Georgia Swimming Podcast

On this episode, we speak with Kirsten Allen about returning to Georgia Swimming to speak with our athletes at the 2023 Wellness Summit. The Summit is on August 26th from 9:00am until 11:30am at Greater Atlanta Christian School. Ms. Allen is a sports Psychologist who provides us with great insight into performance and mental health. She was part of the first Wellness Summit last that helped our athletes gain new knowledge on how to handle the stress from home, school, and swimming. So, pull up your favorite starting block, sit back, relax, and enjoy this episode of the Georgia Swimming Podcast. If you would like to contact Kirsten Allen, you can email her at [email protected] To register for the Athlete Wellness Summit, please visit the Georgia Swimming website click here If you would like to be interviewed or have a suggestion for a podcast episode, please email me at [email protected]. Thank you for listening to today's podcast and we here at Georgia Swimming hope that you have a amazing weekend and upcoming week. Until next time, keep your head down and tighten up that streamline.

In today's episode, our Social Media Director, Veronica Burchill, says her farewell from the podcast and the Georgia LSC.  At the end of this month, she will be moving on to pursue her wedding photography business, and we thank her for all of her hard work with the podcast and dedication to sharing the stories of those making positive influences in the sport of swimming and our LSC. As she mentions, the Thank You Thursday concept was created by Veronica back when she was an intern in 2019, and she's so proud of the way it's been able to evolve over the years.  We wish Veronica all the best moving forward! This podcast episode was written and produced by Veronica Burchill.

Happy New Year! We hope you've had a wonderful start to your new year. As we celebrate and reflect on 2022, we wanted to replay one of our most listened to podcast episodes: Leland Brown III Leland has some incredible insight about DEI and what it means both in and out of the pool. We can truly all learn from his incredible story and perspective. 

This week on Thank You Thursday, we sit down with our current general chair, Steve Potter. He tells us all about his journey through being a swimmer, to being a coach, then official, and getting involved in governance over the years. Steve has served as our general chair for the Georgia LSC for the last six years, and we ask him all about what he is most proud of, and where he sees Georgia Swimming going in the future. To get in contact with Steve, you may email him at [email protected]. Thank You Thursday is written and produced by Veronica Burchill, the Social Media Director of the Georgia Swimming LSC. 

This week's episode is a highlight of our Business Manager for the Georgia LSC, John Pepper. He tells us all about his many roles within the LSC and his past swimming and coaching experience. His expertise in the sport, along with his passion for positively impacting others, helps him succeed in this role.  We appreciate John for all of his hard work and are so grateful he's on our team. To get in contact with John, please feel free to email him at: [email protected]. For any information about the podcast or inquire about an interview, please reach out to Veronica Burchill at [email protected]. This podcast is produced and written by Veronica Burchill, the Social Media Director for the Georgia Swimming LSC. 

This week's episode includes a chat with GOLD's Kelsey Jackson. She started swimming for a club team a bit later than most swimmers do, and she has had some great success in a short time. Her story allows us to see that everyone is capable of achieving their goals, no matter when they jump in the pool. 

This week's episode is with Emma Tannehill, a 13-year old swimmer that tells us her perspective on coming back from an injury. 

Today's episode features a very raw and real interview with 2021 Paralympian, Mei White about her journey with mental health, to then making the paralympic team. She is such an inspiration for all. 

In this episode of our Thank You Thursday, we sit down with USA Swimming's DEI Program Coordinator, Leland Brown III. He shares his insights and experience that led him to become an advocate and leader for change within society with his many roles. DEI is such an important topic of discussion, and he urges all of us to take a moment to evaluate what we are doing to encourage that change. This conversation is so educational to everyone, not just the swimming community. 

SEASON 1 RECAP. We are back with season 2 of Thank You Thursday, but before our first interview, we chat about season 1 and all the highlights. 

This week, we have our final episode in our athlete interview series with our Junior At-Large Athlete Rep, Gracie Byerly. She will continue working with us through her senior year and she encourages all rising juniors to apply for this year's jr athlete rep position. Applications are out now and due by July 15.

This week we chat with Hanna Burke, our Senior Athlete At-Large rep that will soon be headed off to the University of Indianapolis.

This week, we interview Rachel Todebush, our current Junior Athlete Rep for the Georgia LSC (soon to be Senior Athlete Rep). She tells us all about her first year in this position and all the incredible events and initiatives that she and her fellow athlete reps were able to accomplish. We appreciate Rachel so much and we look forward to another year of working with her. 

This week, we interview Elizabeth Isakson, our current Senior Athlete Rep for the Georgia LSC. She just graduated high school and is headed to the University of Georgia to swim as a Bulldog, but first, she shares her experiences and insight into being an athlete rep over the past 2 years. Thank you, Elizabeth, for all your hard work and dedication. 

