By January we had 25 clinics booked for 2009, WOW!! I am happy to announce we have new athletes to choose from to join me for clinics such as Haley McGregory, Christine Magnuson, Lacey Nymeyer, Gil Stovall and Matt Grevers. Man, today’s swim club swimmers are so lucky with the number of Olympians they have the opportunity to meet, swim and race against if they book a BREAKout Clinic. It’s truly awesome of Mutual of Omaha to invest so much into the swimming community. I wish I had that opportunity when I was a kid. And many clubs are taking advantage of such a great program! We hope other clubs take notice, and book theirs to help us reach our goal of 100 clinics for 2009.

I had a clinic every weekend in January. I started off in my home state of Texas; the Houston Swim Club booked TWO clinics in one day. One clinic for their swim instructors, and the other for their swim club. (Talk about setting yourself up for success!!) After speaking to over 100 swim instructors for 3 hrs Saturday morning, Coach Gilbert and his 90 swimmers and I had a wonderful clinic! I personally had a special time in that I broke the pool records in the 100 freestyle (47.1 seconds) and then had to race every swimmer (12 X 25’s). I loved every second of the pain! Thanks Bonnie and Gilbert and my host family, The Ritter’s!

The following three clinics were much colder, than the hot Texas weather I am used to. Ben Wildman-Tobriner, the fastest American man EVER in the 50 yard Free, joined me in Herndon, VA to visit the Herndon Commanders for their second clinic, hosted by Kerstin Severin. Kids and parents alike were blown out of the pool with Ben’s stories of perseverance. When the Stanford graduate, currently a medical student, showed us the brand-new Beijing medal with the rare white jade on the back, you could hear the crowd “Ohhh and Ahh”. To top it off the swimmers raced side-by-side with one of the only American’s to swim 18 seconds in a 50-Free.

The third weekend, I headed to Joliet, IL with Christine Magnuson. One word – BRRRR! The high was a freezing 9° but, thankfully the pool was hot, and the kids were excited! We visited the Joliet & Morris Stingrays hosted by Tammy Woehlert. Christine brought along her 2 silver 2008 Olympic Beijing medals for the kids to hold and take picture with. It was great!

The following weekend I headed back to the snow in North East, PA with Mark Gangloff. I had a blast making snow angels with Serene Klomp and the Eastside YMCA Swim Team. Get this, Serene called back, they had such a good response and people asking when the next clinic would be that they booked their next clinic for November! I’m telling you guys, this is an amazing program for the kids and parents, check out their club comments.

The last weekend of January, Ruth Ann Ahnen with the Lake Country Swim Team, brought her THIRD clinic to their club in Hartland, WI. Christine Magnuson and I had a blast, and very much enjoyed the opportunity to inspire and touch so many lives. Check out their club comments page.

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