What I'm Up To

One of the many advantages of working for yourself is that you can change directions fast. Last spring, I reached a point where it was time to make a change. One of the reasons that I work for myself is because it allows me the latitude to spend time engaging more with people in all corners of the swimming world.

This in turn feeds the work that I do, because one of the challenges of working in any environment is that some matter of tunnel vision as to your daily situation kicks in. I find I learn faster when I get enough exposure to environments that are just novel enough.

That is an introduction to two things that are already in the process of changing with Chris DeSantis Coaching. If you are reading this, one of them you probably have already noticed. The other is yet to come and I will announce it here.

Frequent listeners of the podcast have noticed a format change, starting this past summer. I’ve been doing the Swim Brief podcast in some shape or form since 2009, with some extended breaks in between. Over that time, the podcast has gone from a guest interview format, to a “same guy(s) every week” format, to some solo podcasts.

I have returned to the guest format based on both listener feedback and just plainly for myself. I think I speak for a lot of coaches when I say I find myself rather less social in non-swimming situations and just insanely extroverted poolside. Perhaps it’s my ADHD, but when I know that someone else is interested in the same thing I’ve been fixated on for roughly 30 years, it allows me a certain ease.

In writing, and in podcasting, my attitude has always been to do something that I’m interested in but seems unfulfilled. When I consume swimming content, I often yearn for some thoughtful writing designed for people with attention spans. When I hear coaches interviewed on podcasts, I find myself less interested in what they do and much more interested in why they do it. I find myself most interested in who coaches are.

So you can expect for the time being that there will be guests on the podcast and they will mostly be coaches. If you’re a reader/listener and want to submit a suggestion, I’m always happy to help. Pretty soon we’re going to have a guest on that if you’re a loyal listener to the podcast you absolutely won’t believe.

The second change that is coming is that I will be getting out to conferences and clinics. It’s not that I’ve not been attending, but I’ve been a little more passive in my involvement in the past couple of years. I attended a couple of Gulf Swimming Coaches clinics, and a high school coaches gathering in Minnesota in 2023. But in both cases I more or less waited to be invited.

Now I’m actively pursuing opportunities to attend and potentially speak at clinics. The day I am writing this I found out that my application to speak at the World Aquatic Development Conference in Lund, Sweden had been approved. I’ll be traveling across the pond for that in January.

But perhaps if you’re reading this you don’t live anywhere near Lund. Which is a shame, because they have an excellent soup restaurant and one of Scandinavia’s most beautiful cathedrals.

In that case, I want to come to a gathering of coaches near you! I’m actively looking for opportunities to be with other coaches. Right now I am planning on attending both the CSCAA (College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America) and ASCA, but I’m also interested in smaller gatherings.

I’m also investigating building some community off the pool deck of my own. If you’d be interested in attending an offline or online meeting hosted by me, contact me here.

Thank you to everyone for reading, following and supporting. Below you can find the abstract that I submitted to speak in Lund:

In 2009, I had the great honor to be the first sport coach in the world to get an advanced degree in Positive Psychology. The title conferred to me, a Masters in Applied Positive Psychology was both prestigious, and a lie. The lie was simple: no one had the faintest idea how to apply Positive Psychology to the world of sport. 


Since that day I have worked to translate classroom theory and quantitative research to competitive athletes. Through fifteen years of coaching and over 100 interviews with coaches in the field, I have done the qualitative research to develop theory into practice. My speech will present a critique of why Positive Psychology is poorly applied to practice, as well as four concepts that have withstood the rigors of actual coaching. 

Working with real people

Positive Psychology was a provocative stroke made by one of the foremost psychological researchers of the United States. Martin Seligmann envisioned a field that would be a turning point in the field of psychology. Where once we were concerned with easing human suffering, we could now turn our attention to foster thriving. 

In Seligmann’s wake, a swath of pop psychology books followed. Angela Duckworth’s “Grit” and Carol Dweck’s “Mindset” caught the idea of many leaders in the field of educating and coaching. There was only one problem: the translation from the work of researchers to practice in the field is incomplete. In most cases, popular writers and researchers were completely disconnected from the field testing of their theories. 

Positive Psychology is so obviously applicable in concept to coaching that I find it impossible to resist. Coaches do more than fix deficiencies, we build skills for challenges yet unrealized all the time. At our best, we are not reactive but constantly proactive. To that end, here are four concepts from Positive Psychology for coaches to use daily. They are all centered around a shift in how we communicate about what is taking place on a day to day basis:

  1. Opportunity Capitalization- Human beings are naturally problem solvers. That is absolutely essential to our survival. However, at a certain point a problem focus becomes a hindrance to personal growth. I will discuss how to change the way an individual or team filters for opportunity so that they have more opportunities to capitalize versus being bogged down with problem solving.

  2. Positivity is always honest- One of the biggest pitfalls of “positivity” advice is the prevalence of “fake it until you make it” slogans that often have the opposite effect of what is intended. It takes skill to craft positive perception that feels 100% honest in any situation, but that honesty has actual staying power.

  3. All feelings are right, all actions are not- Learning to distinguish between emotional validation and enablement of counterproductive behavior. Empathy is one of the most misunderstood concepts, often leading to movements like “gentle parenting” that once again have the opposite of their intended effect. Empathy in a coaching context is about accepting and understanding other people’s emotional shift in order to best help them shift their behavior.

  4.  Want vs Need: Motivational Infrastructure- The most basic way to motivate anyone from point A to point B is fear. We are easily moved by “needing:” to do something, a vestige from when most of our actions were literally life or death. Many elite athletes and coaches build motivation on this structure, but the mentality of need is inherently pessimistic. This pervasive pessimism, over time, has catastrophic effects on well-being. Motivational infrastructure can be built on the basis of “want”, which is less potent in the short term but compounds over time. 

Positive Psychology IS for coaches

The field of Positive Psychology offers tremendous potential to coaches, yet there exists a gap between theory and action. Although it has captured popular attention, that attention has also resulted in the attempted application of untested theories. This speech will take fifteen years of qualitative research and applied practice to bridge that gap for the audience.