Un-Beata-ble Nelson
For an entire season, Beata Nelson had prepared for the end of the grueling 200 backstroke: hitting that pace in practice, holding that pace when she was tired and then working the walls every time. That meant sticking to at least 10 dolphin kicks off every wall, even when the swimmers around her would start to fade, no matter how much it hurt.
All that preparation required massive focus and diligence day after day at practice over a long swim season. But much more challenging was a mental shift that the Wisconsin junior had vowed to make: after a freshman year derailed by personal struggles and a sophomore season in which Nelson tried to prove that she belonged competing for NCAA titles, she wanted to think as little as possible and enjoy the moments of an NCAA Championships.
Easy to articulate, but really hard to actually pull off.
“There are pressures from everybody. It’s in our nature to have anxiety and fear. I think part of it is having the people around you who know you and know what you need in the moments when you start to feel that negative energy creep in. My teammates and my coaches did an incredible job keeping me happy, keeping me excited, reminding me of all the hard work I’d done all year,” Nelson said.
Nelson focused on soaking in the energy of the meet, dancing to the music played during warm-ups and admiring record breakers in other events. She used her phone as little as possible for texting and social media. But she admitted, “It’s hard to describe how (to stay positive) because I’m not really sure how I did it.”
To read more about Beata Nelson’s training and performance at the NCAA Champs this year,
check out the May 2019 issue of Swimming World Magazine, available now!
[PHOTO CREDIT: PETER H. BICK]
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FEATURES
016 NO LEDECKY…NO MANUEL… NO PROBLEM
by Dan D’Addona, David Rieder and Andy Ross
Relying on a younger team—with 10 underclass-men—Stanford still won its third straight women’s NCAA Division I swimming and diving team title. It’s just that this year’s margin of victory was much closer than the previous two.
WOMEN’S NCAA DIVISION I MINI-FEATURES:
018 BROOKE FORDE: MAKING THE EXTRA EFFORT
019 BEATA NELSON: UN-BEATA-BLE NELSON
021 ABBEY WEITZEIL/CAL BEARS: THE OTHER CHAMPIONS
022 LILLY KING: LILLY’S LEGACY
024 WOMEN’S NCAA DIVISION I PHOTO GALLERY
photos by Peter H. Bick
026 THE COMPLETE PACKAGE
by Dan D’Addona and David Rieder
The depth of Cal’s Golden Bears was on full display at this year’s men’s NCAA Division I Swimming and Diving Championships in Austin, proving they were the best team in the nation.
MEN’S NCAA DIVISION I MINI-FEATURES:
028 DANIEL CARR: SECOND CHANCE PAYS OFF
029 SILVER LININGS FOR SECOND-PLACE TEXAS
031 DEAN FARRIS: DEAN OF THE POOL
032 MEN’S NCAA DIVISION I PHOTO GALLERY
photos by Peter H. Bick
034 STILL NO. 1
by Andy Ross, Cathleen Pruden, Olivia Wile and Grace Nordquist
All of the schools that won college national championships last year for NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III, NAIA and NJCAA repeated as champions in 2019. Their winning streaks range from two to 45!
038 ’59 MICHIGAN TEAM STILL “THE GREATEST OF ’EM ALL”
by Bruce Wigo
For overall strength as well as balance in all the strokes, distances and diving, no team in history has ever dominated the men’s NCAA Division I Swimming and Diving Championships like the 1959 University of Michigan Wolverines.
COACHING
010 LESSONS WITH THE LEGENDS: FRANK KEEFE
by Michael J. Stott
014 SWIMMING TECHNIQUE CONCEPTS: CONDITIONING TO OPTIMIZE TECHNIQUE (Part 2)
by Rod Havriluk
As explained in Part 1, there are three types of sets that are critical to emphasizing technique: skill sets, transition sets and test sets. Part 2 presents strategies to integrate these three sets into a conditioning program.
041 SPECIAL SETS: TRAINING FOR THE 200 FLY
by Michael J. Stott
Coach Sean Farrell’s recent success with distance flyers at the Cheshire YMCA/Sea Dog Swim Club in Connecticut results from having good athletes, a defined sense of how to train them and a philosophy focused on training the whole athlete.
043 Q&A WITH COACH DAN MASCOLO
by Michael J. Stott
044 HOW THEY TRAIN JULIA STEVENS
by Michael J. Stott
JUNIOR SWIMMER
046 UP & COMERS: MORGAN RAZEWSKI
by Taylor Brien
COLUMNS
008 A VOICE FOR THE SPORT
009 BEYOND THE YARDS
013 OFFICIAL WORD
040 DID YOU KNOW? ISHOF’S FIRST HONOREES: A “SPORTS SPECTACULAR”
047 GUTTER TALK
048 PARTING SHOT
Great article! #wisconsinproud