Michael Stott - (Author)

Q&A with Coach Gary Taylor: Guiding Age-Group Star Thomas Heilman With Thomas Heilman set to race at Speedo Juniors East, Swimming World is running this piece from the archive that includes discussion of Heilman's training under the watch of coach Gary Taylor. A seasoned college and club coach, Cava...

The Complete Swimmer: Event Specialization and the Case for Varied Training By MICHAEL J. STOTT We’ve all seen it—an age group phenom who dominates a particular stroke and claims it as his or her own. “Athletes will often self-identify their primary events. Those are dictated by genetics, attention ...

The Changing College Landscape: How Coaches Are Counseling Recruits Let’s start by agreeing it is currently a crazy world for college swimming. True story: Last fall, an all-state Mid-Atlantic swimmer decommitted from Boston College following revelations of misconduct in its men’s program. After car...

Special Sets: At Eagle Aquatics, Penelope Lopez-Casula is Latest Rising Star for Coach Adam Madarassy Adam Madarassy, a 2008 Olympian for Hungary and NCAA scorer for the University of Louisville, has since shown his chops as a swim coach. He is owner, founder and head coach at Eagle Aquatics in Miam...

Special Sets: The Training of United States Olympian and Distance Ace Luke Whitlock Forty six of the more than 1000-plus pool swimmers who competed at Olympic Trials in Indianapolis represented the United States at the Olympic Games in Paris. Among them was Luke Whitlock, a Florida freshman, from No...

A Look and Breakdown Of the Legendary 100 x 100s Set Of Mike Bruner About eight months before he set a world record in the 200-meter butterfly (1:59.23) and won a second gold medal in the 800 freestyle relay at the 1976 Olympics, Mike Bruner completed an aquatic first - swimming 10,000 yards in unde...

Special Sets: The Work of Fast-Rising Teen Stella Canoles of Orinda Aquatics (Sample Workouts Included) By MICHAEL J. STOTT Stella Canoles: Meet “TR” (The Rocket) Every coach treasures a special talent. Orinda Aquatics coach Don Heidary has one in Stella Canoles, a freestyle/butterfly/IM specialist ...

Q&A With Texas A&M Coach Blaire Anderson; Bringing Title Aspirations to Lonestar State After a magical seven-year run at the University of Virginia, Blaire Anderson has assumed the reins of the men’s and women’s teams at Texas A&M, looking to build on the winning legacy established by long-time coac...

Coaching Conversations: The State of College Swimming in a Rapidly Changing Landscape By Michael Stott It used to be death and taxes were the only certainties – and rarely were national politics and college swimming packaged together. Welcome to the new world order with uncertainties surrounding the...

How They Train: Texas A&M Early-Season Sets By MICHAEL J. STOTT In this edition of How They Train, Swimming World takes a look at some of the workouts put together at Texas A&M. The piece is complemented by commentary from several of the program's top performers, who weigh in on how the program look...

The 'Why' In Coaching: The Importance Of Providing An Explanation Three minutes into the coach’s monologue on butterfly technique, ninth grader Sam raised his hand and asked, "why?’" “I thought I was a good coach,” says his Middle Atlantic mentor. “I had state-championship teams, high school All-Ame...

How Training Has Changed Since the Onset of the Covid-19 Pandemic Four years removed from the worldwide shutdown due to COVID-19, aquatics has re-established a rhythm of training and championships. Paris beckons the world for a second Olympics since, and coaches have resumed mentoring their charges ...

Sample Sets: A Look at the Work Of NAG Record-Breaker Luka Mijatovic and Rising Talent Tim Wu From the Archive: With Luka Mijatovic breaking the 15-16 NAG record of Larsen Jensen in the 400-meter freestyle at the Junior Pan Pacific Championships, Swimming World offers this look at Mijatovic's traini...

Swim Training for 50s: A Look at Different Approaches to Sprinting Earlier in his career, the high school coach sought the secret to speed—especially fast 50s. As a high schooler, he had a teammate ultimately go a 22.4 50 free (nation’s third fastest in 1960). Later on he watched Katie Ledecky, at a...

The Cal Bears Culture Has a Powerful Influence - Past and Present; Dave Durden Guiding a Family When you’ve been a battle-tested Marine, an assistant on uber-successful club and college championship teams and confidant to Olympians, you know something about winning. Jack Roach has been all of those ...

How They Train: The Workouts of Cavalier Aquatics' Sara Czirjak (5 Practice Sets Included) With the Olympic buzz still in the air, swim club personnel persevere in polishing swimmer skills while college coaches continue the unending process of targeting potential recruits. One such prospect is Sara ...

Special Sets: The Training That Made Katie Hoff a World Champion and World-Record Holder Today’s question: Besides being swimmers, what do Allison Schmitt, Katie Ledecky and Ariana Kukors have in common? Answer: They all possess current American records once held by U.S. 400 IM (LC) record holder Ka...

Special Sets: The Training That Guided Virginia's Jasmine Nocentini to NCAA Stardom The women’s NCAA championships are over. The University of Virginia won its fourth straight title in dominant fashion, renewing the ongoing discussion of a dynasty. Carol Capitani’s Longhorns finished second again an...

Amanda Weir Still Owns 11-12 NAG in 50-Yard Freestyle; The Training That Produced This Success I first saw a picture of Amanda Weir in 1998. It was in Sports Illustrated’s Faces in the Crowd, which was celebrating her for setting an NAG record in the 50-yard freestyle – a record that still stands to...

Q&A: A Chat With St. Xavier (Ky.) High School Coach Todd Larkin A former swimmer at St. Xavier High School in Louisville, Ky., Todd Larkin has continued to mold boys to men all the while advancing the nation’s longest streak of consecutive state championships. Todd Larkin Head Coach, Swimming & Divi...