Hello, Podcast World!

Our swimming podcast is now quite available, more episodes being uploaded and more coming! Please join and take a listen if swimming is your thing!

 

https://anchor.fm/swimtalk

 

New Episode Up for SWIM TALK!

 

NEW PODCAST EPISODE!

 

Episode 11 - A Visit with Notre Dame's Mike Litzinger

 

Absolute gold with the leader of the Fighting Irish swimming program!

 

https://youtu.be/4_CqqeH9zWE

 

 

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. 

========================================

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 

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. 

 

WHAT DAY IS IT???

You're not alone. Retirees are used to joking that in retirement, "EVERY DAY IS SATURDAY".

With "stay at home" and "shelter in place" and "SIT YER BUTTS DOWN AND STAY PUT!", everyone is starting to wonder what day it is if they don't have a routine.

There's a lot going on that is messing with your perception of hours and days during "Corona Daylight Time", and this article is pretty good. Click on the audio player button when it opens in a new window.

Click HERE

Baseball Without Spectators? Why Not?

Computers put virtual lines on the turf during real-time football games. The wizards at Industrial Light and Magic and others (Disney, Marvel Films, etc.) have been doing amazing SFX for years. Canned sound (think "sitcom laugh tracks") has been around for decades. I watched a re-creation of a baseball radio broadcast years ago, complete with sound effects, canned crowd noise, and the stadium organist joining in. So why not? I think the magicians in the control room could conjure up a game "almost" as real as sitting in the cheap seats. Boil some hot dogs, JiffyPop some corn, pay $10 for a beverage, and best of all, no standing in line when you're ready to "recycle" that $10 beverage.

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?

The best answer would be BOOKS. But *real* books, not that thing that sucks the life out of us called Facebook. Oh, it's OK if you're looking for a new place to get takeout, or a new recipe (you are spending more time in your kitchen too, aren't you?), or you need a dose of cute kitties or puppies, or you just got an incredible picture of your kids that the world needs to see. That's OK.

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:

"Scratch a dog and you've got a job for life."

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:

"Take care of yourself, take care of each other, and the rest will take care of itself."

If you haven't acquired a copy of ERCSTL for your personal library yet, now's a good time to get one. Available on Amazon, from ASCA, online at the link above, or PayPal me $30 for a signed-by-me (Dana; Chuck lives in NJ and Eddie's out fishing somewhere), personally inscribed (tell me what you want) softcover copy (includes mailing, USA only). Just email me at boardsandbuoys@gmail.com or leave a comment.

"I'm lonely."

One of the things that is especially difficult for so many of us, regardless of age, is the desire for the social interaction we are so used to.  We miss our colleagues and teammates, our family members who don't live with us, our students and athletes, maybe even the people who smilingly bag our goods at the grocery store. The temptation to go visit someone is very strong, as alluring as the siren songs of The Odyssey or The Argonautica of Greek mythology. But we mustn't.  Why? Seems obvious, but here is something that can explain better than I can:

Visiting even 'just one friend' puts everyone at higher risk for coronavirus

Be well, stay safe, use this time wisely. Read. Call someone. Start or continue writing in a journal.

Scratch your dogs.

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:

"Take care of yourself, take care of each other, and the rest will take care of itself."

 The closing quote from Eddie Reese in the book is this:

“When you die, the only thing you take with you is that which you’ve given others. That’s the ballgame right there. What if we’re all able to do that?”

It's been suggested that we should all use the stay-at-home or shelter-in-place mandates to renew relationships, spend so-called quality time with our families that coaching and teaching takes so much of during "normal" times, and make sure we're taking care of ourselves mentally, spiritually, and physically. Reading books to renew our minds has been suggested by almost everyone. 

There is so much to be learned in this book. And by re-reading it.

Aaron Peirsol, 5-Time Olympic Gold Medalist & World Record Holder:

An emotional and educational read. Although I swam for Eddie for eight years, I still learned more about him from reading this book.

www.eddiereesebook.com

Notable Quotes

"The biggest gift I’ve gotten from swimming is mental toughness. The amount of mental weakness I see every day is uncomfortable.

