We hear it quite often athletes talking about the way they learn best. Yesterday an athlete told me, “I’m a visual learner.” In a 2010 paper titled The Myth of Learning Styles wrote, “there is no credible evidence that learning styles exist. Students may have preferences about how to learn, but no evidence suggests that catering to those preferences will lead to better learning.” In the book Hidden Potential, Adam Grant talks about how comfort in learning is a paradox because discomfort is a sign of growth. So when thinking...

What makes a fast swimmer fast? In my life I’ve had a lot of opportunities to interact with fast swimmers. I’ve swum with a few, coached a few, and even got married by one; so, I’ve had a lot of opportunities to try to answer that question. And there is only one thing that’s serves as a throughline to connect these great swimmers is that they do the little things better than anyone else in the pool. But is my anecdotal experience enough to make a generalized statement that can...

Between October 6 – 10, 2022 USA Swimming will bring together an elite group of 51 emerging female athletes at the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado for National Select Camp. Among those selected to participate is Seattle Metropolitan Aquatic Club swimmer Ella Jablonski. To select the camp attendees, USA Swimming invites the three fastest swimmers during the qualifying window in each Olympic event. USA Swimming also invites 3 open water swimmers and 6 athletes based on their IMX scores. USA Swimming Select Camp is designed...

Responding To What Happens To You I am currently taking an EMT class a few times per week and we have been learning tons about the major incidents we could be exposed to. We have learned about everything from how to properly help someone having a nosebleed, to how to evaluate on the spot if someone has a pelvic fracture and how to stabilize that pelvis to limit internal bleeding. One of the most beneficial lectures we have had thus far has actually nothing to do with trauma, but about...

March Is upon us and that means two things for me personally: fast swimming and college basketball. Being from Arizona, I grew up as a University of Arizona fan. They are having a stellar year this year, being ranked #2 overall in the country, and capturing the regular season and tournament championship for the PAC 12 conference. They have a leader who is experienced but in his first head coaching job. His name is Tommy Lloyd and was a longtime assistant at Gonzaga. He is on his way to winning...

Creating The Right Environment Every team wants to have positive relationships, but few really take the time to foster this behavior. Instead, groups resort to mandatory after-hours outings or team-building activities filled with trust falls in hopes that will do the trick. However, if you really want to build strong relationships with your team, hosting weekend events isn’t enough. You must create the right environment for it. Having shared rituals is a good start, but it must go deeper than that. Healthy, team-based relationships are built on a foundation of...

Succeeding At Failing If you want to succeed at new habits, you have to learn to succeed at failing. It is extremely overwhelming to get caught up in wanting to be really good at something right away. Because of how discouraging it can be to attempt something you know you might fail at, it is important to keep yourself grounded through the process by sticking to a plan that you create beforehand. You can immunize yourself against big letdowns by implementing experiments where you will fail in tiny ways. Don’t...

Who is setting your standards for you? A true story has it that one older man decided to jog around the local high school football field. As he huffed and puffed along, the team was in practice. The players soon started running sprints up and down the field. The man told himself, "I'll just keep running until they quit." So he ran. And they ran. And he ran some more. And they kept running. And he kept running until he could finally run no more. He stopped in exhaustion. One...

USA Swimming Announces Application Period for National Diversity Select Camp The application for the 2022 National Diversity Select Camp will open on USA Swimming’s website tomorrow, Tuesday February 1, 2022. The 2022 National Diversity Select Camp is currently scheduled to be held May 5-8, 2022, at the US Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado. From USA Swimming’s website the goal of the National Diversity Select Camp is: To empower athletes from diverse backgrounds and under-represented populations to: Demonstrate the viability of multicultural success in swimming Achieve performance excellence at...

Behind triple event winner William Spencer (200 and 400 IM and 100 backstroke), and relay dominance from the 10 and under and 13-14 girls, the Seattle Metropolitan Aquatic Club captured their first THSC Round Robin Invitational title with 1003 points. During the course of the weekend, SMAC earned duel meet victories against Hillsboro Heat, Legacy Aquatics, and the Tualatin Hills Swim Team before entering the eight-team championship round on Monday morning. Earning the first victory of the day in the 11-14 year old girls 1000 freestyle was newly minted 13...