The SwimSwam Podcast

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In the SwimSwam Podcast dive deeper into the sport you love with insider conversations about swimming. Hosted by Coleman Hodges and Gold Medal Mel Stewart, SwimSwam welcomes both the biggest names in swimming that you already know, and rising stars that you need to get to know, as we break down the past, present, and future of aquatic sports.

Episodes

Friday Feb 05, 2021

Olympic Coach Ben Titley Shares Theories on Removing Lactic Acid for Swimmers

Friday Feb 05, 2021

We sat down with the head coach for the HPC - Toronto, Ben Titley. Titley has been in the coaching game at the highest level for a long time now, both in Canada and his home country of Great Britain. He shares stories about coaching Olympic and world champions such as James Gibson, Mel Marshall, Penny Oleksiak, and more.

One topic Ben gets into that many maybe don't consider is lactic acid and what is the most successful way of removing it after a race for a swimmer. Titley notes that if you ever see Swim Canada at a Pro Swim in the US, they will do a full swim set after their racing session, as Titley sees this as an optimal way to flush the body of the lactic build-up.

Music: Otis McDonald
www.otismacmusic.com

Thursday Feb 04, 2021

Will Regan Smith Make the 2021 U.S. Olympic Team in These Events?

Thursday Feb 04, 2021

World champion and World record holder Regan Smith came off of some brutal winter training to win the 100m back (59.75), 100m fly (58.55), and 200m fly (2:10.10) at the 2021 San Antonio Pro Swim (JAN). She scratched out of the 200 back final, but swam the 200 free notching second (1:59.49). By my math, Regan is exactly where she needs to be this early in the season. I see Regan back at her 2020 Des Moines Pro Swim times as she works through Feb and March.

2020 DES MOINES PRO SWIM - REGAN SMITH times right before the COVID shutdown:

100 BACK - 58.1
200 BACK - 2:06.1
100 FLY - 57.34
200 FLY - 2:06.39

WAY TOO EARLY PREDICTIONS FOR THE 2021 SUMMER

I'm very optimistic the 2021 Olympics will happen, and I'm optimistic about Regan's performance at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Omaha. Regan makes the U.S. Olympic Team in the 100 and 200 backstroke, and I think she make Team USA in 100 fly, dropping a 56.5, provided she swims it. She also makes the team in 200 fly, ripping a 2:05.1, provided she swims it.

But who cares what I think…what do you think?

This is a Gold Medal Media production presented by SwimOutlet.com.

Follow Regan Smith on Instagram here.

Follow Gold Medal Mel Stewart on Instagram here.

Thursday Feb 04, 2021

Leigh Ann Caldwell, Swammer & NBC News Capitol Hill Correspondent

Thursday Feb 04, 2021

Leigh Ann Caldwell is a swammer with a big career as a network news correspondent. In many ways, her unique vocation is all about politically unearthing what matters right now and reporting it as the first draft of history to a national audience. Sounds like fun, right? I know it’s a career a lot of young swimmers might be dreaming of—even planning for. For Leigh Ann the dream started very young, and her journey has been hard-fought. She has earned her position on the national media stage. I’d like to think her success has a lot to do with her deep swimming roots, and I’m pretty sure she’d agree.

Growing up in Las Vegas as an age grouper Leigh Ann swam for The Gold, and her coach might be a name you recognize — Bob Bowman. It’s almost funny looking back overtime, but even as an age grouper, under Bob’s guidance, Leigh Ann knew she was a distance swimmer. Leigh Ann went on to accomplish what a lot swimmers strive for—a scholarship to swim at a DI university. Leigh Ann swam for N.C. State, graduating a year ahead of the current Wolfpack Head Coach, Braden Holloway. In this SwimSwam Podcast, Leigh Ann shares insight into Coach Holloway and NC State’s current success, and she dives-deep into the steps that it took for her to make it as a network news correspondent.

Music: Otis McDonald
www.otismacmusic.com

Thursday Feb 04, 2021

Kristen Stege Describes the Upside of Switching From Sprinting to Distance

Thursday Feb 04, 2021

We sat down with sprinter turned distance ace Kristen Stege. Stege, now a sophomore at Tennessee, just dropped a PB 9:40 1,000 free in a dual meet against Georgia. She made headlines in February when she won the AAC title in the 1,650, which was her first time ever competing in a 1,650. Stege takes us through her last year of swimming and why she has actually warmed up to distance swimming after adamantly opposing it as an age group swimmer.

