Julia Cunningham - (Author)

By Julia Cunningham, Swimming World College Intern Bruce Gemmell has been Katie Ledecky’s coach for four years. In that amount of time, Ledecky has won 15 individual gold medals on the international stage, and Gemmell has become the coach of, in his words, “the most dominant female freestyler probab...

By Julia Cunningham, Swimming World College Intern The first thing many people ask me once they learn I am a swimmer, if they are unfamiliar with the sport, is if I am going to Olympics. My answer is always a scoff and a resounding “no.” My highest achievement in the sport has been becoming an All-A...

By Julia Cunningham, Swimming World College Intern In the past few weeks the swimming world has been hit by many surprises: from world record holders missing the Olympic team to the amount of new faces that now grace the Olympic roster. One new face, though not new to the spotlight, is that of Kelsi...

By Julia Cunningham, Swimming World College Intern The first thing my family did as, well, a family was to go swimming. My dad borrowed a suit from a friend that was a few sizes too large for me and we hopped into the hotel pool. From there my parents went on to put me through beginning and then mor...

By Julia Cunningham, Swimming World College Intern I will preface this article by explaining that I am in no way articulating anyone else’s viewpoint but my own personal one. I am a female, Chinese-American athlete. I also am adopted, so without seeing me, I could be Caucasian. I have competed for c...

By Julia Cunningham, Swimming World College Intern In my experience, swim parents are one of the most influential parts of their swimmer's career. We could sing the praises of their sacrifices: the early morning carpools, the late-night dinners, the hours spent in the sweltering heat on deck, the li...

By Julia Cunningham, Swimming World College Intern When did swimming become a sport? It certainly didn’t start that way. My earliest memories of swimming revolve around the people. I was so excited to have a mass play date everyday after school for two hours, or, at that age it was probably closer t...

By Julia Cunningham, College World College Intern It’s quite a feat to win back-to-back championship titles, let alone 30 in a row. That’s exactly what Coach Richard Finkelstein and his team, the Flushing YMCA Flyers, achieved this year - winning his 30th title at States at SUNY Buffalo March 18-20....

By Julia Cunningham, Swimming World College Intern The other day I received a phone call. A fellow coach from the team I work with on campus wanted a few tips about how to teach butterfly. This coach, a former swimmer and a man much older than myself, hoped to learn something from my few years as a ...

By Julia Cunningham, Swimming World College Intern We talk a lot about time in swimming. The time it takes to finish your race. The  amount of time you take off the event. The time you spend training. But what about the off time? The time between intervals or the time spent in off season? I plan my ...

By Julia Cunningham, Swimming World College Intern The adventure that has been my swimming career began when I first touched the pool at six months old. Once the hardships that come with the early years of competitive swimming began, I certainly didn't see myself continuing down the path much longer...

By Julia Cunningham, Swimming World College Intern Loving a sport can bring out the sentimentality in all of us. Where would I be today without swimming? What will happen when my career is over? How can I give back? Parents, timers, officials, whether they were swimmers in a past life or are related...

By Julia Cunningham, Swimming World College Intern “You can have results or you can have your excuses. You cannot have both.” -Unknown There is a reason why excuses are not part of a mindset of success. Excuses create the easy way out. They exist as both a shortcut to an unsatisfactory conclusion an...

By Julia Cunningham, Swimming World College Intern Brands are very important for swimmers, but our tech suit is not the only fashion decision we make on deck. Depending on the time of year, the temperature of the air on deck, we tend to see a slew of outfits that pass as our warm ups. What is a swim...

by Julia Cunningham, Swimming World College Intern I love swimming for more reasons than I can count. One of the greatest perks I've found are the many types of people you end up meeting. First introductions are never difficult as there automatically is the commonality of being a swimmer. Where that...

By Julia Cunningham, Swimming World College Intern Coach is someone, not quite your parent or your best friend or even your number one role model, who is there throughout your swimming career, and maybe even longer. Coach has seen you through your worst days and best, witnessed your 5 a.m. mental br...

By Julia Cunningham, Swimming World College Intern Bouncing back only gets harder the longer you wait to do it. With championship season fast approaching, those tiny shreds of doubt are constantly lingering in the back of your mind. What if I don't hit my taper? What if I let my team down? What if I...

By Julia Cunningham, Swimming World College Intern Swimming is an expensive sport. If you want to be good, you have to own the latest suit technology, you have to constantly replace broken goggles, you have to travel to get to meets. There is no denying that all of those costs are worth it once you ...

By Julia Cunningham, Swimming World College Intern There have been days when I’ll look at the set and give up on practice before I even jump in the pool. Why is that? What is the point of even showing up to the pool if I’m not there with the 100 percent belief that I am there to improve? Consider th...

By Julia Cunningham, Swimming World College Intern Swimming is a mental sport. That is an uncontested fact. How much of that ties into the physical part of pushing yourself endlessly through the water is another question. Sometimes, we get stuck. Through no fault of our own the sore throat starts to...