On this Memorial Day, I’d like to say thank you to the all of the men and women who have served, and continue to serve, their country in each branch of our military. I have the utmost respect for those in our armed forces who sacrifice so much to keep our country free and safe. THANK YOU!

So, my last blog entry made me tired just writing about it…600 kids! But Kim, Kicker, and I had such a blast with the swimmers in Redlands, CA!

I love California…the weather, the beaches, the people…so I was excited to be spending another day with some of the best swimmers in the country!

So, I go from 600 kids on Saturday in Redlands, CA to teaching 20 kids on Sunday!

It was such a joy to work with the dedicated swimmers of the Viewpoint School. Viewpoint is an awesome prep academy just north of Hollywood in Calabasas, CA. These kids were a huge inspiration to me as they do an amazing job balancing school, swimmng, and community service.

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On April 21, 2007 the Eastern Section division of Southern California Swimming hosted me, Kim Vandenberg, and Kicker Vencill for a BREAKout! Clinic on the campus of Redlands University in Redlands, CA.

600 swimmers at one BREAKout! Clinic!!!!

Unbelievable, but true! I don’t know if this is a world record, but it’s definitely the largest clinic I’ve ever been a part of!

We were with these amazing swimmers for 9 hours!

We were set to start at 8 a.m., but the swimmers were chomping at the bit at 7:30!!! We passed out all the Mutual goodie bags and jumped in at 8 a.m.

Oh yeah, did I mention that the clinic was at an OUTDOOR pool! Outdoor pool in the spring…Southern California — should be perfect weather, right? Not this Saturday morning! 45 degrees!!! It was not only the biggest clinic I’ve ever done, but also the coldest! (more…)

I love the Pittsburgh area!! I was just in this area in January and I think the towns and the people are beautiful. Visiting the Allegheny North Swim Club was a real treat. They are one of the largest and strongest teams in the area and coach Pat is doing a super job running the team. Actually Coach Patrick and I are contemporaries. He raced at Ohio State about the same time I was racing for Univ. of Texas. Dr. Dave is the board president and they have an awesome group of parents who volunteer and support the team. In fact I got to meet some core members at a Sunday brunch before the clinic started.

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