Enter the Race Swami

Today's guest is Matt Finnigan. Matt is a different kind of swim coach who founded a different kind of swim team on the West Side of Salt Lake City. I was really excited to hear his story and how he was able to build a more inclusive squad despite some of the barriers that have kept swimming from being a diverse sport.

The Club he founded, Race Swami, aims to make a difference, and they've done just that, expanding from humble beginnings to serve 80 athletes

You can read more about Race Swami here

NCAA Bonus Pod With Mark Hill

Bonus pod! Today I try to extend the excitement of NCAAs by talking with a coach at the hottest team in college swimming, Indiana University. Mark Hill joined the Hoosiers before the start of this college year. He had previously won a men's NCAA title as part of Michigan's squad in 2013.

We talk about the crazy, amazing spectacle that NCAAs is, what he learned in his year away from college swimming, and I formally ask him if there's still space for me on the IU bandwagon. Enjoy. 

You Can't Be A Good Coach While Leading a Secret Life

Today I talk to elite Masters swimmer and former National Champion Susan Williams. Williams has a world record in her age group, and we talk about her life growing up swimming in the DC area. Williams was the first National Champion that disgraced coach Rick Curl ever coached.

We talk about her recollections of the time, including finding out that Curl was sexually abusing her teammate, Kellie Davies Currin, and Susan does some brutally honest self-examination of how she dealt with the knowledge and the subsequent aftermath. We also do our best to bust up the "great coach" narrative that often works against victims of sexual abuse:

The Journalist Who Took on Swimming

Today another guest that I've wanted to have for a long time. Irvin Muchnick has been doing outstanding work covering corruption and abuse in American swimming. He's soent a lot of the past few years breaking stories and doing legwork that often finds its way later to bigger publications, uncredited.

Irv and I talk for a long time, almost 80 minutes, and we cover the big picture as well as the the story that he has spent the last few years with intense focus on: former Irish Olympic coach George Gibney, who is still living in the US and evading justice for the terrible crimes he stands accused of in his home country. Enjoy

To catch up on Irv's work, go here.

Nancy Hogshead Makar: The State of the Fight

Among the revelations of this podcast: there is reason to believe that Susan Woessner lied when she resigned from USA Swimming about her interactions with Sean Hutchison. Also, a group of swimmers led by Olympic gold medalist Karen Moe Humphreys will be speaking out against abusive coach Paul Bergen. 

The guest is one that I've wanted to have for a long time and is so relevant to everything going on in the swimming world right now. Nancy Hogshead Makar is a former Olympic Champion swimmer. She went on to a law career, where he has dedicated significant time to advocacy work, first for the Women's Sports Foundation, and now as CEO of Champion Women. 

Her most recent accomplishment includes lobbying to push the "Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse and Safe Sport" act through congress.

The act was recently signed into law, and Champion Women has a nice cheat sheet for those looking to catch up on what it means.

For more information on Nancy and her work visit Champion Women. You can also read this excellent piece where she tells a lot of her life story here.

Matt Kredich

On the Swim Brief this week is University of Tennessee Men's and Women's Swimming and DIving Head coach Matt Kredich. Matt reached out to me last week just before SEC's, and agreed to this podcast just after the meet. 

We hit some uncomfortable topics, including the interactions Kredich had with Hutchison, the overall culture of swimming and coaching, and the role that organizations like ASCA and their hall of fame should play in all of this. Enjoy:

Paul Yetter Returns

Here's the back story on this one: A couple of weeks ago, I did a pod with Erik Kramer. Paul Yetter liked that pod, so I asked him to come back for a similar conversation. I wanted to talk to Paul about some of the stuff he's struggled with over the years, and more importantly how he found a way to move forward.

We ended up getting all kinds of fired up about three quarters of the way through about Race Pace training, before bringing it back to really get a fuller picture of what he's learned through 20 years in the coaching world. Enjoy.

We Need More of This

When you work in any profession, you really get shaped by the people you meet and the relationships you form. This week, I'm making up for the fact that I coached in the same conference as our podcast guest, and yet I didn't get to know her.

Christen Schefchunas was an NCAA swim coach for many years, culminating with a run at University of Miami. As you'll hear, she reached a major turning point at Miami, one that ultimately led her to go beyond coaching just one team. I called her because I've been following what she's been doing, and I think she has a really important message that, frankly, we need more of:

You can find out more about Christen and her work at her website.

Rise, Fall and Rise

Eric Kramer currently coaches the Saskatoon Lasers in Saskatchewan, which I'm told is a real place in a real country (Canada).

Eric's coaching story really hooked me in. We talk about how he had international success with a swimmer very early in his coaching career and how that affected him in ways both good and bad.

We talk about the pivotal moment he had looking into the eyes of his swimmers, and there's a lot of learning and honesty along the journey. Enjoy:

Jeff Of All Trades

Today's conversation is with a very unique Canadian gentlemen, Jeff Grace. Jeff, well, Jeff has done a lot of things in swimming and continues to do so. He's a fellow writer, and we talk about how he got into writing about swimming. We also talk about how open he has been about his own mental illness and advocating for others.

For more information about Jeff and all the work he does: 

Mental Health for Athletes:

https://swimswam.com/?s=mental+health+for+athletes

Yoga and Meditation Classes for Mental Health

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_CMQtiKnX8K9pQQJF2yuzJZra1nOiNcP

Eliza's Website

https://www.elizajanewellness.com/

Stand-Up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcbjztZo8Kg

Swimming Specific Yoga

https://www.swimmingspecificyoga.com

Excel with Grace Sport-Specific Yoga

https://www.excelwithgrace.com