Social Kick • Swim Culture & Stories

More and more schools are cutting their swim programs, including the storied University of Iowa team, who were integral in developing Butterfly in the 1930s. We discuss this story and the evolution of Butterfly, with the recent passing of the first Olympic Butterfly Champion from 1956. Then we discuss Caeleb's self analysis of his 50 skins from ISL, going deep into the affects of oxygen depravatio...

In this episode, we're joined by gold medalist Kathleen Baker. In this show, we are interrupted by doping control, as Katleen blocks off evenings on her where-about reports. While we delay her doping test, we get into her nutrition and how Celiac's disease alters her training and nutrition. After this, we discuss her favorite sets with coach David Marsh, as well as what she feels she does at an el...

In this episode, we're joined by one of the greatest Masters swimmers of all-time, Karlyn Pipes. Karlyn discusses her journey in the sport of swimming, which included early success, being an Olympic hopeful, swimming at the University of Arkansas, then dropping out. She discusses her addiction to alcohol, which eventually led her to rehabilitation. After alcohol rehabilitation, she was offered a f...

Dr. John, Bryan and Luke gather in person for the first time in months to discuss some recent news. Caeleb's Race Analysis, the value of Endless Pools, HR monitoring and other live tracking analysis are the topics discussed over a beer. Subscribe to the channel to get regular episodes, see the extracts from the shows and promos for new shows!

In this episode, we're joined by an Olympic swimmer who never went to the Olympics, Craig Beardsley. We delve into Craig's last race, missing the 1984 Olympic team, his experience with the 1980 US Olympic boycott, and differences between his training and current training. Craig dives further back to discuss the legendary training group at the University of Florida in the late 1970s and training wi...

For our 50th episode, we’re joined by one of the best swim coaches of all time, Mike Bottom. This conversation explores Mike’s swimming career including his experience with the 1980 US Olympic boycott, his world-beating swimmer brother Joe Bottom, where he developed his skills in psychology and the art of coaching each individual person, not just the swimmer. Mike takes us through the epic arc of...

In this episode of The Social Kick, Jason Dunford joins the show to discuss his careers as an Olympic swimmer, tech startup co-founder, reporter, and rapper. A true renaissance man, this conversation explores Jason’s evolution from a young swimmer in Kenya to one of the best butterfliers in the world, his transition into business and an MBA at Stanford GSB, to his life now as Samaki Mkuu (rap star...

In this episode, we are joined by Olympic Gold Medalists Gary Hall Jr. We discuss Gary's early skateboarding and snowboarding interests and how we transitioned into swimming at the age of 13. He discusses his frustration with traditional high volume training and his college experience at the University of Texas. Gary then discusses his 1996 Olympic experience, diagnosis with type I diabetes, and h...

In this episode, we are joined by 3x Olympian and Olympic Gold Medalist Nathan Adrian. We start by discussing what Nathan has been doing during Covid-19, diving into the purchasing of his swim school. Then we talk about his experiences in the Olympics and Nathan gives his opinion on the best US Olympic male sprinter of all-time. After this, we talk about diversity in swimming and Nathan's experien...

In this episode, we are joined by 2x Olympian and the current head coach of the Tulane Women's swim team, Leah Martindale-Stancil. Leah discusses her early swimming as a youngster in Barbados. We discuss Leah's experience at the "not a big deal" 1996 Atlanta Olympics where she placed 5th in the 50-m freestyle. We also dive into female coaching inequality and Leah's experience as a black swimmer in...

In this episode, Duje Draganja joins the show to discuss his life growing up in Croatia, his experiences at CAL Berkeley, and his Olympic journey. Duje also touches on an elite swimmer's mindset and self regulating training.

In this episode, the gang is joined by Olympian Tom Shields. Tom discusses his amazing high school and college career while discussing multiple hardships along his journey. We discuss his suicide attempt, his use of cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT), and how CBT is helping him become a better swimmer.  

In this episode, Katie Hoff joins the show to discuss the best viral videos of swimming history, her last swimming race and career reflection, life as a youngster on the Olympic team, training 7-days a week at NBAC, some epic swim sets and how doing them breeds confidence when it’s time to race. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did!        

