Mark McCluskey - (Author)

The Fifth Stroke: Dolphin Kick Drills That Can Improve Performance By Mark McCluskey, Swimming World College Intern In recent years, we have consistently watched the sport of swimming develop and grow as we discover ways to become faster. One of the biggest discoveries is the importance of dolphin k...

Is Shaving Worth It? A Look at the Age-Old Process By Mark McCluskey (From the Archive) You are sitting in your bathroom with shaving cream and a razor - maybe multiple razors, depending on how much hair you have on your body. You have your biggest race of the season tomorrow and need to make sure y...

Switching Things Up: The Best Cure for an Event Funk By Mark McCluskey In life, you might feel stuck in the daily grind and are searching for a way out. In swimming, you can also feel stuck in your training with little insight on how to progress and improve. One of the hardest things for a swimmer t...

4 Ways That Swimming Helps You Outside of the Pool Swimmers spend hours upon hours training and competing every year. Most of the time, the only purpose behind our training is to become faster. Sometimes when the going gets tough, it can be hard to see any other reason why we would torture ourselves...

By Mark McCluskey, Swimming World College Intern Championship season is the most physically demanding part of the season. Full weekends of back-to-back races and working on maintaining a taper can take a huge toll on a swimmer’s body and mind. Often, swimmers look for the best ways to recover as qui...

By Mark McCluskey, Swimming World College Intern Maintaining the lead from Day 1 to Day 4, Miami University of Ohio finished the Mid-American Men’s Conference Championships with the win. It was not an easy win, however, as Missouri State was on the prowl throughout the week, never allowing Miami (Oh...

By Mark McCluskey, Swimming World College Intern After Missouri State caught up to Miami (Ohio) on Day 2, lead by their freshmen talent, Miami (Ohio) managed to pull away a bit on Day 3. However, the Mid-American Conference Championship could still go to either after the teams finished competing in ...

By Mark McCluskey, Swimming World College Intern After Miami University (Ohio) ran away with Day 1, sweeping the first two events of the Mid-American Championships, the playing field leveled out more on Day 2, as Missouri State took the majority of events. Day 2 saw a mix of distance, sprinting, and...

By Mark McCluskey, Swimming World College Intern On Day 1 of the Men’s Mid-American Conference Championships, Miami University (Ohio) took a quick lead, winning the first two events of the championship, the 200 Medley Relay and the 800 Freestyle Relay, rewriting their own record board in the process...

By Mark McCluskey, Swimming World College Intern. There has recently been a change in the tide when it comes to people’s eating habits. In the past couple of years, the world has become much more observant of what they eat and drink every day. As people watch what they eat, they are beginning to rea...

By Mark McCluskey, Swimming World College Intern While it may seem a bit early to be thinking about conference championships and the end of the season, it really is right around the corner. At this time, most teams’ championship meets are about a month away. While you may feeling a bit burnt out fro...

By Mark McCluskey, Swimming World Intern. With the FINA Short Course Swimming World Championships occurring right now, there has been a lot of buzz about the growing rivalry between FINA and the newly-created International Swimming League. Some star swimmers, such as Chad le Clos and Adam Peaty, hav...

By Mark McCluskey, Swimming World College Intern. With the holiday and championship season coming up, it seems like it’s the time when people are in the market for brand new tech suits. For those who have never gotten a tech suit or are thinking about trying out a different brand, it can be very ove...

By Mark McCluskey, Swimming World College Intern. It’s beginning to look a lot like… Grind Season. Everybody has a different name for it. As the swim season progresses, we are approaching that time of year when it becomes really tough to be a swimmer. It’s no longer the beginning of the season when ...

By Mark McCluskey, Swimming World College Intern. Your coach walks out onto the pool deck, looks the team up and down, and then makes the announcement: "It is sprint/distance day!" Half of the team is going to do a workout that involves the largest amount of yardage that can be crammed into a two-ho...

By Mark McCluskey, Swimming World Intern This year at the Burr Gymnasium, 40 swimmers are hopping into the pool and starting their college swimming season just as any other team does. After a month or so of training, they will begin competing against other teams, again, just as any other. However, w...

By Mark McCluskey, Swimming World Intern. On September twenty-eighth, the swim season will begin for most of the Washington D.C. college teams with the Potomac Relays, hosted by American University at the Reeves Aquatic Center. Teams will compete in an all-relay, no individual event meet. Some of th...