Social Kick

Camille Spink, Josephine Fuller, Tennessee Women - Episode 230

Fresh off of a Dual Meet Attendance Record and in season best times, Camille Spink and Josephine Fuller of the University of Tennessee join us for a pre-championship season update. After a tragic start to the 2023-2024 season with the loss of Coach Matt Kredich’s son, the team battled through various ups and downs, finishing fourth overall at the NCAA championship.

This season, the Volunteer women are more united than ever, as they enter SECs and NCAAs with bigger goals than just attendance records. With more highs than lows thus far, will this be the year the Volunteer women crack the top-3 at NCAAs?

Enjoy a cheerful conversation about rivals in swimming, nose clips, and swimming for something bigger than yourself.

And don't forget to subscribe for weekly podcasts and daily shorts!

Simone Manuel Superstardom Keeps Rising Episode 229

A Legend Among Us Simone Manual, one of the best swimmers of all-time joins us to talk about life, swimming, and giving back. An Olympic and World Champion and pioneering figure as the first black American woman to win Olympic gold in swimming, Simone has quite the CV. But she is charging on, having recently kicked off her season with some rust-busting, “off” events and is settling into her new training base in Austin with Bob Bowman.

As one of the greatest “big moment” sprinters to ever stand behind the blocks, Simone surprisingly does not identify as a sprinter. She splits time among training groups and she shares some of the methods that have helped her achieve success. We also get to hear about how Simone is using her platform to celebrate, inspire, and empower both BIPOC athletes through the Simone Manual Foundation and female athletes through her work with TOGETHXR.

This was a fun one. Enjoy and don't forget to subscribe for weekly podcasts and daily shorts!

Kuzey Tunçelli Fastest Teen Miler Ever Episode 228

The fastest teenager ever, Turkish distance phenom Kuzey Tuncelli is already an Olympic finalist and 2x World Junior Record holder in both the long and short course 1500m freestyles and a 2024 World Championship Bronze Medalist. What’s the secret to success this young? Kuzey Tuncelli is in love with the process.

So much so that he is learning what he can improve, like sprinting, and incorporating the learnings into his program, while also assembling a true professional support staff of coaches, doctors, and physios to maximize his huge potential. Expect this guy to be a factor come the next Olympic Games in L.A. Actually he might make a lot more noise much sooner than that.

We’re here for it. 

Cal's Lucas Henveaux and Robin Hanson Episode 227

Friends of the pod, the Cal Bears return, this time with a World Championship Bronze medalist and an NCAA Champion in Lucas Henveaux and Robin Hanson. Both elite freestylers with Olympic experience, Lucas and Robin share insights on the ‘24-’25 edition of Cal swimming that has seen 17-straight top 2 finishes at NCAAs, an unprecedented run of success.

This year, the attention all seems to be on high profile hires and transfers at Texas and Indiana, and Cal is just fine with the attention being elsewhere. Will this be the year the streak ends? Or will Cal once again arrive in March and remind everyone they know how to get it done in championship meets?

Only time will tell, but in the meantime, enjoy a wide ranging chat with Lucas and Robin including how high pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis can take the world record to who the greatest Belgian cyclist is and how swimming could adopt golf’s handicapping system. 

Stanford’s Aurora Roghair and Charlotte Hook Episode 226

Same tree, different branches. Stanford’s Aurora Roghair and Charlotte Hook join us for a mid-season update, where the two Cardinal stars are in very different places with their swimming. Aurora is coming off a stellar 2024 year of continuous personal bests, including throwing down some of the top times in the country in the fall as she looks to battle for the podiums in longer freestyle events at ACCs and NCAAs.

With a different perspective, Charlotte Hook, a world championship medalist, talks about her path battling injuries and decision to sit out the college season to focus on recovery.

