Brooke Irving - (Author)

By Alex Labonge, Swimming World Intern Imagine standing behind the starting blocks, waiting to begin a race.  Who is the last person that you see, only a few feet away, whether you realize it or not?  The officials, tirelessly watching over the swimmers, standing at the side of the pool for hours at...

By Alex Labonge, Swimming World College Intern Swimming races regulated by USA Swimming and FINA follow a very specific and concrete set of rules.  There is very little flexibility and every race holds the same basic pieces: climbing onto starting blocks, a dive, a few turns, and a finish on a wall....

By Alex Labonge, Swimming World College Intern Greensboro has suddenly become a hub for swimming activity in the United States thanks to the 4-year-old Greensboro Aquatic Center.  The facility has hosted world-class meets, but the pool and its staff have had a far greater impact on the Greensboro co...

By Alex Labonge, Swimming World Intern Swimmers and coaches- they go together like chlorine and pools. A swimmer cannot succeed without a coach, and likewise, a coach without a swimmer is nothing. The importance of this relationship cannot be measured with any real unit and it is often not truly app...

By Alex Labonge, Swimming World College Intern Behind the blocks, Valtteri Halonen stands gazing into the water, contemplating the race that will begin in mere moments. The water before him appears calm and cool, unaware that it will soon be violently disturbed by a heat of swimmers. Halonen clears ...