In this episode, we are joined by 4x Olympic medalist and Rio 200 bk gold medalist Maya DiRado. We chat about the best Olympic swimming upsets of all-time, Maya's last race, what she’s been up to since Rio, difficult times during her swimming career, being a professional swimmer, the disparity of women in college coaching, and finally current events and her involvement in supporting activism in th...

In this episode, we are joined by one of the best US female breaststrokers in history, Laura Sogar. Laura swam at the University of Texas where she was an NCAA champion. Laura also earned silver at the 2012 World Championships in 2012. Since college, Laura has started doing stand-up comedy to complement her work in cybersecurity.  Laura joins us to discuss life after sport, similarities between sw...

In this episode, we are joined by Christen Shefchunas. Christen has twenty-two years of coaching and working one on one with women, Coach Christen speaks to women about REAL Confidence. Christen was an assistant swim coach at Michigan State and SMU before becoming the Head Coach at the University of Miami. Christen found herself back in the swimming world in 2015 working with Team Elite, a group o...

In this episode, we are joined by one of the most bad-ass sprinters in history, Kara Lynn Joyce. Kara Lynn is 3x US Olympian, bajillion time NCAA champion, and Founder/CEO of LEAD Sports Summit. We chat with Kara Lynn about age-group and high school swimming, including her time training with Urbanchek and the Michigan men, her NCAA recruiting experience and career at Georgia, her Olympics and Olym...

In this episode, we are joined by Felicia Lee. Felicia was a USA National Team member and is a multiple-time NCAA Champion. We chat with Felicia about swimming at North Baltimore Aquatic Club with Bob Bowman, at Stanford with Greg Meehan, and what she has been doing after her swimming career.

We are joined by Olympic medalist and distance superstar Leah Smith. Leah grew up in Pennslyvania and swam for the JCC Sailfish. She continued her swimming in college at the University of Virginia where she excelled and was a multiple-time NCAA champion. Internationally, Leah medaled at the 2016 Olympics and has made numerous international teams for the United States. She currently trains at Tucso...

In this episode, we’re joined by American distance swimming star Chad La Tourette. Chad grew up in Southern California, swimming at the legendary Mission Viejo Nadadores under Bill Rose. He had success in high school, making the 2006 Junior National Team and 2007 World University Games. In 2008, he finished 3rd at the U.S. Olympic Trials in the mile. In college, he swam for Stanford University, wh...

In this episode, we’re joined by the versatile Dylan Carter. Dylan began swimming later than most swimmers in Trinidad and Tobago, then moved to the United States for High School. Dylan was then recruited to USC to swim for the Trojans under Dave Salo. He swam in the 2016 Olympics representing Trinidad and Tobago and is a member of the LA Current. Our conversation with Dylan covers the swimming tr...

In this episode, we’re joined by standout backstroke and freestyler Amy Bilquist. Amy’s been an elite swimmer for a long time. She was one of the top recruits in the country out of high school, where she moved onto Cal and continued to rack up points for the Bears. She’s been on the USA National team, and last summer returned from a knee surgery AND a broken hand to win the 100bk National title an...

In this episode, we’re joined by Glenn Mills (1980 Olympian [200br], 1983 NCAA Champion [2br], co-founder of GoSwim, technique and film guru). Glenn has decades of experience in swimming, notably winning the 200 breast at 1980 Olympic Trials in the closest trials 2-breast in history (.01 margin of victory), only to have to sit out those Games as part of the boycott. Glenn rallied to become NCAA ch...

In this episode, USA National Teamer Katie McLaughin joins us. We talk about what Katie’s focusing on now in training to stay fit, areas of focus for her training in general, team dynamics at Cal under Teri McKeever, pro swimming for the LA Current, and how ISL can improve on season 1.  

In this episode of The Social Kick Podcast, the guys chat with open water standout Catherine Breed. The guys chat with Catherine about: -What she is doing with Covid-19 -Her last swimming pool race -When she started open water swimming -How to transition between open water and pool swimming -Nonobvious differences between open water and pool swimming -Her biggest mentors and coaches during her car...