The SwimSwam Podcast

https://feed.podbean.com/swimswam/feed.xml

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

Saturday Dec 19, 2020

SSPC: Veronica Burchill Breaks Down Decision to Train with Tennessee Postgrads

Saturday Dec 19, 2020

We sat down with Veronica Burchill, a 20-time All-American for the University of Georgia and recent ISL champion with the Cali Condors. Burchill talks us through her decision to move from Athens, GA to Knoxville, TN to train with the University of Tennessee's postgrad group. She also tells us stories from her days at Carmel swim club & high school, the University of Georgia, and the ISL bubble with the Cali Condors.

Music: Otis McDonald
www.otismacmusic.com

Friday Dec 18, 2020

SSPC: Penny Oleksiak Opens Up about Friendship with Michael Phelps, Olympic Pressure

Friday Dec 18, 2020

We sat down with Penny Oleksiak, the Canadian Olympic champion who is gearing up for another run at the Games in 2021. Oleksiak was put in a unique position few find themselves in: being a full-on celebrity at age 16. Penny opens up about dealing with this pressure in and out of the pool over the last quad and explains how relating to Michael Phelps about this position has been helpful.

Penny also acknowledges why she chose not to participate in ISL this season after having been a member of Energy Standard in season 1 (one contributing factor: she hates short course).

Music: Otis McDonald
www.otismacmusic.com

Thursday Dec 17, 2020

SSPC: Tom Dean Describes Surprisingly Fast VO2 Freestyle Set with James Guy

Thursday Dec 17, 2020

We sat down with ISL Final champion in the 400 free Tom Dean, who really hit his stride at the end of the season this year in Budapest. Dean describes his struggles at the beginning of the ISL season and how he and his coach were able to work through the 6-week training camp to end on a high note. Dean also divulges what practice has been like lately with his training partner James Guy and gives us an example of the work they've been putting in the bank for trials and the 2021 Olympics.

Music: Otis McDonald
www.otismacmusic.com

Thursday Dec 17, 2020

SSPC: Mackenzie Padington Explains Her Pre-Olympic Retirement

Thursday Dec 17, 2020

We sat down with Canadian national-teamer, NCAA All-American for Minnesota, and now Swammer Mackenzie Padington, who announced her retirement recently via Instagram. Padington takes us through her reasons for leaving the sport she's been in since age 4, including injury and being unhappy with her current training environment.

Padington explains there was an event that happened unrelated to the swim team in Minnesota that left her wanting to leave. She ended up returning to Victoria and training at the high-performance center in Vancouver. She had even committed to swim for NC State after the Olympics. However, once lockdown started and Padington had to return home, things weren't really clicking for her until she ultimately made the decision to step away from swimming.

Music: Otis McDonald
www.otismacmusic.com

Wednesday Dec 16, 2020

SSPC: James Magnussen on 2011 Scuffle with Russians in 4x100 Free Ready Room

Wednesday Dec 16, 2020

We sat down with world champion and freestyle legend James Magnussen. Mel and I geek out over James not because he's a great swimmer, but because he's a great swimmer that we happened to run into at a music festival in 2016. James was taking a vacation in the US and happened to end up in Austin at the time. Mel spotted him from 50 yards away through a crowd of people, and James was kind enough to take a picture with us. We spend way too long talking about that, but there is a positive that came from that story: James actually went to a Texas practice, without telling anyone, and watched the longhorns swim for nearly an hour before he was asked to leave the pool.

After all that, we get into James' career, and his real breakout meet on the international stage: world championships in 2011. Magnussen tells us that not only did he have pneumonia 2 weeks prior to the meet, but in the ready room for the 4x100 free relay, there was a bit of a scuffle with the Russian team.

Follow James Magnussen and what he's doing now here.

Music: Otis McDonald
www.otismacmusic.com

Wednesday Dec 16, 2020

SSPC: Tommy Cope on Why Breaststrokers Can Get Away with Training Alone

Wednesday Dec 16, 2020

We sat down with Michigan All-American and DC Trident star Tommy Cope. Tommy takes us through his ISL season, which he almost opted not to go for, as well as this past summer which he spent in Cape Girardeau, Missouri at an engineering internship. Cope said his training during this summer was much different than a normal summer at Michigan.

While he would try to swim regularly (6-7 times a week), it was usually only for 1-1.5 hours at a time. However, he was also lifting more, cycling, and playing basketball and volleyball with his fellow interns on a weekly basis. Cope said that swimming by himself could be challenging at times, but because his main focus was breaststroke, he could get away with it, saying that maintaining feel for the water was more important than an aerobic base in the water for those few months.

Music: Otis McDonald
www.otismacmusic.com

Tuesday Dec 15, 2020

SSPC: Sydney Pickrem Gives Opinion on New Canadian Olympic Trials Format

Tuesday Dec 15, 2020

We sat down with Sydney Pickrem, a Canadian medalist and member of the ISL franchise London Roar. Pickrem just made the move to Toronto to train with the elite Canadian group based there and was in a mandatory 14-day isolation when we spoke. She gave us her perspective on ISL Season 2, making the move to Toronto, and the new Canadian Olympic Trial format that was released last week.

Music: Otis McDonald
www.otismacmusic.com

Monday Dec 14, 2020

SSPC: Nic Fink on Double Wrist Injury to Double American Records During ISL

Monday Dec 14, 2020

We sat down with Nic Fink, the breaststroke for the Cali Condors who had a slow start to his ISL season as he was dealing with a double wrist injury. Fink takes us through the grueling "rehab" of having to swim while wearing soft casts on both hands as well as getting back into the swing of racing once he was cleared to compete and the casts came off. It seemed like all worked out in the end, however, as in the ISL Finale, Fink broke American records in both the 100 and 200 breast as well as made the top 4 in the breaststroke skins races to help Cali win the league title.

Music: Otis McDonald
www.otismacmusic.com

Sunday Dec 13, 2020

SSPC: How DII Drury University Produced the Current #2 Sprinter in the Country

Sunday Dec 13, 2020

We sat down with Zach Mertins, the assistant coach (and main sprint coach) at Drury University in Springfield, Missouri. Zach and I swam together in high school, which was Zach's first main swimming experience. Since then, he went on to swim at DII Ouachita Baptist University and eventually ended up pursuing coaching.

From the outside looking in, it seems like Zach has hit his coaching stride at Drury, not only leading Karol Ostrowski to 19.09 and 41.50 at their mid-season meet (breaking the DII national records in both events), but the team's 200 free relay produced a 1:18.49, 1.22 off the DII national record in that event and breaking the school record. Hear what Zach has to say about how they're doing things at Drury a little differently to yield these results.

Music: Otis McDonald
www.otismacmusic.com

Saturday Dec 12, 2020

SSPC: Penn State Coaches Explain Importance of Team Book Club on Culture

Saturday Dec 12, 2020

We sat down with Penn State coaches Matt Hurst and Steve Barnes to talk about what the swim and dive teams have looked like during quarantine. One interesting thing they brought up was that the team had been hosting a book club for quite a while and recently they split it between the men's and women's teams. The women read Untamed by Glennon Doyle, while the men "read" (watched) Netflix's The Last Dance. Both coaches describe what they personally gained from the experience as well as what they thought the teams culture got from both works.

Music: Otis McDonald
www.otismacmusic.com