Music: Otis McDonald
www.otismacmusic.com

Tuesday Feb 02, 2021

Todd DeSorbo Breaks Down Epic Dual Meet Finishes for UVA Men's & Women's Teams

Tuesday Feb 02, 2021

We sat down with University of Virginia head coach Todd DeSorbo, whose Cavaliers are coming off of some exciting dual meets in the last couple of weeks. For the men's team, it was a tight battle with UNC that came down to the last relay, a trend that DeSorbo says has been unusually common for the men since he's arrived in Charlottesville. For the women's team, it was the next day versus NC State that came down to the final relay after UVA's 1-2 finishers in the 1,000 were both DQ'ed for being in the wrong lanes.

Music: Otis McDonald
www.otismacmusic.com

Tuesday Feb 02, 2021

McKeown's Coaching Staff Explains Methodology of 17-on, 4-off Training Cycles

Tuesday Feb 02, 2021

We sat down with Chris Mooney (head coach of University of Sunshine Coast in Australia) and Dave McKean (head of physical performance at University of Sunshine Coast) to talk about their 21-day training cycles that we covered in our interview with 2020 Swimmer of the Year Kaylee McKeown. They each give their perspectives on why they wanted to try this method out and how it's worked so far, McKean coming from a heavily scientific background and Mooney wanting to push the boundaries of innovation within coaching and the sport of swimming.

Music: Otis McDonald
www.otismacmusic.com

Monday Feb 01, 2021

SSPC: Florent Manaudou Reveals the Downside of Being a Superhero

Monday Feb 01, 2021

We sat down with Olympic champion Florent Manaudou, who is coming off of his second ISL season with Energy Standard. Manaudou hits on a myriad of topics, including why he will be training in France for the Olympic lead-up, how he spends his free time outside of the water, and what he gained by taking a break after the 2016 Olympic Games. Florent is extremely personable and it's refreshing to hear his perspective on things in and outside of the pool

Music: Otis McDonald
www.otismacmusic.com

Sunday Jan 31, 2021

SSPC: Morgan Scroggy on Making an Olympic Trials Final as the 41st Seed

Sunday Jan 31, 2021

We sat down with Morgan Scroggy, the Pan Pacific and World University Games champion who is the lowest-seeded athlete (41st, 200 back) to have made a final at the US Olympic Trials in the last 20 years. This is significant as it was the line USA Swimming decided to make for the Wave II Olympic Trials meet, basing the cuts on the times of the 41st seeded athlete in each event as of the day they came out (January 26, 2021).

Scroggy competed in 3 different Olympic Trials (04, 08, 12) and candidly shares her experience from each of them, highs and lows. She details what the Olympic dream meant to her as an athlete, and what the process of chasing it did for her 10 years removed from her swimming career.

Music: Otis McDonald
www.otismacmusic.com

Saturday Jan 30, 2021

SSPC: Emily Escobedo Explains Pros and Cons of Unexpectedly Making the National Team

Saturday Jan 30, 2021

We sat down with Emily Escobedo, the breaststroking machine that has been on fire this past year. Escobedo had a successful season in the ISL Budapest Bubble, helping a rebuilt New York Breakers team to a semi-final appearance. Less than a month after that, Escobedo suited up in practice and came within .2 of a lifetime best in the 200-yard breaststroke. But she wasn't done there. At the January Pro Swim in Richmond, she topped the field in both the 100 (1:07.11) and 200 (2:23.46) breast, going even faster than the likes of Lilly King, who competed in San Antonio.

Escobedo talks about all of these swims as well as her breakout into the pro swimming scene, making the national team in 2018 after not expecting to. Escobedo walks us through the process of trying to make things work as a pro swimmer without having a ton of resources readily available to her at that time.

Music: Otis McDonald
www.otismacmusic.com

Friday Jan 29, 2021

SSPC: International Swimmers' Alliance Launches With World’s Top 120 Elites

Friday Jan 29, 2021

Matt Biondi, an 11-time Olympic medalist, details his progress to further athletes’ rights as the manager of the International Swimmers’ Alliance. The Alliance, an association of the world’s top 120 elite swimmers, is ready to officially get down to business after 20 months of development. For Matt, a three-time Olympian, this journey has been far, far longer. The Olympic icon has been a pioneer in this effort going back to the 1980s when Olympians were not allowed to earn endorsement dollars until after they officially retired from competition. Matt fought the system ultimately winning the right to earn endorsement revenue as an active swimmer, but not until the twilight of his career. His efforts really benefited the stars who followed him, like Janet Evans, Michael Phelps and Caeleb Dressel.

While the Alliance is not a union, it is an association of elite swimmers and a potentially powerful voice in negotiating improved economic conditions. In this SwimSwam Podcast Matt shines light on the Alliance’s first steps, the baby steps in his words, toward a new future of improved athletes’ rights.

B-roll video is courtesy of ISL (https://isl.global)

Music: Otis McDonald
www.otismacmusic.com