Today the long awaited and teased podcast with the Managing Director of Sport Development for USA Swimming, Joel Shinofield. We trace Joel’s history in the sport, back to his earliest days teaching and coaching up to the present day.
We get into what motivated some of the twists and turns in his career, before finally pivoting to a conversation of his current role and what he’s trying to accomplish right now. Joel even turns the tables on me at the last minute. Enjoy:
In the wake of the OC Register’s reporting earlier in the week that an FBI Veteran, hired to investigate Sean Hutchison, was very much not allowed to investigate, I called up Sarah Ehekircher.
We go through the article and give context to the names and players involved, and what some of the facts suggest about the broader Olympic sport culture:
This week I’m joined by my friend Glenn Neufeld to discuss last month’s Easterns, and the road to reviving the meet over the last three years.
We also talk about some of the surprising things at the meet that make it a little different from your average swimming competition:
Sarah Ehekircher comes back to update on her own saga for justice against her former coach, before we pivot to a discussion of what happened last month in Fishers, Indiana and the fallout from a group of administrators abdicating their responsibility.
We finish by getting a little fired up as we usually do about broader topics concerning creating a safe environment for kids in sport.
A conversation with Sarah Ehekircher about the possibility of a second NBOR (National Board of Review) after the botched one in 2010. We talk about the process of even getting to the point where USA Swimming would consider another one.
All of this takes place with the backdrop of USA Swimming’s biennial “Safe Sport Leadership Conference”, leading me to speculate whether the two are connected. Enjoy:
In a follow up to last week’s podcast with Monica Strzempko, I sat down with Becky Finley, a former teammate of Sarah Ehekircher. We discuss what it was like to come up to an “elite” team at a young age (13) and all the kinds of radical behavior that she accepted as normal.
We also discuss at what point she decided that it was not normal for her coach, Scott MacFarland, to intervene in the way that he did:
I recorded a podcast yesterday with Monica Strzempko and Sarah Ehekircher yesterday. We wanted to highlight the issue of grooming and how it paves the way for abuse. For more on Monica and some context around why we spoke to her, look to yesterday’s preview.
Lee Sommers got his start coaching swimming athletes with the best in the world, Katie Ledecky. Since then he’s built a business working and advising many more on how to get the best possible training out of the water.
We talk about how he got that start, as well as some of the principals that drive what he does. He also addresses some common misconceptions he sees in dryland training for swimming.
Today one of my favorite athletes in the entire world, Jeanette Ottesen. I've followed Jeanette's career from when she first broke through as a teenager in Denmark, straight to world titles and an Olympic medal.
Now at 30 going on 31, married and with a one year old child, she's entering a new chapter of her competitive career. Guys, there is so much for coaches and swimmers alike to learn from Jeanette's story throughout this podcast. I even get schooled late in the pod when I try and guess what made Jeanette doubt continuing her career and fall into the same trap that most of the media does.
I hope you enjoy listening as much as I did:
Today a repeat non-swimming guest drop in from my friend Sherri Fisher. Sherri is the director of Learn and Flourish LLC, and we talk about the work she does with young people, particularly those struggling with executive function challenges.
We also talk about her new journal, which we hinted at in the previous podcast, and some of the content that went in to it.
You know, this business, this blog and this podcast probably would not exist without Sherri’s help, and I hope that it’s obvious when you listen what a big impact she’s had on me. Wait until the end when I tell her one big change she has made my family life. Enjoy.
Find out more about Sherri’s day to day work at Learn and Flourish
Check out the journal we talked about: Unleash Your Epic Self
Hi All,
Please enjoy this very low-fi, thanksgiving edition of the Swim Brief. Sarah Ehekircher joined me and we talked about three major ways grooming manifests itself in swimming. On a positive note we also talked about what to look for instead.
We also had fun talking about people in our lives who have no idea what we are doing as coaches or as “consultants”.
There is no intro, no ads, just straight into the podcast and straight out. There is some noise in the background that we explain off the top. Have a great holiday and I’ll catch you on the other side:
Today I return with Trever Gray to talk about the subject of attendance. It may seem like a little thing, but we got into an interesting conversation with our plans as we both embark on a high school season next week.
