampton, who placed 7th in the world for 100 meters breaststroke. He won a scholarship to the University of Nebraska where he trained under coach Cal Benz. The above mentioned swimmers achieved their results in the era that South Africa was banned from world sport by means of the United Nations Sports Embargo which prevented all sporting contact with South Africa by any nation or sporting organization in the world.
coachTom was the first white sports coach to coach a sportsman of color in the “apartheid era” from 1968 to 1991,where black sportsmen were prevented from training under white coaches. Claude Cloete not only learned to swim with coachTom, but he also became a member of coachTom`s team which was illegal according to the laws of the country. Claud became a very valuable member of the team, and not only did he become the catalyst for many other black children joining the team, but he also placed 13th in the Modern Pentathlon at the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996.
In 1989, coachTom created the famous Frankie Frog Learn to Swim program, and his chain of professional Frankie Frog Swimschools and franchised Frankie Frog swimschools were both world firsts. Many National and Internationally ranked swimmers graduated through these unique swimschools.
coachTom is an ASCA ranked Level 4 International coach. He was the South African Swim Coach of the Year in 1983. He is also former coach to the Angolan national team, and he is the first South African swim coach to lecture at an ASCA World Clinic where he lectured at the ASCA Age Group clinic in Fort Lauderdale in 1993.
coachTom, accompanied by his wife Anthea and beloved cats and dogs, entered the USA in 1999 on an 01 Extra-ordinary Ability Visa in the Sporting Field. He coached in Tennessee, Idaho and Kentucky before his re-location to LaGrange and Troup County in January 2009.
