Ruth Beadle - (Author)

Motivational Monday: Establishing Your Voice as a Swimmer As much as swimming is a team sport, most races are only completed by one person. However, the training often organized by coaches applies to many teammates instead of one person. Even though this practice is effective and makes sense for hel...

What Type of Paddles Should I Get? A Look at a Variety of Choices If you have ever spent time on the pool deck, you probably have seen a rainbow of paddles hanging out of equipment bags. Paddles not only come in different colors, but also many different shapes. They are an excellent training tool fo...

Wellness Wednesday: The Importance of Adopting Better Sleep Habits Coaches tell swimmers all the time about things they can do inside and outside the pool to get better. One thing that we always hear is to “sleep more,” especially before important races. After rushing to turn in the last piece of ho...

5 Reasons Why 'Casual' Masters Swimming is Important Masters swimming is seen by many as a way to continue competing after high school and college. However, most Masters swimmers do not compete in meets. US Masters Swimming estimates that fewer than half of its members compete. Even though these swi...

6 Reasons Why You Should Become a Summer Swim Coach  The summer swim season is over in some parts of the country, or winding down in others. But another season will arrive next year and maybe becoming a summer swim coach is something you have thought about. Here are some reasons why being a summer s...

10 Activities to Help Pass the Time Between Events Whether racing in a dual meet at the high school level or taking part in an invitational, swimmers are often left with down time between events. Time between races can be hours spent on the pool deck. It can be an awkward period - not enough time to...

Age is Just a Number: Getting Older Doesn't Have to be a Negative Age is just a number in most everything but sports. Athletes, especially in swimming, are rarely found to compete into their late 30s or even 40s. However, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t swimmers who compete later in life at the ...

Chlorine Stinks, and Other Familiar Swimming Smells Chlorine is the first thing that most people think of with a pool. The smell of chlorine has plagued swimmers for generations, wafting from dry skin to signal our entry before we are physically in a room. However, there are several more scents that...

The Headgear Game: What Different Swim Caps Say About The Wearer Let’s be honest, most of us have vast collections of swim caps. Even though little is said on the caps, the cap you favor says a lot about you. Here are some common caps that swimmers love and what they say about the wearer. Flower Cap...

5 Things to Consider when Coming Back to the Pool It’s time for summer swim season! No matter the competition level, you might be returning to the pool after a break. Coming back to the sport after some time away can be exciting. However, we also forget some important things after coming back. Here ...

Real Talk: 5 Undeniable Aspects Of Being an Athlete Being an athlete comes with its own set of skills and hardships. Sports are not fun all the time, and there are sacrifices in sports. However, being an athlete also helps athletes work on skills that allow them to enjoy the rest of their life. Here...

5 Ways You Can Learn From Your Teammates Coaches are important people in every swimmer’s life. You learn a lot of things, like how to properly catch in freestyle, how to mentally approach a large set, and how angry a person can get when you get in the pool a minute late. However, you spend most of y...

What Makes Your Sports Story Important? Let Us Count the Ways You don’t have to be an athlete to love a good sports story. There are so many iconic movies, TV shows and books that tell true or fictional stories about teams and individuals trying to be successful within their sport. Every one of us w...

5 Helpful Lessons Learned From Team Travel Trips We are getting to the point in the season where many teams have traveled or are about to travel for competitions. Travel trips are exciting, especially when going to new places with teammates. They are also great for team bonding. However, travel trip...

When It All Falls Apart: An Ode to the Falling Piano The swim community has lots of colorful terms to describe our sport. One of my favorites is “a piano fell on their back.” If you have been around pool decks long enough, you will have heard this descriptor for races. The piano describes the dreade...

What do Medals Actually Represent? A Look At Their Meaning What do medals really mean? For Paralympians and Olympians, many of their goals are “To win a gold medal at the Olympic Games.” That is a little different from simply getting first in any competition. There is emphasis placed on if athletes....

4 Truths of Swimming Alone: A Major Change Even though swimming on teams is typical, sometimes there are periods within a swimmer's life where the athlete prefers to swim alone. Particularly for those who are used to having coaches and teammates around, the transition can be difficult. There are man...

Swimming Movies That Can Make You a Better Swimmer Movies are ways of finding stories that are outside our own. Even though all of these movies are swim movies, they offer different perspectives and attitudes that can make anyone a better swimmer. Even if none of these movies are technique or traini...

Festive Training Ideas For the Holiday Season; How About a White Elephant Set Winter training can present some of the toughest workouts of the year, with more time spent in the pool because of school breaks. However, that doesn’t mean practices can’t get creative with the season. Adding in dynamic w...

How Swim Practice Can Help with Final Exams As December ripens, winter training becomes more intense, and finals season begins. It can be hard during regular weeks to balance being a successful student and then a successful athlete. Finals is a different challenge. Trying to remain mentally and phys...