Badger welcomes Doug Towne as the Swim Club GM

Badger is pleased to announce the appointment of Douglas Towne to fulfill the role of General Manager of the Badger Swim Club.

A longtime Badger, dating pre 1980, Doug has a singular understanding of Badger’s traditions, and its present goals.

He will be overseeing all aspects of Badger’s swim programs.

Doug’s mandate is to identify ways to “make Badger better”.

Besides his experiences as a Badger swimmer and parent, Doug has been an integral part of Swim Across America, the NYAC’s swim team and is a coaching member of USA Swimming.

Badger welcomes Yousun Nam to the Badger Swim Team

Badger Swim Club is pleased to welcome Yousun Nam to the Badger Swim Team for the Spring season.

Yousun joins us from Seoul, South Korea. Yousun is the first Korean ever to make it to finals at the Olympics where she finished 7th overall in the IM 400 back in 2004 in Athens, which was only 4 years before Park Tae-hwan became South Korea’s first Olympic champion in Beijing. Yousun is the only Korean swimmer, other than Park, to have made it to 4 Olympics (2000, 2004, 2008, 2016).

With uncertainty about how much time she has left of her career as a swimmer, Yousun wanted to make sure to try everything she could within the time given, and the first on her bucket list was to train in the United States.

Yousun said that she didn’t know much about Badger, but had heard about Coach John Collins in swimming books, articles and knew of his success as a US National Swim team coach. She trusted him because of all this and was welcomed by Badger with open arms.

I am very honored to part fo the Badger family and am having the best time of my life as a swimmer, so far! -Yousun Nam

When asked about the difference in her training experience at home and here in the US with Badger, Yousun said, “When I look back on how I trained back at home, in Seoul, I think I let myself hold back, letting my age become an excuse. I used to train only 5~6 sessions a week, about 90 minutes tops per session. I would swim 5000~6000m per session, which isn’t that much, but the intensity was quite high. I made sure I swam at least 20% of the program at full race pace everyday.”

Youson says that “Coach John has encourage and motivated me that I can be better than I ever was before, and I believe him! It feels like the first time I fell in love with the sport, and I want to make the most out of this opportunity in every way possible.”

The entire Badger community welcomes Youson and is happy she will be with us for the next several months.

Akira Lomvardas – Break Metro 12/U Boys 200 Fly Record

Fast swimming continues to come from the Junior Team at Badger, with a New Metro Record.

Akira Lomvardas, set out to break the 12/u Boys 200 Fly record of 2:04.78 held by Tavis Siebert and he touched the wall this past Sunday with a time of 2:04.09. Congratulations to Akira, keep up the great work.

Great things coming from Akira and his fellow Age Groupers at Badger.

Dr. Tobie Smith appointed to USADA Board

Congratulations to Badger alum, World Champion and Badger Swim Club Board member, Dr. Tobie Smith on being appointed to the USADA Board of Directors.

As reported by Michael Lawrence, IRC Chair and Jim Sheehan, Board Chair:

World Champion and former US National Team member Dr. Tobie Smith has been named to the USADA Board of Directors. Tobie’s nomination was carried forward by Ron Vanpool through the USOC NGB Council process, replacing Don Gambril who has served the maximum number of terms permitted.

Dr. Smith graduated (and swam) at the University of Texas followed by medical school at Stony Brook University School of Medicine. She received her Masters in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University and practices family medicine and is currently Medical Director for Health Care for the Homeless in Baltimore, MD.

She has been a World Champion (25k, 1998), National Champion (1500, 400), NCAA Champion (1650, 1994) and carries the distinction of completing a solo crossing of the English Channel. In addition to her professional and athletic achievements Tobie has previously served USA Swimming as a member of the FINA Task Force investigating athlete safety following the death of Fran Crippen.

Ron Van Pool will have a more complete report at our upcoming meeting. Congratulations to Dr. Tobie Smith and thank you to Ron Van Pool for successfully shepherding this nomination through the USADA process.

Coach John Collins honored at Lehman Leadership Awards Dinner.

This annual fundraiser honors distinguished Lehman College alumni, friends, and leaders in the greater community. Coach John Collins gave a powerful speech at the ceremony that focused on hard work and discipline as core components needed to achieve high levels of success. He then reflected on some of the hard working swimmers whom he has trained who have achieved the highest level of swimming success and become Olympians. In this speech he said “It all starts at Lehman.”

The Badger Swim team has been training in the Lehman APEX Pool since 1995. Countless Badger National champs have trained here along with Olympians Christina Teuscher, Jenny Thompson, Rick Carey, Lea Loveless Maurer, and most recently Cody Miller.

See pictures and Read More on the Lehman website!

Badger T-Shirts

Check it out- NEW Badger T-shirts for 2017!

Limited Edition Shirts exclusively online

Over the years Badger has produced more tees than we can count! Some of the more memorable shirts were the original “Speed by Badger” and of course the bright yellow “Bring it Pansies” Tee. (who could forget that one?!) The classic logo tees – a requirement of any Badger fan’s wardrobe!

It’s time for new tees! So in 2017 we are introducing new, custom designed T-shirts and offering them exclusively online, in very limited editions.

How it works

It’s a two step process- The pre-order and the order.

  1. Pre-order form. We need to reach a minimum quantity to process an order, per shirt. Once that minimum is reached, you will receive an email with a link to the order form.
  2. Order form: Once we have reached the minimum, we’ll send you a link to pay for your shirt and your order will then be complete. The shirts will then be produced and delivered to you!

Cost

Shirts are $25 – includes FREE shipping.

No extras will be ordered-only those who ordered will receive the shirt. We are not stocking shirts.

About the Shirts

These shirts are made of a poly/cotton/rayon blend to make them tissue soft. These shirts run small so we recommend ordering a size up and taking care when washing them to avoid shrinkage.

Most colors are “heathered” to provide a slightly vintaged look, not visible in the Mock images below.

Shirts are being offered in Mens and Womens styles. Select Men or Women on the pre-order form to see the styles.

Questions?

Contact Brett Collins for any questions about T-Shirt orders.

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Pre-order today!

Congratulations to Coach Ed Collins!

Congratulations to Coach John Collin’s first cousin and first assistant Badger coach, Eddie Collins, on celebrating 50 years of coaching swimming!

Coach Ed celebrated this special occasion with his current swim club in Cape Coral, Florida where they honored him by officially naming the pool on the Cape High campus The Ed Collins Aquatic Center– an incredible honor!

The Collins’ are deep rooted in the world of swim coaching and it all started with John’s father, Jack.  Jack, the first of a long line of Collins’ who would become coaches, was a major influence on his son, John, and nephews, Ed and Tim Collins, who all followed in his footsteps to become swim coaches at one time in their life, or another. Today, Eddie and John remain active, successful swim coaches, while the next generation of coaching continues with Wyatt Collins, who is currently the assistant coach at University of Texas.

Read more about Coach Ed Collins!