Swimming Blogs - Garrett McCaffrey

8 days, 9 World Records, 21 American Records, 43 Olympians, 136 flocasts, 2 floswimming guys. If I took one thing away from last week it was pride. I am so proud to be a swimmer.

Michael Phelps, a swimmer, is the most dominant athlete in the world. Wanna argue? Tiger Woods loses. Enough said.

Swimmers are the toughest athletes in the world. Ryan Lochte's 200 Back, 200 IM double with just 16 minutes in between is only comprehendible to swimmers like Katie Hoff who managed to set American Records in both the 200 Free and 200 IM in the same night.

How about sheer guts? In that final of the Women's 200 IM, Ariana Kukors went right after the 2 biggest names in American women's swimming and was leading the race going into the last 50. Haley McGregory went out over half a second under world record pace in the final of the 200 back, knowing it was her last shot at the Olympic rings.

Swimming produces great people. Need proof? Look at the way both Brendan Hansen and Erik Vendt handled themselves after the biggest upsets of the entire week. Or just listen to the intelligence, articulation, and insight of Garrett Weber-Gale, the new face of American sprinting.

Swimming has flare. Who wouldn't want to hang out with someone as funny and real as Amanda Beard? Almost all the great athletes in the world are confident, and I don't think we see that enough. Even when they wear it in different ways like Aaron Peirsol and Larsen Jensen, I love when we get a glimpse at one of the characteristics that make them great athletes.

Last week, swimming was big time. The venue, the exposure, and especially the performances made our sport's return to the main stage a huge success. Being able to watch all of it first hand was one of the greatest experiences of my life. But now the countdown begins. We only have the main stage for about 2 months... unless we take advantage of it starting now.

Before this site started 8 months ago, how many of you had seen more than 15 second sound bites from swimmers? How many of you had seen practices from teams all over the country? How many of you had seen videos of your prelim and finals races? Where was swimming exposure 8 months ago? Even though floswimming couldn't show any of the races from Olympic Trials I took a little pride in the fact that every race, including prelims, was available online. All of these amazing performances lose value without the exposure.

We need a bigger more passionate fan base, and it has to start with the heart and soul of the sport: Coaches and swimmers. Olympic Trials is the fastest meet in the world, but there are hundreds of swim meets every year that are as exciting. We have to start demanding attention for those meets. Floswimming can show them all.

That's what has happened in the last 8 months. Swimming fans have started to ask, "Where's the race video?" We have raised the bar so now you can watch the Grand Prix meets. Because we showed the demand for race video other media outlets have had to step up and show NCAAs live. But we can't stop there. Some of the most exciting meets are high school and college duel meets. We need to capture that excitement to create the attention our sport needs. That's where the heart and soul come in. We need swimmers, coaches, and swimming families to get the ball rolling.

You know best. If there are big things happening in your local swimming community let us know. If you can help us get to the meet, we can cover it. If that's not in the budget or I'm already covering a meet that week, all you need is a camera and someone willing to put in the work. Floswimming is a platform that you can use to showcase your team, yourself, and your sport. There is not a better way to promote your local swimmers, and events than put them up where the world can see.

Our sport has the numbers. From summer league to high school, from college to pro we reach a lot of people. We have to turn those numbers into a bigger fan base. The best way to make people really connect with the sport is to give them recognition for participating in it. Floswimming gives the high school swimmer recognition in the same way it gives the pro swimmer recognition.

The 2008 Olympic Trials grabbed a lot of attention. I don't want to wait 4 more years to get that kind of buzz going around another swim meet. We need a bigger fan base, and it starts with the core.

The best way to make fans is to make people feel like they're part of the sport. The best way to make people feel like they're a part of the sport is to give them recognition. The best kind of recognition is showing them on the same platform as their heros. Are you starting to see where this is going?