Texas Swimming

Sunday, April 10, 2022

Quote of the Day

Politics is the attempt to achieve

power and prestige without merit.

Patrick Jake "P.J." O'Rourke

Saturday, April 09, 2022

Quote of the Day

The truth will set you free, but

first it will make you miserable.

James Abram Garfield

Monday, April 04, 2022

Morning Brew

If you want a quick read to start your day, try Morning Brew.

Yeah, there are a few ads, but they're pretty easy to spot and that keeps it "free".

Quote of the Day

A word to the wise is infuriating.

Hunter Stockton Thompson

Saturday, April 02, 2022

Quote of the Day

Fact-checking is so boring compared to writing fiction.

Francine Prose

Friday, April 01, 2022

Thomas to Join Quaker Hall of Fame

The University of Pennsylvania has announced their Hall of Fame Class XII will include transgender swimmer Lia Thomas.

Athletic Director Alanna Shanahan (pronouns she/her/hers) made the announcement earlier today. Shanahan confirmed the Quakers are waiving the usual 10-year waiting period for induction, citing the ground-breaking achievements Thomas had made in the course of the 2021-22 swim season for Penn.

"It was quite a disappointment when we were forced to delay our Class XII induction due to the pandemic." said Shanahan. "I think adding Ms. Thomas to this wonderful group will help make up for us having put their induction on hold for a year."

Shanahan continued "Lia will join some great women swimmers already in our Hall. We're so proud to have her honored alongside aquatic greats like Ellie Daniel, Doris Dannenhirsch, Dorothy Maloney, Jane McCollister, and Mary Olcese.

Thomas is no stranger to Austin, Texas high school swim fans, having been a TISCA All-State first-teamer for Westlake HS in 2016 & 2017. Racing as Will Thomas, he still holds the school record for the Chaparrals in the 500 free (4:24.48).

Quote of the Day

A man is not learned until he can read, write, and swim.

Plato

Thursday, March 31, 2022

Proactive > Reactive

As a society, we never seem to fail when it comes to throwing money at a problem after the fact. It's a simple "equation":

Delayed Action + Tragic Consequences/Results = Outrage + After-the-Fact Funding

Have y'all noticed what many Parks & Recreation departments in our country are doing to their "aquatics" programs?

via City of Bay City

Yeah, they're shutting down those cement ponds and opening up splash pads.

Why?

$$$

P&R departments are gutting aquatics. Shuttered pools means fewer swim lessons. It's not going to end well for our young people.

Olympic gold-medalist Cullen Jones has been pushing learn-to-swim for YEARS. He's especially focused on his community - the most UNDERSERVED in our society.

Click to read his opinion piece in USA Today:

I almost drowned before I won a gold medal swimming.

We have to teach Black kids to swim.

Exerpts:

It’s my hope this letter will help bring attention to the importance of diversity and inclusion in learning to swim for all children. So here is my call to parents, families and communities to prioritize water safety and drowning prevention as we work together to combat childhood drowning.

Sadly, drowning remains the No. 1 cause of injury-related death among children ages 1 to 4. Every day, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, three children in the United States fall victim to the lethal dangers that are associated with water-related accidents.

In addition, it has been reported that more than 60% of African American children cannot swim, leaving millions of families questioning what they could have done to prevent the unthinkable.

Solution?

I guess we'll count on our public education system to pick up the slack, right?

It's fashionable to knock public ed, but the bottom line is:

They'll do the job if cities & counties can't/won't!

Sure, it means we'll have to focus less on ___, ___, & ___ (Fill in the blanks with topics so ridiculous, it's crazy we feel a need to insert them in public education!).

Quote of the Day

An individual can make a difference,

but a team can make a miracle.

Douglas Irvin "Doug" Pederson

Tuesday, March 29, 2022

Quote of the Day

Fate determines many things, no matter how we struggle.

Otto Weininger

Saturday, March 26, 2022

2022 Clark Wilson Invite

When we left Bay City for DFW about 15 years ago, I only knew a handful of coaches up there. One of our first meets up in north Texas was at SMU. A coach I couldn't place talked to me like we were old buddies. It was Clark Wilson.

He was a larger-than-life guy who took an interest in Bobby - and that continued even after "Junior" became a 'Horn.

He was a special coach who was "all in" for his small-town kids. He pushed his athletes because he cared about them. His athletes went above and beyond because they cared about him.

Quote of the Day

Rules and models destroy genius and art.

William Hazlitt

Tuesday, March 22, 2022

Quote of the Day

One of the scariest things about our times is how easy

it is to scare people and start a political stampede.

There are people who could be upset if they

were told that half of all Americans earn

less than the median income - though

of course that is the way median

income is defined.

via Sowell Film

Thomas Sowell

Sunday, March 20, 2022

Quote of the Day

How many legs does a dog have if you call his tail a leg?

Four. Saying that a tail is a leg doesn't make it a leg.

