Hello Sunshine State

Well I successfully got through the tough parts of winter training here in Texas. There were most definitely some trying times but it was good for me. I’m leaving tomorrow to head down to Clearwater, Florida. I can’t wait to leave Austin behind me for a week to experience something new.

I’m going to visit the Clearwater Aquatic Team to swim for a week with Randy Reese. Randy is the younger brother of my current coach Eddie Reese. I actually swam for Randy when I was younger. I went to Austin to swim for Randy the summer after my junior year of high school. I got so much better that summer that my Mom and I continued to live in Austin for the first semester of my senior year of high school. I went back to Wisconsin for my second semester of my senior year so that I could swim the high school season and graduate. After graduation I returned to Austin to swim with Randy for my final summer before college.

You might be wondering why I went to swim with Randy? Simply put, he is the best club coach in the United States. He has coached many Olympians and is very knowledgeable. He transformed me from being a good high school swimmer to believing that I could make the Olympic team. His coaching style is unique. It is a combination of a toughness and straight-forward brusqueness that is uniquely Randy. Yet he is also more supportive and thoughtful than almost any other coach I’ve ever been around. He is just like Eddie and Kris in that he cares about more than just your swimming. He cared about me as a person and my maturity into adulthood. He recognized my abilities as a freestyler and was the perfect coach for my formative years.

One thing I’ve always loved about Randy is that he will tell you exactly what you need to do in order to get better no matter how it may make you feel. For some people this can be hard to deal with. For me, I loved his blunt honesty and took what he told me to heart. I distinctly remember times when he would tell me to stop doing something with my stroke or in practice or else I would never make the Olympic team. He would tell me when he thought I could do better or should have been better but would always be the first to congratulate me when I did something right!