“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

Let's talk about walls...

It's not just about speed between the walls. 

It's about speed AT the walls, too.

Courtesy AZ Quotes

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!

SPORTSMANSHIP: Is it Dead?

Joseph Epstein laments the decline and fall of sportsmanship in a recent article in The Wall Street Journal (shameless plug for my favorite daily paper!), "A Good Sport Is Hard to Find, Especially in the NFL" (Feb 1-2, 2020)

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

 

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.

Contact Patrick directly (not me) by email at:

swimcoachstaffingsolutions@yahoo.com

or through Facebook at:

 https://www.facebook.com/patrick.henry.9822

POINTS TO CONSIDER

Legendary coach Eddie Reese, on purpose:

What you've given others is far more important than what you take with you. Teachers, coaches, doctors...we are in the ideal position to influence people and do it the right way. We are in the greatest sport in the world. It's difficult. I have been doing this a long time. I am still trying to get it right.

  

A more insightful look into Coach Reese and his methods and “secrets” can be found in the limited release, hardcover, full-color edition of 

“EDDIE REESE: Coaching Swimming, Teaching Life”, 

being re-issued for sale February 1- April 30 ONLY. 

Order at www.eddiereesebook.com

Interesting People

From “Getting Fit Meant Sink or Swim for an Ex-NFL Star”, by Jen Murphy in The Wall Street Journal, November 3, 2019

Former Cleveland Browns offensive lineman Joe Thomas fueled his NFL workouts with 10,000 calories a day. Now, he would need about five days to eat that much. After retiring in March 2018, Mr. Thomas radically overhauled his diet and exercise.

During his 11-year NFL career, the 10-time Pro Bowler tipped the scales at 325 pounds. “When you’re practicing three hours a day in pads and a helmet in the heat, your muscles need fuel,” he said. “I spent years training myself to turn off my stomach-brain connection. When my stomach said full, I’d still eat two more plates of food.”

More than a decade of hits took a toll on his body. The 6-foot-6-inch Mr. Thomas has had four knee surgeries since his days playing for the University of Wisconsin. Constant joint pain and inflammation made practice excruciating during his final pro years. “My last season I made it to three training camp workouts,” he said. 

Photo: Nick Cammett/Diamond Images/Getty Images

In August 2016 the Browns installed a 25-meter lap pool in their training facility in Berea, Ohio.

Unable to run, Mr. Thomas turned to swimming to stay fit. “At first, I was like a submarine and sank straight to the bottom,” he recalled. “I spent just as much energy staying afloat as I did moving forward.”

By the start of the 2016 season in September, he was swimming 10 lengths of the pool daily. “That’s a warm-up for most swimmers, but I felt totally gassed,” he said. “It’s great cardio, and my body always felt better after I got out of the pool than before I got in.”

Last summer, Mr. Thomas moved his family to Madison, Wis., and began swimming with his brother-in-law, an avid triathlete, in a high school pool. He hired a coach to improve his technique. Mr. Thomas primarily swims freestyle because wear and tear on his shoulders over the years makes other strokes difficult. A typical workout lasts 20 minutes and he tries to make it to the pool two to three times a week. “I love that swimming is something I can do late into life,” he said. “If I jogged or did CrossFit, I’d have pain and swelling for days after. That’s not what I need. Swimming is good for my heart and my joints.”

When doing long swims he wears underwater headphones and listens to house music or ’80s and ’90s rock like Metallica, AC/DC and ZZ Top. 

T.R. and Work Ethic 

Some interesting facts about Teddy Roosevelt are shared in a new book, “The Strenuous Life”, by Ryan Swanson. Roosevelt's “mania for sports and physical fitness earned him the nickname, “Mr. Strenuosity”, asserts Mr. Swanson. The book “...argues that T.R. inspired and bullied the lethargic citizenry into better shape and transformed organized sports.” (WSJ book reviewer Edward Kosner). 