In this episode, we sit down with Ed Saltzman, our Georgia LSC Officials Chair to chat about his journey with becoming an official, to working with Pete Junkins and sharing his legacy, and finally why Ed loves what he does. Interviewed by @vkburchill for @ga_swimming. To learn more about being featured on a future episode, please reach out to our social media director, Veronica Burchill at [email protected].

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed herein are for conversion purposes, and solely reflect the personal views and opinions of the individual participants and hosts. The views and opinions expressed do not necessarily constitute or reflect any official policy or position of the organizations or associations the participants or hosts may represent, or the Georgia Swimming LSC. No content provided is intended to malign the LSC or any other club, organization, community, entity, or individual whatsoever. Another Georgia swimming legend joins us on the podcast today, Mary Ellen Warta. Mary Ellen swam in the state of Georgia as an age group swimmer and went on to swim for Stanford during her college years. During her time as a swimmer, she broke many Georgia LSC records, along with American records, and almost made the Olympic team multiple times. She has an incredible story and insight into transitioning from a college athlete to the "real world" of work as an adult.  If you or anyone you know is interested in coming on the podcast, please send an email to [email protected]. 

Today's episode features our Georgia LSC Open Water Chair, Kevin Sullivan. From his own swimming career, to now coaching and being an advocate for open water swimming, he truly has such a unique story and perspective.  Interviewed by @vkburchill for @ga_swimming.

In this episode, we sit down with our Disability Swimming Committee Chair, Glenda Orth. Glenda has had an incredible career officiating Paralympic Games, along with being an advocate for the disability swimming community. We are so grateful to have her share a bit about her life and why she is so passionate about disability and para swimming.  Interviewed by @vkburchill for @ga_swimming

In our new mini series highlighting disability and para swimming, we speak to athletes, parents, coaches, and other swimming members that have vast knowledge about disability and para swimming. In this episode, we interview Brook Kubik, our Georgia LSC Operational Risk Chair and parent of a disability athlete. She tells us all about her experience from a parents' perspective, along with how the process to get your child with a disability recognized and registered for Georgia swimming.  To get in contact with Brook, please email her at [email protected]  Connect with us on socials! Instagram: @ga_swimming Interview by: @vkburchill

Today we interview Leah Gingrich, a professional swimmer out of the Georgia LSC. She tells us all about her swimming story from swimming at the University of Texas, to retiring for 6 years after 2012, to swimming professionally and finding a new love for the sport.  Instagram: @leahgingrich Interviewed by @vkburchill of @ga_swimming 

This week's interview is with Tommie Jackson, our DEI Committee Chair, and incredible coach within the Georgia LSC. 

Today's episode is a Throwback Thursday episode with one of our former Georgia LSC coaches, Jim Young. Jim retired this past summer after many years of coaching in our LSC and dedicating his life to swimming. We are so honored to have sat down with him at the end of his career and hope that he is enjoying retirement!

In today's episode, we chat with Meredith Green, our Georgia LSC Vice Coaches Chair about all things swimming from her own career at the University of Florida, to now being a coach in Georgia. We also discuss her role as the Vice Coaches Chair and how she's enjoyed getting more involved with Georgia Swimming over the years.  @ga_swimming

This episode features Kai Smith and Nancy Harmon to discuss our very first Georgia Swimming Diversity Invitational on February 19, 2022. This meet is a celebration of our diversity, as well as recognizing the importance of coming together as a community for change.  Our LSC will be collecting donations to go towards our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Committee's initiatives for the future. We discuss all the projects that the DEI committee will be planning to do this year and beyond in this episode. We also discuss the importance of swimming as a life-saving skill for all. We at the Georgia LSC believe that everyone should learn to swim, no matter your age, race, ethnicity, ability, gender, etc.  To get involved in this event or donate, here are the links: Volunteer link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1bYH7HpyI4_OG7bAU1bdNzzOdqqQgAU4I_8Gr8z1-AQU/edit Unattached swimmer link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1HJMnDn96eQ-ccDT5AaBZo17rUjJWB1ikipxvVtUQJy0/viewform?edit_requested=true Donations link: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=6VE3WU88EYDG4

This episode is all about SafeSport within USA Swimming with our SafeSport chair for the Georgia LSC, Michael O'Shaughnessy. We have a great discussion about all the steps towards becoming a SafeSport recognized club team, reporting incidents, and more. 

Today's episode features an interview with 14-year old Baylor Stanton of Gwinett Aquatics in Georgia. 

In this episode, we sit down with our Business Manager, John Pepper, along with three of our Georgia LSC athlete reps to discuss the 2020-2021 season. 

Today we play a throwback episode from our YouTube channel. Lucas Curroto Ferreira is the head coach of Gwinnett Aquatics in Georgia.

This week’s episode is a throwback Thursday. Today we play one of our very first interviews we ever recorded… please enjoy today’s chat with Harvey Humphries of the Athens Bulldogs Swim Club and the University of Georgia. 

In our very first episode of the Thank You Thursday podcast, we sit down with Karl Krug, the head coach of Spartan Aquatic Club.