Dear Elite – The Raging Elitist

Just the Dog

After years of imagining how sad losing the family dog will be, I was surprised by the huge relief I felt when I learned she might have bone cancer. I was on the pool deck coaching and happened to have my phone out, because I was showing a swimmer a video I’d taken of his…
Read more: Just the Dog
A Dad and a Son

Lying on the couch watching a movie with Scotty’s head on my shoulder, neither one of us wanted to admit to our discomfort. We both adjusted and readjusted for a half hour, wanting the moment of closeness to last, at the same time wanting to separate and have our own space. Scotty was the one…
Read more: A Dad and a Son
How to Talk to Your Kid About Swimming: Say Nothing

The mother of a sometimes-lazy ten-year-old girl recently asked me on deck what she’s supposed to say to motivate her daughter. I think she was a little surprised when I was quick to respond, shrugging my shoulders and suggesting “Just don’t say anything.” The child is no world-beater. She has a little talent, but she…
Read more: How to Talk to Your Kid About Swimming: Say Nothing
O Christmas Tree

It was a little like Christmas never came this year, so quick was its approach and so unyielding the regular course of day-to-day life. In years gone by, when the kids were younger and our schedule more relaxed, the tree in our living room drew me into its multicolored glow and stirred the nostalgic remembrance…
Read more: O Christmas Tree
I Coach Winners

Amid all the millions of yards of training and the focus on goal times and personal records, the true nature of our sport often gets lost. Ultimately, swimmers are racers, and racers want to touch the wall first. That shouldn’t be a controversial statement, except there is a lot of energy spent trying to distract…
Read more: I Coach Winners
Elf on the Shelf

Every night when I turn out the light in the hall, Cartter and Scotty yell a strange farewell to each other from their beds. I have no idea as to the origin or meaning of their nightly valediction; it rings defiant and silly through the darkness, emanating from their open doorways throughout the house and…
Read more: Elf on the Shelf
Thanksgiving Break

At 8:30 on Saturday night, the last non-school night of Thanksgiving break, Scotty was startled and disappointed to learn his evening was coming to an end. He was sitting on the couch with his feet in a warm salt bath, about to have the dry skin scraped from his soles by his mother. “What!” he…
Read more: Thanksgiving Break
Pace

Pace sets are as much an exercise in belief as they are an exact science. During my final two short course seasons as a swimmer, I tried to convince myself that the 2:06 200 breaststroke pace I practiced would manifest in a competition, but when meet day arrived, I never went under 2:10. A 13-year-old…
Read more: Pace
Nelson

This ended up being one of the years that I dragged myself to the pumpkin patch with Danyelle and the boys. More often than not, I avoid the slow-moving stream of cars pulling into Boone Hall Farm, the march across the pitted lot to wait in line for admittance, and the minor sea of people…
Read more: Nelson
Motivation

I’ve heard some people referred to as “human dynamos” in regards to their ability to get things done. My mother is pure TNT. While she was in town caring for my sister after her neck surgery, she spurred me to investigate a new meet format that circumvents South Carolina Swimming’s sanctioning process. The General Chair…
Read more: Motivation

Category: Dear Elite