Some facts. During the Roosevelt presidency:

+ the first Olympic Games staged in the U.S. were held in St. Louis

+ the National Collegiate Athletic Association was established to reform college football, reducing violence and enhancing fan appeal

+ the National and American baseball leagues played the first World Series

+ New York’s mammoth Public Schools Athletic League was formed, the first big youth-fitness program in America and a model for other cities. [Kosner, WSJ]

He made up for mediocre talent through enthusiasm and boundless sweat. He kept meticulous records of his exercises. “I never was a champion at anything,” he reflected. But he never gave up. [Kosner]

In Roosevelt's time, “people worried that sitting in classrooms and offices would drain Americans of the vigor that farm work and manual labor instilled. Now, the concern is that social media, cellphones, robots and artificial intelligence will turn humans into pallid drones... 

"[A recent] survey found that more than a third of American adults and 17% of children and adolescents are obese, and millions more overweight. Teddy Roosevelt would be appalled.” 

“In life, as in a football game,” he liked to say, “hit the line hard.”

(Mr. Kosner, the former editor of Newsweek, New York, Esquire and the New York Daily News, is the author of a memoir, “It’s News to Me.” )

“Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.”

Here We Go!

Welcome to the inaugural column from the Boards and Buoys swim blog.

Mini-FAQ

1. Why “Boards and Buoys”? Most of you have been around swimming pools long enough to know that kickboards are a type of support, and pull buoys are a type of assist. They can be used in lots of other ways, too (future topics). This column will share a variety of things that have been gleaned from many resources. The aim is to support and assist the coaching and swimming community.

2. Where do these "nuggets" come from? I read a lot (magazines, newspapers, journals, and books, both online and old-fashioned hardcopy), watch video (broadcast and cable TV, online videos, vlogs), and listen (radio, podcasts, conversations). Sometimes something will jump out and distinguish itself in my mind as “important” or “interesting”. I keep a legal pad next to my TV chair and another on my desk by the computer. I've learned I can “remember” something a lot better if I write it down, and avoid the temptation to delude my brain by saying to myself, “No need to write that down, it's so important I would never forget it.” And yet... [grin]

Let's get started!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Shotguns and Rifles These two types of firearms have different uses and coverage. A shotgun spreads its projectile loads over a wider dispersal area than a rifle, but has less chance of hitting a specific target with a specific pellet. 

Our coaching methods have a similar “pattern”: We spread our instructions, directions, and coaching efforts across an entire group and hope we are reaching the majority of our athletes. A stroke coach or private lesson instructor focuses on one swimmer, one stroke, one technique at a time, and very often hits the target. A group coach does not have the luxury of time needed to address an individual swimmer except in bits and pieces during practice, especially true if there is no assistant coach who can “keep the plates spinning” with the group while the other coach works one on one with a single swimmer. 

Some of us have some leeway as far as pool time goes, and we may be able to address specific individual needs if that's possible.  We do the best we can with the situations we have, but there are times where we should consider encouraging a private stroke lesson or two.

The Baltimore Ravens star quarterback, Lamar Jackson, has received individual instruction since the summer after Jackson's freshman year at the University of Louisville from Joshua Harris, a high school English teacher. Jackson's youth football coach, Van Warren, had asked Harris if he would be willing to coach Jackson. Harris agreed, and then watched all the film of Jackson he could get, some if it dating back to high school. 

His observations noted changes in Jackson's stance and the varied placement of his shoulders and elbow when he threw. He kept a notepad full of comments others in the sports world were making about Jackson. He studied everything he could about his pupil. Harris took Jackson back to the basics, stressing fundamentals that needed resurrecting or re-learning and polishing. 

 

Photo Courtesy Wall Street Journal

The Harris-Jackson connection was good. Lamar Jackson won the Heisman Trophy the next year. The youth clinic Harris coaches at is free. 

 “The only price around here is work ethic”, Harris says. (Andrew Beaton, The Wall Street Journal, January 11-12, 2020)

Private coaching to improve one's skills isn't always the magic bullet, but sometimes it can help.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The intent here is to post a couple of items a week, things I think might help someone improve their skill set. I welcome suggestions and questions and will strive to keep this on a course that is both interesting and helpful. Thanks for dropping by!