What is The Best Age Group System?

It's no secret that Danish swimming is riding a high right now. With the European Short Course championships at home swiftly approaching, they can realistically expect to be among the top three in the medal counts in their home country, besting many larger continental rivals. Beneath the surface, however, there are signs for concern. Why aren't there more men along? Where is the next generation of female stars that will quickly need to come to the fore?

Why Optimism is the Key to Coaching Technique

What does it mean to be a good technical coach? What are the most important characteristics to have? To start with, a knowledge set of stroke fundamentals is important. The ability to communicate that knowledge is more important still. On a lot of coaches list, you'd be hard pressed to find a shifty psychological characteristic like "optimism". But I'm here to argue that optimism should is actually the most important thing you can have when teaching technique.

College Athletic Directors Knock it Out of the Park

A lucky swimmer gets advice from the human espresso shot, Brendon Bray

Every college swimming off season is a seemingly endless game of musical chairs. Inevitably a big domino will fall in the middle of April and the shuffling of chairs begins. With students back on campus, most (head coaching) jobs have been filled. The recent slew of hires confirmed for me a thought I had at the beginning of the game: college AD's really rocked it this summer.

What it's like to Coach in Denmark (A Guide for Americans)

Earlier this summer, I received a question from a reader (Paul Yetter) who wanted to know what was different about coaching in Denmark versus the states. In this blog, I hope to give some impression of the differences.

But before I start, I have to acknowledge the long gap in time since my last posting. It's unfortunate and the longer it went the harder it was to come back. Sometimes, real life gets in the way of keeping up with this. If you want to read about my new job, you can do so here. That's all the comment I'll be making on that, except to thank the many exceptional people who have offered their heartfelt support especially over these last two weeks.

Yannick Agnel and Why It's Hard to Keep the Same Coach

A couple of weeks ago, while I was on a delightful but rainy training trip to Spain, I woke up to the news that sent shockwaves through international swimming. Yannick Agnel was leaving France as well as not competing individually in this summer's world championship. Then, swiftly afterward came reasons why: tales of a frayed relationship with coach Fabrice Pellerin and a desire for some time to reflect after his Olympic triumph. The news is a bummer for swimming fans everywhere- after all they were anticipating a good Sun Yang/Agnel rematch in Barcelona this July. For swim coaches, the story has another angle. In many ways, the story of Agnel and Pellerin was what coaches dream about: taking a swimmer from age group to Olympic champion. The ultimate example for this was of course, Bob Bowman and Michael Phelps. So why did the dream come to an end for Pellerin? The following is complete speculation on why.

Guest Post: Could Michael Phelps Make It As A Pro Golfer?

Every once in a while we like to give new writers a shot to contribute to the Brief.  Please welcome this submission and let us know what you think. -SV!

The Swim Brief's newest Guest Blogger, Eddie .

Could Michael Phelps make it as a pro golfer?

Is anyone sensing a little déjà vu? We're used to seeing Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps together in the swimming pool. Now it looks like they have both started down the road to reality TV stardom. We already talked about Ryan Lochte's new show. Michael Phelps is gracing the airwaves as well, but his reality television debut couldn't be more different. That's a good thing. Phelps is teaming up with renowned golf coach Hank Haney to improve his golf game on The Hank Haney project, you can see it on The Golf Channel. Could Phelps have a future as an amateur or even professional golfer? Maybe, and after watching the show here's why:

This is Our Village

Last week, Rick Curl was sentenced to prison for raping a young girl, Kellie Currin, beginning in 1983. The sentence was a resolution of at least one part of the most high profile sexual abuser in swimming who had long escaped justice. The scales have begun to tip, ever so slightly, and coaches are being held accountable for their actions. The case also reveals, however, how far the swimming community has yet to go. When justice was finally served, it seemed that there were very few, if any, people willing to stand with a rape victim, while many were there to support the rapist. This is our village, and I'm embarrassed to be in it.

Thanks to the Viking, Reaching Your Athletes Just Got Easier

The kids are always on their phones nowadays right?  I mean, back in the day we used to stand up, stretch and at least shake our arms around ten minutes before the race.  Now kids are looking at little tiny screens before and after a swim.  I have one girl on my team who can do the entire Ab Ripper X video without ever looking up from her phone, texting the entire time. Some kids even have the fancy water-proof cases on their phones and set them at the end of the lane right next to their cappuccino during practice. I don't even stop them from texting through kick sets any more. How are we supposed to get through to them in this day and age?

By playing their game better than them... that's how.

