Thursday, November 5, 2020
Hello, Podcast World!
Saturday, October 24, 2020
New Episode Up for SWIM TALK!
Thursday, October 15, 2020
The Podcasts Are Not Only UP AND RUNNING, We Have SUBSCRIBERS!
Yes, a coaching buddy and I were twiddling our thumbs during the shutdown idleness late spring and we pondered, something like this:
Want to go see a movie?
No, they're closed.
Lunch?
They're closed, too.
Rob a bank?
Same. Closed.
Well, then what?
We could do a podcast.
We're not qualified, we know nothing about podcasting.
Neither does anyone else.
What would we talk about?
Something we know about. What do we know?
(Both) Swimming.
Hmmm. That could be debated.
True.
What do we need to cast the pod?
A microphone.
Anything else?
A pulse.
Well, guess we're covered.
You sure? Check lately?
Yes, I checked my pulse this morning.
What was it?
98.6
OK, let's do it.
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Check out a podcast or two. We've already suckered two Olympic swimmers and a couple of NCAA D-1 college coaches to be interrogated, along with successful club and high school coaches. And they still have their jobs.
Click HERE
Wednesday, July 1, 2020
Is There Room For *Another* Swimming Podcast?
Veteran coaches have amassed a huge library and storehouse of knowledge, experience, and information during long careers. The question of "how much is worthwhile?" is left up to those who follow and consider.
Bob Button and I have over 80 years of coaching between us, from LTS to summer league, high school to college, and beginner lessons to top-group club coaching.
With all the extra time forced on us by the current health situation, we embarked on a new adventure together, developing a new swimming podcast. It is not the usual "top coach interview", "top swimmer interview", "recruiting and other college news", or anything like that.
We call it simply, "SWIM TALK". More precisely, "Swim Talk A2B - Everything you wanted to know about swimming, from A to B". Abbott is the "A", Button is the "B". We talk about wide and varied aspects of swimming, and anything else we want. We have interviews, we banter, we share non-swimming news and magazine articles that relate to swimming (in our view, anyway), we drink coffee and hot chocolate. We have fun, we get serious, we offer a slightly different slant on things aquatic. And other things, too.
Join us for Episode 002: Zooming Through Isolation; Solitude and Creativity. (Episode 001 is still in production, the dog ran off with the tape, we're still looking for it.)
It's on You Tube here, if you like it, tell and share with others on all of your social media, if you don't, just stop sending us cards on our birthdays.
Tuesday, April 21, 2020
WHAT DAY IS IT???
Sunday, April 19, 2020
Baseball Without Spectators? Why Not?
Why not?
Out of adversity comes opportunity and creativity.
Batter up?
https://www.wsj.com/articles/baseball-without-fans-sounded-crazy-it-might-just-work-11587297600
Now, how about sharing something you're doing with your teams and athletes to re-imagine and re-create swim practices?
What Are You Reading?
But we should be reading REAL books. Expand your mind or escape the cabin you are locked up in, leave the TV off and get that stimulation and mental nourishment that *real* writers create, not the pablum of the vast wasteland referred to by the sage Newton Minnow. Or most blogs*, including this one. (*Texasswimming.blogspot.com being a rare exception)
I had the pleasure and privilege of being invited to speak via Zoom to a group of talented young swimmers this past week. Clay Pruitt, Head Age Group Coach at COOG here in Houston, and I have been friends for a while, and he asked if I could speak to his group about the wit and wisdom of Texas' Eddie Reese, a subject Chuck Warner and I wrote about in our 2019 book release, "EDDIE REESE: Coaching Swimming, Teaching Life." It was a good group and we had a great time together.
The book referred to (aka ERCSTL) has around 130 quotes from Eddie Reese, but one quote that is not in the book is one that Eddie shared with me privately, when we shared feelings about our dogs:
I think that, this being Eddie Reese's 42nd year at the helm of the Longhorns, that almost qualifies as a "job for life." The care and nurturing of many hundreds of young men that have chased the black line at the Texas Swimming Center is of such high quality and character that Eddie could be said to have satisfied that dog by constantly providing the scratch that it needs, wants, and deserves.
The quote that is most applicable during these very different times is one that Eddie has said many times, and in many places, and is maybe the single most defining thing he has ever said:
Be well, stay safe, use this time wisely. Read. Call someone. Start or continue writing in a journal.
Scratch your dogs.
Monday, April 13, 2020
Taking Care of Ourselves and Each Other
I was watching TV recently (who isn't?) and one of the insurance commercials posted some encouraging message about taking care of ourselves and others.
