Social Kick

Margaret Hoelzer

In this episode, we are joined by Margaret Hoelzer. Margaret is an Olympic medalist, and former world record-holder. Hoelzer competed in the 2004 Summer Olympics and the 2008 Olympic Games. Hoelzer grew up in Huntsville, Alabama and swam for the Auburn Tigers swimming and diving team while attending Auburn University. In 2007, Hoelzer moved to Charlotte, NC to train with Coach David Marsh. In 2008, Hoelzer relocated to Seattle, Washington and then to Fullerton, California with coach Sean Hutchison to train at Fullerton Aquatics. We chat with Margaret about her swimming career and life after swimming.

The Social Kick Podcast #055 - The Future of NCAA Swimming, Caeleb Dressel Analysis, and the History of Butterfly

More and more schools are cutting their swim programs, including the storied University of Iowa team, who were integral in developing Butterfly in the 1930s.

We discuss this story and the evolution of Butterfly, with the recent passing of the first Olympic Butterfly Champion from 1956.

Then we discuss Caeleb's self analysis of his 50 skins from ISL, going deep into the affects of oxygen depravation and lactate build up.

Finally we discuss Nathan Adrian's choice for a guest on our show, with discussion on the future of NCAA swimming rounding off the show.

Kathleen Baker

In this episode, we're joined by gold medalist Kathleen Baker. In this show, we are interrupted by doping control, as Katleen blocks off evenings on her where-about reports. While we delay her doping test, we get into her nutrition and how Celiac's disease alters her training and nutrition. After this, we discuss her favorite sets with coach David Marsh, as well as what she feels she does at an elite level for her backstroke. After this, we get into where she is hoping to improve and her current mindset heading into the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. Join us for a laugh and learn some of the unique aspects of being an Olympic swimmer! handling an auto-immune disorder (Celiac's disease), nutrition, and much more.  

Karlyn Pipes

In this episode, we're joined by one of the greatest Masters swimmers of all-time, Karlyn Pipes. Karlyn discusses her journey in the sport of swimming, which included early success, being an Olympic hopeful, swimming at the University of Arkansas, then dropping out. She discusses her addiction to alcohol, which eventually led her to rehabilitation. After alcohol rehabilitation, she was offered a full athletic scholarship to attend California State University Bakersfield (CSUB), at the age of 35! This was her "Do-Over", as she wrote about in her book (available here). We also discuss current events, the current status of female coaches in college swimming, and open water training for pool swimmers. 

The Social Kick Podcast #052 - Round-Up

Dr. John, Bryan and Luke gather in person for the first time in months to discuss some recent news. Caeleb's Race Analysis, the value of Endless Pools, HR monitoring and other live tracking analysis are the topics discussed over a beer. Subscribe to the channel to get regular episodes, see the extracts from the shows and promos for new shows!

Craig Beardsley

In this episode, we're joined by an Olympic swimmer who never went to the Olympics, Craig Beardsley. We delve into Craig's last race, missing the 1984 Olympic team, his experience with the 1980 US Olympic boycott, and differences between his training and current training. Craig dives further back to discuss the legendary training group at the University of Florida in the late 1970s and training with Randy Reese and he shares a story of him training with many Russian Olympians leading up to the 1980s game. While discussing the Russian Olympians, Craig discusses his interactions with the late, great Russian coach Gennadi Touretski. We end the show discussing technology, doping, and advances in the sport of swimming. Another amazing conversation with a legend and don't forget to checkout Swim Across America!         

Mike Bottom

For our 50th episode, we’re joined by one of the best swim coaches of all time, Mike Bottom. This conversation explores Mike’s swimming career including his experience with the 1980 US Olympic boycott, his world-beating swimmer brother Joe Bottom, where he developed his skills in psychology and the art of coaching each individual person, not just the swimmer. Mike takes us through the epic arc of his coaching career from his influence on the start of a sprint dynasty at Auburn (which he confirms is the greatest in college swimming history), back to his alma mater USC and being part of a women’s national championship, then later to joining icon Nort Thornton at Cal, coaching Gary Hall Jr, Anthony, Duje, Cavic, and finally to his current seat leading the thriving Michigan program. This one hits it all, and we could have gone on for hours. Enjoy!  

Jason Dunford

In this episode of The Social Kick, Jason Dunford joins the show to discuss his careers as an Olympic swimmer, tech startup co-founder, reporter, and rapper. A true renaissance man, this conversation explores Jason’s evolution from a young swimmer in Kenya to one of the best butterfliers in the world, his transition into business and an MBA at Stanford GSB, to his life now as Samaki Mkuu (rap star) including special guest Jabali Afrika. For a special treat, Samaki and Jabali perform live!      

Gary Hall Jr.

In this episode, we are joined by Olympic Gold Medalists Gary Hall Jr. We discuss Gary's early skateboarding and snowboarding interests and how we transitioned into swimming at the age of 13. He discusses his frustration with traditional high volume training and his college experience at the University of Texas. Gary then discusses his 1996 Olympic experience, diagnosis with type I diabetes, and his current views on sprint swimming training.

Nathan Adrian

In this episode, we are joined by 3x Olympian and Olympic Gold Medalist Nathan Adrian. We start by discussing what Nathan has been doing during Covid-19, diving into the purchasing of his swim school. Then we talk about his experiences in the Olympics and Nathan gives his opinion on the best US Olympic male sprinter of all-time. After this, we talk about diversity in swimming and Nathan's experiences growing up in Washington. We end with an amusing game of rapid-fire questions where Nathan can't say sprinters are tougher than distance swimmers.