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Kelton Graham is
the Associate Head Coach for Club Wolverine’s 18
and under programs. Kelton comes to this role with over 12 years of
coaching experience in Michigan. Kelton has coached a number of
teams in the Detroit and Ann Arbor area. Most recently Kelton
coached the Ypsilanti Otters before coming to Club Wolverine in
2007. Kelton has also coached both Lincoln and Huron High Schools.
His team at Huron High school won the Michigan High School
Championship in 2008.
In the spring
of 2008, the Detroit Free
Press described
Kelton Graham as
“..a charismatic figure who is easygoing and just
flat-out likable.” The Club
Wolverine swimmers Kelton coaches would more than
agree. Kelton is a beloved coach by swimmers at all levels of
ability. He is known for making workouts
fun. Kelton is well
respected by his fellow coaches in the club and within the high
school and college swimming communities.
Kelton grew
up in Detroit and
started swimming as a 12-year-old without any competitive
goals.
He just wanted to
float. But by the time Kelton
finished high school, he was a top
swimmer, (set a record in the
breaststroke), and finished sixth at the 1993 high school state
meet. Kelton went on to swim
for men’s coach Peter
Linn at EMU where he placed third in
the Mid-American Conference (MAC) Championship
meet. At that time, Kelton
was the only African-American swimmer to place at that level in the
MAC.
Kelton has been coaching young swimmers for the
past 10 years. He started coaching the
Aquademics, a team of minority kids in Ann Arbor, then moved on to
the Ypsi Otters where he was the head
coach. Kelton left the Otters
in 2006 to join the CW staff, the same year he was appointed the
boys high school coach at Ann Arbor Huron High
School.
In his second year as
the Huron boys swim coach, Kelton led the team to
their first
victory over cross-town
rival Pioneer in 19 years.
Kelton’s boys
team went on to win the high school state championship meet in
2008, also a first for the team in 19
years. Also, in 2008, Kelton
was named the Michigan High School Athletic Association Coach of
the Year for these
accomplishments.
In addition to coaching
for CW, Kelton also works in the summer at University of Michigan
women’s swim coach Jim Richardson’s Wolverine Swim
Camps.
High standards and ambition have been a part of
Kelton’s work in swimming as both an athlete and
coach. Kelton says he tries to
bring the concept of looking at the “truth” each of his
practices. His swimmers know what
that means. “It’s my
stop watch. Once truth
comes out of my pocket, the kids know it’s
going to be a hard workout,” he
said.
The high point of coaching for Kelton is helping
swimmers master goals they didn’t think were
possible. Kelton enjoys working
on technique with swimmers to improve strokes and learning about
new training methods to keep workouts
fresh. When training gets
tough during the middle of the season as championship meets
approach and swimmers get a bit grumpy, Kelton uses humor, new
ideas for workouts and fresh concepts to keep spirits
up. Last summer he reminded
senior group swimmers that his 107-year-old grandmother was
possibly faster on a kick set than they
were!
"My daughter finally found a coach who motivates
and encourages her, that is Kelton" said one CW
parent. "He is nurturing--genuinely cares about HER, and not
just her times or performance, and with him she has again become
motivated. I hear that from many parents whose kids work with him.
He really has a gift."
Kelton is married to Anna Singleton
Graham. He has two children a
daughter, Khya Singleton, and a son, Kelton
Isaiah.
Kelton also has two
cats. When Kelton isn’t
at the pool, you might find him
grilling. Kelton also loves Oreo
Blizzards at Dairy Queen, “..but I need to
be careful with those," he
says.
Click Here to
hear a podcast of Kelton talking about swimming.
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