That's what it is supposed to be about, isn't it? Just more important now than ever.
The words and message sounded very familiar. Then I remembered where.
It's the closing quote from Texas Coach Eddie Reese in Chapter 13 of "EDDIE REESE: Coaching Swimming, Teaching Life", a book I co-wrote with former fellow Texas assistant coach (and possibly America's greatest swimming book author), Chuck Warner:
Tuesday, February 25, 2020
Notable Quotes
“Swimming is a vehicle for life. Swimming makes you aware of the patterns in your own life – the good and the bad. Once you know that you can choose to evolve or regress because nothing ever stays the same.”
Dax Hill, The University of Texas (https://www.usaswimming.org/news-landing-page/2019/09/26/former-national-teamer-dax-hill-now-channeling-his-competitive-fire-as-a-coach)
Comment: I had the pleasure of meeting and chatting with Dax at the 2019 Mens NCAAs at UT. What the above quote refers to as mental toughness is about never giving up, always believing you can do whatever it is you are trying to do, and having the confidence in that belief to stay tough.
Watch this race (click on link), and imagine the mental toughness needed to stay in the race when you are more than a body length behind at the 100 (nice race announcing by good friend Sam Kendricks!).: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=103&v=jb65tkCaDSo&feature=emb_logo
Wednesday, February 19, 2020
Tuesday, February 18, 2020
Our first CONTEST! Do you feel lucky?
Rules are really simple. Read the article linked to below, share an innovative way to apply its premise to training competitive swimmers, email me at boardsandbuoys@gmail.com, and wait.
The winner will not only be featured in an upcoming post (with a photo, if you're willing to send one), but will win a book from my extensive swimming library. You will get your choice from three titles, and I will even pay the postage.
I've already got my own ideas, but curious if anyone else out there is plagued by my pinball-type thinking process.
Here's the article.
https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-decoy-effect-how-you-are-influenced-to-choose-without-really-knowing-it?utm_source=pocket-newtab
Take your mark... GO!
Monday, February 17, 2020
SPORTSMANSHIP: Is it Dead?
He asks, "How many people remember sportsmanship? I remember it and now think of it chiefly as the element missing from contemporary sports.
"It was notably practiced by the great Australian generation of Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall, Roy Emerson and John Newcombe. Harry Hopman, the Australian Davis Cup coach between 1939 an 1967, might send a player home for cursing on the court."
"Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe... wretched behavior on the court.
"Serena Williams... cursed out a lineswoman... engaged in an extended argument with an umpire.
"[NBA] basketball... fist-pumping after slam dunks... thunder-sticks... “Make Some Noise.”
"In baseball, batters flip their bats and stand in the batter’s box watching their home runs sail over walls, then slowly jog round the base path, fist-pumping or flexing their muscles... steroids... signal-stealing..."
Then he remembers and recalls this: “Make a great play,” said Ryne Sandberg, the splendid Chicago Cubs second baseman in his 2005 Hall of Fame speech, “and act like you’ve done it before . . . hit a home run, put your head down, drop the bat, run around the bases.”
Some of the great football coaches have echoed that admonition.
Many football coaches have a simple opinion on how a player should act when he arrives in the end zone to score a touchdown. Famous former coaches Darrell Royal (University of Texas), Vince Lombardi (Green Bay Packers), Paul Brown (Cleveland Browns), and Tom Landry (Dallas Cowboys) are among those who have been credited with saying, “Act like you’ve been there before.” [snopes.com]
"Sportsmanship matters because without it sports are an empty proposition—a matter of who is faster, stronger or more brutal than whom. Sportsmanship implies respect—for the game, for your opponent, for yourself. A great part of the justification for sports is as a forcing-house for building character. Accepting defeat with grace is one of sportsmanship’s character-building components; winning without braggadocio is another. A strong sense of fairness is yet a third component and discipline and perseverance a fourth and fifth. Without sportsmanship, sports are little more than grown men playing children’s games." (Mr. Epstein is the author, most recently, of “Charm: The Elusive Enchantment.”)
What about OUR sport? I love seeing a great race, and then the hands and arms extended across lane ropes to shake hands, pat on the back, or hugs between opponents that mere seconds before had been battling to the last second to best each other. That's US. What have -you- seen that best exemplifies sportsmanship in any sport?
Jamie Squire, Getty Images |
Thursday, February 13, 2020
FOR ALL OF YOU "OLDER" COACHES
I remember starting my first high school job at the rather advanced age of 29, after a number of years of club and college coaching. It was a more stable paycheck, pool (no more renting, we had our own!), and support system. Like many of you, I did it for a LOT of years before I even thought about retirement: when, how, what it would cost me, etc. Fortunately, I had started modestly investing about the same time I started the job. If I had not, I wouldn't have been able to retire so early. So that's my first and strongest recommendation: If you are not already regularly investing for your future, it would be wise to start. Sort of like "the best time to plant a tree is 50 years ago, the next best time is now."