Abraham Lincoln

Wednesday, March 16, 2022

Quote of the Day

A forest bird never wants a cage.

Henrik Johan Ibsen

Tuesday, March 15, 2022

Quote of the Day

The past is a great place and I don't want to erase it or

to regret it, but I don't want to be its prisoner either.

Sir Michael Phillip "Mick" Jagger

Saturday, March 12, 2022

40 Years

Forty years ago, Indiana State University dropped their swim programs. Above is layout that appeared in the 1982 Sycamore, our college yearbook.

I wasn't on the team that last year, having wrapped up my eligibility in '81. I was in town, though.

I spent another year in "The Crossroads of America", beautiful Terre Haute, Indiana. It was a semester of student teaching at Terre Haute North H.S. under legendary basketball guru Howard Sharpe, plus a semester of courses to wrap up my science minor.

When the word came down that the team was being dumped, it was a crusher. There was plenty of anger. Someone, it may have been one of the local guys on the team - D-man Roger Miller, maybe - came up with an idea. The guys would not go out with a whimper...

Between the eighteen men on that last team, plus two more of us who were still on campus from the previous year, we had enough guys to go for that world record and stick it to old Beanie Cooper & Co.

So, that's what we did, 40 years ago today. We didn't just break the record, we destroyed it!

Thanks to Tom "Tommy Tsunami" Dubois for sharing this w/me recently:

That rationale AD Cooper gave for dropping swimming went like this:

"Swimming, a popular collegiate sport was dropped

mainly because budget cuts have forced most

area high schools to drop their swim teams."

Hundreds of B.S. detectors pegged out* when we heard that one!

The women's program was restored a few years ago, but the men's team is still in "hibernation". It sure would be nice to see them bring the men's program back. Guys need to regain those lost opportunities.

"Good" news: Some of us old-timers still have school records at ISU (I'm part of 400 free relay & 800 free relay).

Bad news: Those record times look pretty danged slow compared to kids these days...

Vigo County now has an indoor facility shared by the NCAA D-I Sycamore women's team, three high school programs (Terre Haute North, South, & West), and USA Swimming Torpedoes.

via Tribune-Star

*They were analog back then!

Quote of the Day

The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide

that you are not going to stay where you are.

Chauncey Mitchell Depew

Thursday, March 03, 2022

Quote of the Day

Only a few good leaders have paused to

reflect seriously on being leaders.

via The Times

Patrick Jake "P.J." O'Rourke

Wednesday, March 02, 2022

Quote of the Day

I rarely meet a politician that I don't like personally. They are

generally well endowed with charm. Therein lies the danger.

Patrick Jake "P.J." O'Rourke

Tuesday, March 01, 2022

Morning Brew

DJA put me onto this one. Shows up each a.m. in my email and I scan through it quickly for anything that might be of interest. Worth a look. If you're interested, link to sign up is here

Quote of the Day

The young are adept at learning, but

even more adept at avoiding it.

Patrick Jake "P.J." O'Rourke

Sunday, February 06, 2022

UIL Region Meets? State Call-Ups? TAPPS State Meet?

via Katy Times

While some region meets may have wrapped up, others won't be completed until Tuesday.

That's right, fans - another Cr-ice-is in Texas means several of our UIL region swim & dive championships have been pushed back a few days.

The TAPPS state championships are in the same boat. Rather than a Monday-Wednesday schedule, they'll swim their meet Wednesday-Friday.

Quote of the Day

You may delay, but time will not.

Benjamin Franklin

Monday, January 31, 2022

Quote of the Day

Artists today think of everything they do as a work

of art. It is important to forget about what you

are doing - then a work of art may happen.

Andrew Newell Wyeth

Sunday, January 30, 2022

Quote of the Day

To be interested solely in technique would

be a very superficial thing to me.

Andrew Newell Wyeth

Saturday, January 22, 2022

Illogic 101

Quote of the Day

If you have men who will only come if they know

there is a good road, I don't want them. I want

men who will come if there is no road at all.

David Livingstone

Friday, January 14, 2022

Quote of the Day

Into each life some rain must fall.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Monday, January 10, 2022

Quote of the Day

Show class, have pride, and display character.

If you do, winning takes care of itself.

Paul William "Bear" Bryant

Sunday, January 02, 2022

Quote of the Day

One finds limits by pushing them.

Herbert Alexander Simon

Sunday, November 14, 2021

Powder Term

Is your middle-schooler under pressure to be "connected" day and night? Isn't it time to get them to put away that phone and get outside?

This is straight from the Powder Term Phone-Free Philosophy:

Between old-school classrooms, new-school screen addictions, and the constant pressure of social media, teens today have little opportunity to stretch their limits. They need more space to explore who they really are, what they really care about, and what they’re really capable of.

That's why outside of self-driven academic courses, Powder Term students are completely unplugged. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to live free from the burden of infinite scrolling.

Sounds pretty good, right?