It’s hard to pinpoint the moment where I finally realized that this wouldn’t be a normal Olympics for the USA. If I had to choose, it was during the Men’s 200 Fly. America had already only managed one semi-finalist, the 17 year old phenom Thomas Heilman. Heilman put in a valiant semi-final swim, but ultimately tied up on the final stretch. There would be no American finalist in the 200 fly.
If US Olympic Trials are the “swim coach Super Bowl”, then I’m out of superlatives for the Olympics. Perhaps because it is more exclusive in terms of what coaches actually get to don their glistening synthetic polo shirts. The Olympics just is, it’s the assumed final boss of everything that we do, the aspiration of many but also an unrealistic dream for most of that many.
When USA Swimming allowed child molester Everett Uchiyama to "resign" from his post in 2006, Pat Hogan was the man who helped Uchiyama get a new job with access to kids down the road at the Colorado Country Club with an over the top recommendation.
Which brings us to yesterday. According to this facebook post sent anonymously to the blog, all the members of USA Swimming's club development staff were tagged in a post celebrating the retirement of their "boss
The second time I was introduced this past weekend at the Gulf Swimming Coaches Clinic, I became painfully self-conscious about part of my bio.
I am proud that I was coached two Danish Junior National teams. Humbly, I realize that Denmark, as a country, is far smaller than Gulf Swimming. Not only in terms of population but in the number of competitive swimmers.
I'm living the dream.
I'm writing this from my hotel in Downtown Houston. I'm down in the area for the third time in the last six months. Whereas my two previous visits have been solely focused on working with Bridge Bats, this time I have a dual purpose
Instead I am echoing what I have heard from victims of abuse. Part of their story that I hear over and over again is the fact that many people had the ability to say or do the right thing to help them but did not.
I am trying to communicate to them that I will not do the same, and also encouraging them to hold me accountable to that promise
One of the questions that I often field from coaches goes something like this:
"What do I do about (athlete x)? They are struggling and they blame it on (laundry list of small things). I don't think that's really what the problem is".
This is a frustrating and common problem, one that can even get a bit infectious under the right conditions on a team. Often it leads frustrated coaches to challenge the athlete on the validity of their claims.
On February 28th I submitted a report via the online form on Paul Bergen. I only reported what I knew from publicly available information, including Deena Deardurff Schmidt speaking directly to the camera about it in 2010
All this is putting the horse before the cart. Especially kids (but also adults) need to feel safe to be their most confident, brave, adventurous selves. They need to FEEL, not just rationalize, that if they fail they will still be safe. They will have the support of their coach and their teammates. Their parents will love them.
Katie Ledecky is the best swimmer in the world. It is likely that, even if her progression continues to stall out and even head in the wrong direction, she will win the events she contests this summer at international championships easily.
But right now, Katie Ledecky is swimming in college, which means she's kind of doing another sport known as short course yards. That sport makes her look far more mortal.
n this final edition, I look back at the 2012 Aquatic Sports Convention. This was towards the end of the time that some employees (Chuck Wielgus, Susan Woessner and briefly Mike Unger) attempted to bring me into the fold.
I declined to be co-opted, and Unger's attempt was the one that showed me the depths of hubris that lay in Colorado Springs
Now, before you get all worked up, I want to admit to a couple faults. I have written very many wrong blog posts about suits. I liked the rubbery ones. I still like wearing them but I get why we can't have them. I started multiple flamewars with Craig Lord on this topic and I'm going to tell you that I was mostly wrong.
Today, a "remember when?". Remember when USA Swimming (Chuck Wielgus) retaliated against a rape victim because her proclamation of that rape lead to him being personal embarrassed on ESPN's "Outside the Lines". In this fight over the years, there have been plenty of acrimony on both sides, but this is undoubtedly one of the lowest points.
I think swimming needs dramatic change, that change will be very hard. I think it's worth it, however. Not just for stopping the terrible, abusive, horrible things from happening to people. Reimagining sport around the experience and well-being of people doing also offers the chance for a lot more good things to happen.