Glenn Ruffenach is a former reporter and editor for The Wall Street Journal (www.wsj.com), and a recent column, "The Definition of a 'Successful' Retirement", addressed a number of things that are important to think about, regardless of your age or proximity to retirement, or even if you are already retired. Excerpts below, and then a few comments and an idea.
Each of us should try to define retirement—to describe what it will look like—before we enter that door. And that definition/description, invariably, will differ from person to person. If you wish to embrace what might be called a “traditional retirement”—if you want to play golf several times a week, enjoy a glass of wine at sunset and never “work” another moment in your life—more power to you.
Or, if you wish to climb the Andes in retirement, volunteer at a hospital, open your own pizzeria or save the whales, that’s fine, too. Perhaps you will decide that you don’t want to “retire” at all. Perhaps your work is your passion, and your idea of a happy ending is to die at your desk, working late on a Friday evening.
The point: There is no “right” or “best” retirement. There is only your retirement, one that, ideally, will involve a good amount of planning on your part. (And talking with your partner. Especially your partner. That process alone, will increase your chances for a “good” retirement greatly.)
Our reporting has shown, again and again, that retirees who seem most fulfilled are those who continue to search for challenges (large and small), who immerse themselves in a range of activities, and who firmly believe that their best years are still ahead of them.
So let's say you are financially set to retire, your pension and/or investments and Social Security will provide you with the lifestyle you are comfortable with, and you turn in the paperwork. What now?
I "retired" in 2005 after 25 years at a major Texas public school, and after a year of enjoying my newfound freedom of not getting up at 4:15AM and getting home at dark-thirty, and having "played" with a new house and some new man-toys, I got ... bored. That dang itch was back. I missed working with young people and helping them improve their swimming, their academics, their lives.
At the beginning of a second year of retirement, I had the good fortune of being asked to start a team at a new private school in the area, and built a strong program there that kept me busy for another 12 years before I felt it was time to move back to retirement.
At the end of that summer, I was recruited by a good friend to work for a large USA club team as a coach mentor and consultant for the coaching staff, but especially for their newer coaches. It was quite fulfilling. I got to help again.
The next school year gave me the opportunity to start coaching a transitional group within that same club called Future Stars. The youngsters in my two groups were 10-under and 11-older, and the group goal was to help them make the transition from summer league level to year-round club and high school swimming. That's where I am this current year, and it has been quite enjoyable.
I don't know if chlorine gets in our veins or what, but some of us just seem to be "lifers".
If you have retired or are thinking about it, but you're not ready for the golf course every day, or a rocker (shortcut to cemetery!), you might want to get in touch with a great friend and colleague, Patrick Henry, in Belton, Texas. Patrick has come up with an idea and business plan so great we all might be smacking our foreheads thinking "I shoulda thought of that!"
Patrick has posted on Facebook, and I'm just going to copy it here for you. If you're interested, get in touch with Patrick. Could be a heckuva retirement activity and opportunity for you!
I have retired from school district work, coaching, as of 12/31/19. I have started a business called Swim Coach Staffing Solutions. When a team loses a coach mid-season due to injury, illness, retirement, taking another job, safesport, or whatever, we can send in a temp coach to keep quality practices going (and prevent other teams from poaching the swimmers). It can be for 1, 2, 3 months depending on the time of year. Some months are not good times to find a coach.
I will consult with the hiring body and get to understand what type of coach they are looking for. Then I bring in at least two qualified vetted candidates. They select who they want and then I negotiate their contract.
I have partnered with the International Swim Coaches Association in this endeavor. I have been collecting resumes from coaches around the world. These are all confidentially held.
I ask questions like where, geographically, would you like to live and coach. Would you ever consider coaching internationally? What is your dream job? Then when opportunities come up I contact them and privately ask them if this interests them. And we go from there.
Also coaches looking for a job, we should be their first call. So any coaches, pm me your email and I will send you a link to the form. This will get you in the private secure database.
Anyone who has coached 30+ years and would be interested in a temp job pm me. I have already had several contact me today. I need different geographic areas covered. This is a coach run operation, for coaches and teams and really for the swimmers. A way to give back and meet a huge need.
swimcoachstaffingsolutions@yahoo.com
or through Facebook at:
https://www.facebook.com/patrick.henry.9822