We are getting close to opening Camp Race Club. The coaches and swimmers and folks that have signed up are really excited about this. Here at The Race Club we continue our efforts to promote the sport of swimming. We support top level swimmers that are in a position to promote the sport and advance the sport through faster swimming. We provide what I feel is the optimum training environment. We look to bring out the best in our swimmers and the sport.
Thank you to all of you that have sent in emails. I do try to get back to everyone but there are so many and I have been so busy. But keep them coming, I love to hear from you.
Natalie Coughlin posted The Race Club’s most flattering comment on the US Swimming website when she mentioned that she would like to come down at some point to train. Thank you Natalie! Know that you are always welcome here for any amount of time. As a matter of fact, let me know when you would like to come down. Terri McKeever (Natalie’s coach) is welcome to come down as well.
Bart Kizierowski just won the 50 free at the Santa Clara Invitational with a 22.36. Second place was Roland Schoeman and fourth was Duje Draganja. Salim Iles won the 50 free at the Mediterranean Games with a 22.31. So these friends of The Race Club are looking strong for the World Championships. These are some fast times for this part of the season. I am sure that these swimmers will be coming down to Islamorada sometime in the near future. Call and let us know when you’re coming down, 1-877- SWIM-RACE.
Lobster season is fast approaching. Mini season, a couple of days at the end of July to whet the appetite of those lobster hungry, will be an appetizer before the feast that begins on August 6th (regular season that runs until March 31st). Come down to train your tails off and eat lobster three meals a day.
Diabetes
Last week I spoke before members of our Senate asking to allocate more funding to diabetes research, including stem cell research. The event was the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation’s 2005 Children’s Congress. www.jdrf.org. 150 children with diabetes from all fifty states and from countries around the world ascend Capitol Hill to encourage their representatives to get behind diabetes research. I think that the event went incredibly well. I know that stem cell research is an emotional subject for the many that believe that unused eggs donated to in vitro clinics are human life. Some would prefer that the cells that could end the suffering of those living with Diabetes, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and spinal cord injury (to name a few) be thrown away instead of going to researchers.
Our best researchers have their hands tied when it comes to this very promising area of research. Bush has already allowed research in this field. We only ask that our researchers be allow to explore this further with stem cell lines that are not contaminated with rat DNA, as the existing lines are.
This research offers hope to so many living and suffering with these diseases.
I would like to thank all the kids and their families for getting involved and making a difference. You did such an outstanding job and I’m really proud to have met all of you. Keep up the good work. We will find a cure for diabetes.
Another promising area of research is islet cell transplantation. This is where islet cells are taken from a donated pancreas and transplanted into a diabetic. The challenges here are that it is difficult to extract these cells and there is limited supply of islet cells, not nearly enough for the diabetic population. The immune system attacks these foreign cells immediately. The patient is forced to take harmful immunosuppressant drugs. Given the state of the diabetic patient and the advances of the complications these drugs offer a whole different set of challenges, swapping one problem for another. Researchers are trying to figure out how to encapsulate these cells, protecting them from the immune system’s antibodies. The Diabetes Research Institute is pioneering advances in this area of research. www.drinet.org
Stem cell research would provide an unlimited supply of insulin producing beta cells that the immune system would not attack.
It’s an exciting time with much progress being made.
Personal stuff
I really would like to write a book. There have been a few things that I should talk about. I would like to answer the many questions that the diabetes community sends in. The stories that inspire me. The work that I do within the diabetes community. The relay in Athens. Many folks have offered unfair criticism for the way things were portrayed in the media. For the most part I have bitten my tongue, something that I am not inclined to do often, regarding this issue. I would like to set the record straight regarding the series of events that took place. The formation of the Race Club. Winning and losing. Lessons learned.
Recently I took a stroll through the Masters Swimming website and there are some really nasty things being said about me. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Lord knows I buy into that.
People who are critical of my behavior, my wardrobe, the way I train or the way I promote the sport of swimming (at every level) are folks that I don’t know. The people who believe I don’t train have never seen me train. The people who believe I have an ego have never met me. There are some people in the sport that I know that will roll their eyes at some of the things I do but stop well short of criticizing them. Most of the people who know me don’t have anything bad to say; just the opposite really, and I would like to thank the many people that have been so supportive. I know that you can’t make everyone happy.
It hurts to know that some can be so critical of the way I choose to promote the sport of swimming. There aren’t a whole lot of swimmers out there that are spending their own money to promote the sport and support other swimmers, often their competitors. I do it because I love the sport and have the utmost respect for those I compete against. There is camaraderie.
Regardless of whether there is opposition we must push on, doing what we believe to be right. I believe that The Race Club is a good thing that is helping the sport. I believe that by creating more diabetes awareness and raising money for research I contribute in the search for a cure.
”To follow, without halt, one aim: There’s the secret of success.”
-Anna Pavlova
Also, check out www.imagineswimming.com
Lars Merseberg is a friend of mine that is doing a swim school in NYC, Imagine Swimming. I met him up in Berkeley, where he was on the swim team. He is expanding his program to Montauk this summer. I have plans to make it up there when the ocean warms a little to go for some Northeast surf. Check out his logo. Cool stuff.
Tsunami relief
There were a couple of emails sent about my comments regarding my friend Anthony Ervin selling his gold medal.
I believe that Anthony’s gesture was golden. As an Olympic gold medalist I believe that there are ways that he could have effectively raised that amount of money without selling his gold medal. I RE-state that my prayers are with those, so many, that have suffered through this tragedy. I do not believe that an Olympic gold medalist should sell their gold medal. Period. Not ”Anthony Erwin was mistaken in selling his gold medal -in order to help tsunami victims and their families.” There is a HUGE difference between these two statements.
The issue is that an Olympic medalist should not sell their medal. If you have earned an Olympic medal you might have some idea of what it represents. Earning a medal includes a person into an exclusive group. It isn’t something that a person should be able to buy their way into, at any cost, or for any reason. This is the point that I was making.
I apologize if stating that an Olympic medal should not be sold offends or disturbs anyone, it was not my intention. I do not take issue with his donating to tragedy, obviously.
Music
www.coatsie.com
www.deadbees.com
The Kills
Holly Golightly
Lost Straightjackets
Surf Guitar Villains
Chet Atkins
Brenda Lee
