Change of Course

Faithful followers have probably noticed a sharp change over the last few months. Its been nearly a month since the last full post and even before that my pace had slowed to a trickle. The truth is, I'm at a crossroads that I knew I would get to. I just thought it was farther in the future. Let me explain.

When I got my start blogging three years ago, it completely changed my life. All the things I thought about swimming suddenly went from private to public. I was completely addicted- for better or worse I had exponentially more conversations about the sport I loved. I met people that I had idolized and came to see them as peers. In that first year, I had countless experiences that left me pinching myself to make sure it was all real.

Blogging opened big doors for me. I can say with certainty that I wouldn't be where I am today without it. It was almost fitting that the place where it all started, floswimming, fell apart just weeks after I started my job at Georgia Tech. The site had hung on just long enough. Since then I've been given great opportunities to continue writing about swimming, first at Swimming World and here at The Athlete Village.

But I could never recapture the magic of that first year. In truth, it had very little to do with what had changed in the swimming world and much more to do with what had changed with me. As i mentioned before, I knew that as my blogging went on I would reach a crossroads. For one thing, the more coaching I did the more careful I had to be about writing about high school swimmers. This past summer I was enormously excited about the crop of 15-16 year old swimmers at the national level, but I couldn't write about it in any detail about it in fear that I might tip toe over NCAA rules.

I have always endeavored to write a unique blog- I wanted to write about topics and give perspective that you couldn't find elsewhere on the web. Recently I've had more and more trouble finding topics and angles that haven't been covered.

So let me cut to the chase. This blog has already changed and will remain changed. It will continue on as it has these past few months- whenever I feel like i have something truly valuable to add I will do so. At the same time, I'm embarking on a journey that is both terrifying and exhilirating. I'm writing a book.

I'd been playing around with the idea for quite some time, and it finally crystalized a month ago when. The inspiration came from my friend Mary, who housed me during my first month here in Atlanta. Its a book about coaching. I don't know quite what it will end up as, but I know for sure its not about sets, training plans or proper freestyle technique. It will be a book about how to treat people. I think there's a big change that hasn't quite taken hold in the coaching world, and I want to be a part of making it. Over the course of the next year, I hope to interview the people, many of whom I've mentioned in the blog and some I haven't.

If you're reading this, know that I appreciate all your sport. It has been and will continue to be a privilege to write for you. I hope you like what comes next.