I bestow upon you a great gift today.  One that will modernize your coaching arsenal and make you more powerful than a jedi who took time to meditate right before he got sliced in half in a kick-ass lightsaber duel.  Seriously, it is time to make a "text pics" folder on your iPhone right now.  I have been collecting funny gifs and pictures since spring sectionals and I occasionally send them to my athletes to get my message across.  It has brought much joy to my team communication.  Here is a small sample:

"Hey coach, what's practice like today?"

Dispatches from Denmark: Failure is Not an Option

As you may have noticed, it's been a very long time since my last report here in Denmark.  If I'm being completely honest about why, it's that the last few weeks has been a really big struggle. It turns out, moving to another country is a really big challenge, one that at times will feel almost completely overwhelming. The important word there is almost; because the greatest part of this journey has been one simple truth: failure is not an option.

How Did Ryan Lochte Do?: The Viking's Review

"Colonel Fury... tell the execs we can scratch Project Tool Academy.  We found our man."

Now that "What Would Ryan Lochte Do?" has premiered, everyone in the world of swimming is feeling the need to declare whether they love it or hate it.  I struggled a bit with what side of the fence I sit on.  At the USA-Swimming website, Gus evidently felt the need to put a disclaimer out there: "The first thing to keep in mind when watching “What Would Ryan Lochte Do?,” is that it is a reality show, and like all reality shows, it has nothing to do with actual reality." 

Dispatches from Denmark Part One: Drums in My Ear

My wife will tell you that the title of this blog reveals my inner cranky old man. That despite only being 29 years old, I possess in many ways the psyche of a suburban grandfather, yelling at children to stay off his lawn. She told me this when I recounted my first Danish swim meet. Coming from the US, where a ban on artificial noisemakers at swim meets was fairly well enforced, the cascade of drums and horns was slightly overwhelming.

Slacker's Guide to Coaching Survival

Many years ago, in a land far far away, I wrote the "Slacker's Guide to College Coaching Survival". It was intended as a companion piece to the excellent "Slacker's Guide[s]" by Mike Gustafson, one for training trip and one for taper survival. Those, entries, sadly, have been lost in the internet void. The Coach's guide, however has not, but when I looked at it recently I realized how sorely it was in need of updating. As I leave the college coaching profession for the time being, I felt it necessary to impart all the lessons I've learned in the last five years about being a slacker coach.

Hey Cincinnati... No Hard Feelings. I'm Still Rooting For You.

I got a SwimSwam email alert the other day that should make any fan of college swimming happy:  The Cincinnati Bearcats will be "aggressively" working toward re-instating full scholarships to their swimming program!  The cherry on top?-- Their new football coach is a big supporter and is pitching in to help!

I was pumped when I read this, even though I like to pretend I hate Cinci. Why would I do that?  Read on...

It's not you, Bearcats... It's your parents.

Winslow Shows the Potential for Corruption Within the College System

Last week, Irvin Muchnick at concussioninc.net broke the news that sexual abuse charges would be brought against then Utah Head Swimming and Diving coach Greg Winslow. Since then, many more allegations have come out, among them that he punched an assistant coach in the face, was intoxicated at work and harassed swimmers on his team. Many of these things were an open secret in the Swimming world. I can remember hearing about the assistant coach covering up a black eye, but I was several degrees removed from the source. The whole things begs a basic question: how could you purposely injure someone working for you, or any of the incidents chronicled by Muchnick, and not suffer consequences before now? The answer is obvious if you work inside a college athletics department.

Saying Farewell to The Empire

As I write this, I still don't know if it's over. Such is the anxious instability of the end of a college season. This past weekend was my final ACC Championship (for now). I have a swimmer sitting at 24th entering today, which is just high enough to give hope and to subsequently crush it. Regardless, the men's meet was the last ride for the greater part of The Empire. What is The Empire, you ask? It's the half serious, half silly name that my swimmers gave to the training group I've run for the last three years. This weekend and last was a series of emotional gut punches, as I watched swimmers race and realized one by one that I wouldn't be there for their next.

How I Learned to Love Mel Stewart

If, like me, you are a rabid consumer of all things Swimswam, you may have noticed that I found myself a byline there a couple days ago. I'm immensely proud to be involved with them for a simple reason: I believe that Swimswam is providing bar none the best swimming content in the world. I am getting a chance to help with that, while continuing the work I started here at the Swimbrief.

As Wrestling Leaves the Olympics, Swimming Sighs Relief

Today, many people in the domestic swimming world are discussing the IOC's decision to cut wrestling from the Olympic program. As Braden Keith writes for Swimswam, this is a good thing for swimming. Is it sad that "not getting cut" passes for good news in swimming? Yes! Is it absolutely heartbreaking to see a sport whose decline on the NCAA level has made the recent cuts in men's swimming seem like a minor setback take another hit like this? Absolutely. Is the way the decision came to pass extremely unsettling for the sports that were saved? I think you know the answer.