Julian Smith on Breaking a Dressel Record and Florida Speed. Episode 225

Breaking a Caeleb Dressel record is a hell of a way to celebrate your final season as a swimmer. For Florida star Julian Smith, there may well be more accolades to come with the college championship season still to come. Coached by a former Gator great prior to his arrival in Gainesville, Julian Smith is a classic example of a not so highly touted recruit who bought into a system and soaked up the knowledge of great swimmers and coaches around him to show progress every year and now find himself the 4th person in history to swim 49 seconds in a 100 yard breaststroke.

While his decision to move on to dental school after the season has already been made, we can’t help but wonder what might be if he were to keep going. Regardless, Julian Smith is putting on a show and honoring that Gator cap he wears proudly.

Enjoy and don't forget to subscribe for weekly podcasts and daily shorts!

Jillian Cox Texas Distance Star Episode 224

Go long or go home. Distance freestyle phenom Jillian Cox is tearing it up this year with nation-leading times, Texas Longhorn school records, and a World Championship bronze medal as a mere redshirt freshman.

Already a multi-time US National teamer, Austin native Jillian Cox is now leading a strong Texas distance freestyle contingent that looks to be an absolute weapon for the Longhorns coming into championship season as they aim to disrupt the SEC as the new team on the block and attempt to knock off the Virginia Cavaliers for the top step of the podium at NCAAs. We loved nerding out on swim stuff with Jillian.

Enjoy and don't forget to subscribe for weekly podcasts and daily shorts!

Jordan Crooks, Gui Caribe, Nikoli Blackman and Lamar Taylor Tennessee Sprinting. Episode 223.

A Social Kick Carnival. The boys from Tennessee joined us to chat fast swimming and share their journeys from Caribbean and Brazilian roots to end up on lethal relays together. Cayman's Jordan Crooks and Brazil's Gui Caribe are coming off a killer World Championships where they went 1-2 in the 50 and 2-3 in the 100 freestyles, including a world record for Jordan Crooks in the 50 free in a barrier breaking 19.90 as he became the first person to swim under 20 seconds.

Bahamian Lamar and Trinidadian Nikoli also put down personal bests at Worlds, and the foursome now look ahead to the college championship season to continue their success and lift some trophies for the Volunteers to bring back to Rocky Top.

Noe Ponti - Chasing Fast Times & Mastering the Mental Game Episode 222

In this episode we’re joined by Swiss swimming sensation and butterfly specialist Noe Ponti. Noe just completed a short course season for the ages where he pummeled the 50m Butterfly World Record throughout the World Cup en route to the World Title and he also took down the record that meant the most to him - Caeleb Dressel’s 100m Butterfly World Record.

This season is just what Noe needed to call 2024 a success, after 4th and 5th place finishes in Paris denied him medals at back to back Olympics. In this chat, Noe takes us behind the scenes of his swimming career from his start as a natural butterflier, to the details of his training regimen, which includes very little sprinting despite Noe now being the fastest 50 butterflier in history. 

Josh Liendo on Speed, Setbacks & Success Episode 221

Sneakily one of the fastest men to ever sprint, Canadian and Florida Gator Josh Liendo is coming off a career year in 2024. His sophomore campaign at UF included 3 individual event wins at NCAAs, along with leading the Gators to 2 relay wins, building on the already solid freshman year (100 free + 3 relay wins). Somehow that wasn’t enough to earn him a Swimmer of the Year, only topped by Leon Marchand with his record performances.

Josh continued the momentum in Paris, earning a silver medal with his statement 100 butterfly that nearly won gold, dipping under 50 seconds with a 49.99, only the 5th to ever do that, and at the same time making him the first black Canadian swimmer to win an Olympic medal. Josh nearly had 2 medals, with an under the radar 4th place in the 50 just missing the podium. The perfect Olympic results to feel major accomplishment, while still wanting more.

Taught to swim in Trinidad and Tobago til age 11 before moving north, Josh automatically ascended to the exclusive list of Luke’s favorite pod guests before we started, but cemented that place during this fun conversation.