Camaraderie Of Open Water Teammates

We are always touched by the camaraderie shown by open water swimmers.

In this photo by Dr. Jim Miller of the action at the feeding station during the women's 25 km world championship race, 10 km bronze medalist Fran Crippen is shown holding a feeding stick to provide hydration to teammate Eva Fabian.

Towards the right, head coach Catherine Vogt is seen getting prepared to drop the feeding stick to the water's edge for Emily Hanson.

Because open water swimmers know well what they all go through, during practice and during races, the bonds that they forge are deep, emotional and long-lasting.

FINA official Rick Walker tells us of the time he was on a feeding station at a previous world championship and a swimmer from Guyana swam by the feeding station without hydration. The next time the swimmer passed, Walker extended his feeding stick to the swimmer who smiled broadly, drank quickly and waved in appreciation. By the time, the swimmer had passed a third time, the swimmer had offers of hydration from most of the coaches on the feeding station. It was not about competition at that point, it was about the camaraderie of open water swimmers.

Copyright © 2009 by World Open Water Swimming Association

Follow America's Swimmers Live Online and on Your Phone

Catherine Vogt, former coach of 2005 world 10K champion Chip Peterson and current assistant coach of USC, was announced as the head coach for the USA Swimming national open water team at the 2009 FINA World Swimming Championships in Rome in July.

World Swimming Championships will be televised on NBC for American audiences, although nothing has been yet announced regarding broadcast of the 5K, 10K or 25K open water events.

After the Beijing Olympics, Dick Ebersol, chairman of NBC Universal Sports & Olympics, said, "The whole world watched as Michael Phelps took his sport to a new level and introduced a generation of fans to swimming through his extraordinary achievements. His accomplishments transcend sports and are, in fact, a cultural phenomenon. We're greatly looking forward to following the next chapter in his career."

While the swimming community will be tuning into NBC to see how Michael will perform after his tremendous 8-gold-medal performance in Beijing, we will be covering the 5K, 10K and 25K races live via Twitter (under SwimOpenWater), providing a real-time minute-by-minute online and mobile updates on all the men's and women's open water races at the World Swimming Championships.

Copyright © 2009 by Open Water Source

USA Swimming Open Water Video

Under the leadership of Dave Thomas of USA Swimming, all 2,800 swim clubs registered with USA Swimming will receive a nice open water swimming Christmas present. Thomas has arranged for the teams to receive a USA Swimming Open Water Swimming DVD that covers all aspects of competitive open water swimming.

The video, currently in post-production, was shot at the USA Swimming National Open Water Select Camp in Ft. Myers, Florida. It was a collaboration by national team coaches Rick Walker of Southern Illinois University, Catherine Vogt of USC and Steven Munatones. Dean Ekeren, USA Swimming National Events Director and Gregg Cross, inspirational race director of numerous national championships in Ft. Myers, also assisted in the production of the video.

The educational video covers in-pool training for open water swimming, open water swimming drills and skills, drafting, feeding, starts, finishes, buoy turns, setting up an open water race and safety.

Photo shows the top female open water swimmers at the 2007 USA Swimming National Open Water Swimming Championships, all of whom have participated in the USA Swimming National Open Water Select Camps where the best pool distance swimmers are given an opportunity to receive a comprehensive and intense introduction to open water swimming.

Glen S. Hummer Award Winners

USA Swimming has awarded the Glen S. Hummer Award since 1978. The Award was named for an Olympian and coach and is presented to the person or group making the greatest contribution to open water swimming.

Award winners represents Hummer's attitude toward life and his dedication to the sport of open water swimming.

1978: Glen S. Hummer and and Cliff Brown
1979: Don Watson and Betty Talbot
1980: La Jolla Town Counsel and Swim Swim Magazine
1981: Neal and Sue Shepard
1982: Huntington Indiana YMCA Booster Club
1983: Buck Dawson
1984: Luke (Mac) Tesky
1985: Penny Lee Dean
1986: Dale Petranech
1987: Keith Barnes
1988: Dotty York
1989: George Haines
1990: Jimi Flowers
1991: Wilton YMCA Wahoos
1992: Rick Walker
1993: James Whelan
1994: Jennifer Parks and Gail Dummer
1995: International Swimming Hall of Fame
1996: Sid Cassidy
1997: Bob Duenkel
1998: Dianne Limerick
1999: Dave Thomas
2000: Brian Schrader
2001: George Bare and Jacque Grossman
2002: Denny Ryther
2003: Dr. Jim Miller
2004: Julie Bare
2005: Rick Walker, Steven Munatones, Denny Ryther, Mike Shrader, Catherine Vogt, Jeremy Vail and Dr. Jim Miller (2005 USA Swimming Open Water World Championship Team Staff)
2006: Gregg Cross
2007: Steven Munatones
2008: Bill Rose

Photo of Hummer from the Hummeralums blog.

Past, Present and Future of USA Open Water

At the annual USA Swimming and US Masters Swimming conventions in Atlanta this week, important meetings on the future of open water swimming were held.

The USA Swimming open water meetings were chaired by USA Swimming General Manager and Olympic Swim Team coach Mark Schubert. Others in attendance included Dale Neuburger, Vice President of FINA and president of the United States Aquatic Sports Federation, Jim Wood, president of USA Swimming, Olympic open water swimming coaches Bill Rose and John Dussliere, Paul Asmuth, the dominant pro marathon swimmer in the 1980's, Sid Cassidy, chairman of the FINA Technical Open Water Swimming Committee, John Leonard, Executive Director of the American Swimming Coaches Association, Mike Unger, Assistant Executive Director of USA Swimming, Catherine Vogt, newly appointed USC swim coach and ex-coach of world 10K champion Chip Peterson, Dale Petranech, chairman of the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame, Greg Eggert, USA Swimming Ambassador, professional marathon swimmer Erica Rose, Michael Lawrence, member of the USA Swimming Board of Directors, John Kinney, a registered FINA open water swimming official, numerous USA Swimming staff including Dave Thomas and Russell Mark, Steven Munatones, creator of 10K Swim and numerous interested open water swimming coaches, managers, officials and administrators were in attendance.

The open water and long distance swimming meetings at US Masters Swimming were chaired by Marcia Cleveland.

Note: The USA Swimming and US Masters Swimming conventions are part of the annual USA Aquatic Sports convention. USA Aquatic Sports represents USA Swimming, US Masters Swimming, USA Diving, USA Water Polo and USA Synchronized Swimming to FINA.

Photo of Lac St-Jean professional marathon swim by Dr. Jim Miller, past president of US Masters Swimming and USA Swimming National Open Water Team physician.