DeSantis Relocating to Accept Head Blogger Position at Danish Swimming Website

The Viking is just jealous because in Denmark Chris will get to wear cool Nordic armor like this to work every day.

February 4, 2013

Atlanta, GA-- After three seasons as Editor in Chief at the successful website The Swim Brief, Chris DeSantis has accepted a job overseas as the lead blogger for the Danish Swimming website Svimyingk.

Moving to Denmark: Or, How I'm Leaving to Go Home

The Moment

On December 17th, 2011, I stood in the stands at my home pool, shouting out encouragement and shaking a big Danish flag. The Duel in the Pool was underway, and Denmark's star swimmer, Lotte Friis, was under world record pace in the 800 free. I was lined up nearly perfectly with the turn end of the pool. After the race, I went down and sheepishly asked her to take a picture of me. I like this photo because I can now look back on it and realize I was at a massive turning point in my life. I didn't know it yet, but this was the weekend that sent me on a collision course with some big decisions: to change jobs, move roughly 4,000 miles away to a foreign (sort of) country, and to go home.

2013: The Year I Abandoned Having a System

Every now and then on this blog, I feel compelled to write about coaching. This is one of those times. I believe that some day, when they wheel me off the pool deck for the final time, I'll look back on this season as one of the major milestones of my career. Here's what we have so far:

1998: Become completely obsessed with becoming a swim coach
2000: Coach my first summer league team
2002: Begin spending my summers coaching a USA Swimming club
2006: Graduate from college and get a teaching job to feed my coaching habit at a boarding school
2007: Despite, people, among them my head coach, trying to talk me out of it, volunteer on a college swim team
2009: Gain full time employment as a swim coach
2010: Gain autonomy over designing and implementing training for a group of swimmers. Immediately declare it a "low volume" zone.
2011: Ditch morning practice/doubles. (!!!!!!)

John Leonard Relieved to Find out that Lance Armstrong is Chinese

Tonight, Lance Armstrong is expected to make a stunning admission to Oprah Winfrey in the first part of a two and a half hour interview. Executive Director of the American Swim Coaches Association (ASCA) John Leonard is relieved that tonight is the night that Armstrong will finally admit the truth: that he is Chinese.

How is This Controversial? MIssy Franklin and High School Swimming

Last week, in the comments section of Swimswam's coverage of Missy Franklin's first high school meet, the haters came out. They suggested that the five time Olympic gold medalist should not be swimming high school. One poster, commenting under the name "Concerned Mom" said Missy was creatring an "unfair" advantage for the "vastly overrated" Regis Jesuit High school team. The comments were so hyperbolic that they were easily dismissed as the rantings of some online troll. Rational people everywhere could breath a sigh of relief. That is, until yesterday the Wall Street Journal published an article entitled "I Have to Swim Against Her?".

Far From The Olympics: Coaching Tips For The Ground Level

"I'd love to hear your thoughts on the best training methodology for the real world. For high school coaches who get their kids four times a week for an hour and a half at the time and then lose them when the kids go on vacation"

Last week I was chatting with a friend of mine, a real swim nerd who coaches high school swimming. Most of my blogs come from conversations like this, where someone says "wouldn't it be great if someone did (this)?". In this case, I couldn't resist for a couple reasons. On the one hand, I had two high school swim coaches who taught me approximately 99.9% of what I know about coaching swimming, They provided great coaching for ALL the swimmers in the pool, whether they were junior national qualifiers or 1:54 100 freestyle malcontents who were scared to put their face in the water. 

Must I Be An Extrovert To Be A Great Coach?

I once interviewed for a job where they voiced concern that I seemed to be too "low key" and might not be the enthusiastic motivator they felt their team needed.  It reminded me of a discussion in class while pursuing my PE degree that centered around the question "what makes a great coach?"  We made a list of traits that came to mind and then immediately got into stories about people who had no background or education in their sport who went on to great careers, and conversely, stories about people who were great athletes and had tremendous knowledge for whom coaching was not a great fit.  We can all point at these examples in our lives, I'm sure.

The conclusion?: It came down to personality more than any other factor.  My class, mostly full of former ball players, carried the same mindset as the administrators in that interview. They were looking for, or wanted to be, the gregarious, extroverted, take charge kind of guy that they envision makes a great coach.

Is a 10,000 Fly a Good Idea?

No. That's the short answer. Of course, if it were that easy I wouldn't be devoting an entire post to the ongoing comment war over at sleepy, holiday time Swimswam. Last week, Swimswam contributor Chuck Warner devoted a "Lessons from Legends" column to great big challenging swims, among them Mary T Meagher, Madame butterfly herself, swimming a 10,000 fly.