At the end, we both do movie reviews, and mine contains spoilers for the film Pacific Rim Uprising. So you've been warned.
Today I return with Trever Gray and Sarah Ehekircher, to follow up on our podcast of last week. If you want to read more from Trever go here. If you want to hear more from Sarah her blog is here and she’s active on twitter.
Both Trever and Sarah have new research to bring to the fray this week. We turn from there to a discussion of Steve Lochte and Swimswam beginning to report on interim Safe Sport suspensions. Finally. we discuss Steve Penny, the former head of USA Gymnastics, getting arrested this past week and I go on an extended rant about Tom Brokaw. Enjoy.
Today a long awaited chat with the University of Houston head coach Ryan Wochomurka
Ryan is building something in Houston after being a part of the incredible development of the University of Louisville. We talk about his journey in coaching to get to this point, as well as the spirit that makes Houston such an exciting place to live and work.
From there we look to the future to see what he and his team are doing to, in their words, "elevate" the program, and the project we're working to make that a reality. Enjoy.
Today two world's collide on the Swim Brief: Trever Gray (you know him from Nerd Alert) and Sarah Ehekircher- you know her because we have done a ton of podcasts together.
I'm bringing them both on so we can take a multifaceted look at substance abuse in the swimming world as well as coaches well-being. Sarah and I both noticed (and Sarah experienced) the connection between substance abuse and abusive behavior. Trever did a nice literature review to help, and ultimately we decided to make a three person pod to tackle the issue. Enjoy.
A few weeks back I teamed up for a podcast with Sarah Ehekircher and Eva Rodansky. This time, we got to talking about the Senate hearings with Olympic sports leaders.
Eva was there and a part of some pretty compelling events outside of the hearing. Sarah watched from home. We talk about whether there is true progress and momentum.
Just one note: this was recorded last Friday, and there is a discussion about the independence of Safe Sport vis-a-vis banning coaches that USA Swimming failed to ban. Later on in the day, Sean Hutchison was banned, which is an interesting test case for this. Although, Sean had already been very prominently exposed and USA Swimming has already admitted some wrongdoing in the way they handled the investigation, specifically with the termination of Susan Woessner.
Also we talked a bit about a rumor that Hutchison had fled the country. News reports quote his lawyers as saying he is still stateside.
Sarah Ehekircher joins me once again for a podcast about the overwhelming amount of things going on in the sport of swimming, and beyond. We talk about reporting, or lack thereof, on the recently added names to Safe Sport's publicly searchable database.
From there we jump to comment moderation, I go on a rant about Brent Rutemiller, and finally I make an appeal to all the people fired up about the WADA/RUSADA mess to team up.
We are coming up on the one year anniversary of when I met today's guest, Dirk Marshall. Since then, we've embarked on a project together to bring Positive Psychology education to the team that he co-owns and coaches, the Bridge Bats.
I talk to him about what he expected and then what has actually happened as we have gone through the year together. What has changed, what has stayed the same and how some of the experiences we’ve had together have helped both of us over the last year:
Today a podcast I promised earlier week with everybody's favorite Swiss Swim coach Nico Messer. Nico has been all around the US for the second year in a row and we talk about what he's learned on his trip, but also get in deep with some listener questions about swimming clinics and continuing education.
Today a three person pod with both Sarah Ehekircher and Eva Rodansky.
Sarah you should know from my her numerous recent appearances. Eva is a new face- someone that Sarah and I both have started to get to know. She tells some of her story of coming up in the speed skating world when it was in the grips of the infamous Michael Crow.
We talk about the recent Sports Illustrated article that came out on the Lopez Brothers, as well as the recent resignation of Kerry Perry from gymnastics. Finally, we have advice for National Governing Bodies if they want to stop repeating the vicious cycle they are in. Enjoy.
Here is a way to catch up with some of Eva's story.
After posting, Eva did want to let me and everyone else know that she endorses the "Darkness to Light" training that is also endorsed by Champion Women and Aly Raisman.