Swimming Blogs - Christopher McCrary

Training is essential to the success of any kind of athlete.

But in this day and age, are you getting the most out of your training?

In my experience, that true answer for most swimmers is no. I was fortunate to have an exceptional coach on my club team in St. Louis, and my high school results reflect this. I was under the impression, as most of us usually are, that the shift to college will only lead me to work with even more innovative coaches. I was shocked at what I discovered. more »

In my previous article, I went after the myth that taller swimmers make better swimmers. I did so to demonstrate that effectively evaluating a swimmer’s potential involves a multifaceted assessment of their Physical and Mental characteristics. A true evaluation of a swimmer’s potential involves both proper assessment of their individual Physical and Mental facets and proper understanding of how these facets interact with each other to determine their greatness.

Again, I am not providing a “formula” for determining greatness. I simply want to describe my approach so that you can take it and expand on it for… more »

The New York Times recently published an article by Gina Kolata that discusses the “timeless” theory that a swimmers’ potential is linked with his height. The article goes so far as to say that tall athletes make better swimmers. Although the overall tone of the article also includes references that people perform better in sports they love, I’m afraid it will be taken completely out of context and reinforce the Tall-Man Myth in this sport.

I feel compelled to write about this simply because this misconception has permeated the sport of swimming for a long time. At… more »