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:
This podcast was recorded last week with somebody I’ve admired in both her athletic and professional career. Samantha Arsenault Livingstone was a 2000 Olympic Gold medalist.
I wanted to have Samantha on because we connected over the fact that she’s pretty brutally honest about the peaks and valleys she had along the way, and dedicated herself to helping others when they encounter the same. We had a far reaching conversation covering almost two decades. Enjoy:
Some links that we discussed during the podcast:
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.
The Swim Brief returns with Trever Gray to talk about a smorgasbord of topics. First Trever and I get to the follow up on our respective high school seasons before turning to the big meet, PAC-12s, that we got to watch this past weekend.
Finally we talk about the recent decision made to cut Oregon State’s program that I have already shared some personal feelings on.
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:
This week I got Garrett McCaffrey to come in and do our swimming version of sports talk radio. We discuss pro swimming, whether we think it’s time to buy/sell stock in Ryan Lochte and finally we use the crazy story about Sun Yang as a springboard for a broader conversation about doping.
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
Today I'm joined by Sarah Ehekircher and for the first time, Dia Rianda. We talk through how cultural knowledge, often damaging, is handed down from coach to coach, and work through a few examples we have seen.
Later on, Dia helps us understand the latest news about Richard Foster, and I rant a bit about the piece I wrote on Dick Shoulberg yesterday:
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.