I had the great pleasure of having my two children, Dillon Dunn (15 yr. old boy) and Taylor Henson (10 yr. old girl), participate in the Mutual of Omaha Clinic this past weekend at Kingwood High School. I can tell you that I have never been so impressed with ANY other swim or academic event than I was with this clinic. It was so much more than what I expected! It was obvious that each Olympian that participated was there because they truly cared about young swimmers. They gave of themselves through so many great motivational moments with which to inspire the kids in their own lives, including their personal stories, swim tips, life tips, practice drills, achievements, diet tips, autographs, AND they smiled tirelessly through hundreds of photos!!!! Most importantly, the kids had so much fun! I can’t even tell you how many exciting moments occurred in that natatorium, from beginning to end! When Ian Crocker gave his goggles to a little girl, whose goggles broke, the pure joy on her face was just so touching!

I would personally like to thank Josh Davis for his obvious dedication to young people whether it was through swimming, or just the care he showed for each child that participated. I believe the swimmers took much more than training tips away from this event, and we will be talking about this for a long time.

I would also like to thank the other Olympians as they all equally put in as much effort to make this a great day for the kids! Matt Grevers was a bundle of energy and a super story teller – the kids were enthralled by his story! Dana Vollmer was awesome, and the girls could really relate to her as well. And of course, Ian Crocker! What can you say! He is Ian Crocker and I still can’t believe we got to meet him and speak with him!

I am quite sure we will participate in this clinic again next year….at least it has my vote! -Jeanne

We had one of the best days in our swimmers life – we had a swim clinic with Olympic champions! Our guests were Josh Davis, Dana Vollmer, Ian Crocker and Matt Grevers. Kids had a blast – we had great drills and fun games! One of the best moments I saw was when one of the little girl in pink swimsuit called Ian Crocker and told him that her googles were broke – Ian took off his googles so fast and gave it to her, she put it on and did not miss a second in her start – Ian fixed girl’s googles and gave it to her and she was so happy all smiley wearing black googles of the Olympic Champion! I am sure she will remember this moment for the rest of her life! Olympic Champions showed our team that they are great athletes and they are kind and caring and just wonderful people too!
We loved every second of this clinic and we are going to do it again!
Thank you!
-Tatyana

The clinic went very well. Loads of positive feedback. Jason and Dagny were great! -Coach Mark

Thank you again for all the hard work Mark Tierney did to make this happen for the ORCA! -Josh Davis

Elaine and I had a great time in Owensboro! Here’s a picture of us with, Liz, one of the swimmers. Elaine is originally from KY so it was fun to see her return to her home state! Zetta and her volunteers did a great job of organizing the event!! It ran very smoothly. I loved it when someone said to Elaine, “You have 100 new fans cheering you on at the Omaha Trials!” That’s pretty cool.

Shantel-

Please send Josh & Ian (& you) our sincerest thanks for the clinic yesterday! We greatly appreciate both of them being here (especialy Josh with his hectic schedule this past weekend). Their personalities offset each other very well. As was stated by many people there, but especially by the head coach, Sean & myself, it was an absolutely awesome experience for all involved!!!
We will have many photos from yesterday & as a matter of fact, a large photo of Ian and a very nice article hit the front page of our area paper, which is great accomplishment, since swimming never seems to get the press it deserves. Click here

I will have Sean email everyone with the link to leave any thoughts/comments on the clinic. Sean & I have already started discussing our next clinic, so I will let you know once we decide if we will keep it around the same time of year or do another one prior to our meets resuming in November.

With sincerest thanks,
Christine

“We love to race, we don’t care who’s next to us, even if it’s little people,” Davis said as the swimmers laughed. “It’s so exciting to try your best and see what happens. Every meet, every race for the rest of your life, it doesn’t matter who’s next to you — you take them on. If you can race against Ian and I, you can race against anybody.” -Josh Davis

Dear Josh and Shantel,

As you can see by the pictures attached individual attention was give to all the swimmers especially the young swimmers. Your team left a lifetime memory on all in attendance. Thank you for the marvelous “Effort and Attitude”, on behalf of your entire team.-Coach Mindy

Thank you Coach Mindy and Wendy for making it a very enjoyable time for our Mutual of Omaha BREAKout! Swim Clinic athletes. The cabin experience was awesome! The photo above with the snow is the view from the cabin.