VALPARAISO | Having swam for nearly half of his life already, 13-year-old Andrew Antonetti said little of the swimming instructions he was hearing Saturday morning were new to him.

What made the tips special, however, is that they were coming directly from two-time Olympic gold medalist Peter Vanderkaay.

Vanderkaay, a native of neighboring Michigan and a longtime friend of Valparaiso Swim Club Coach Manny Perez, spent an hour Saturday putting a group of nearly 80 young swimmers through a series of drills designed to improve their swim strokes, turns and finishes.

He reminded the young swimmers to stay as streamline as possible in the water, take full strokes and resist the urge to take a breath during the final stretch of a race.

The 24-year-old opted not to join the swim club members in the high school pool but said before the workshop that he continues to train about 20 hours a week in the water and 10 hours on dry land back home in Ann Arbor, Mich. He has his eye on competing in the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Vanderkaay won gold medals in the 800-meter freestyle relay during the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics and a bronze medal in the 200-meter freestyle during the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China.

Vanderkaay said a big part of what he hoped the young people would take away from Saturday was inspiration from his own success with swimming. Yet he said he did not have Olympic aspirations when he was a young swimmer.

His drive did not develop in force until after failing to qualify for the state swim meet during his freshman year in high school at Rochester, Mich.

He and the other U.S. swimmers came back from last summer's Olympic games in the shadow of Michael Phelps, who won a record eight gold medals, but Vanderkaay is nothing but proud of Phelps' accomplishments.

"What Michael has done has been great for swimming," he said.

Perez said about 40 new members joined the local swim club after the Summer Olympics, and they are sticking around in greater numbers.

The club has two seasons each year -- September through March and April through August, he said. The club is open to swimmers between the ages of 5 and 18.

For more information, visit the club's Web site at http://valparaisoswimclub.com or call Perez at (219) 465-8368.