 He developed a love of swimming, which relieved him from the boredom of the town, as "the local pool gave us something to do".By the age of 10, Theile was enjoying success at local swimming carnivals, so his father offered to arrange for him to be coached, but left Theile with the choice of coaches.Of the two coaches in the town, Theile chose Arthur Cusack, who had a reputation as a physical training instructor of whom Theile recounted as being "tough and enthusiastic.