A Nation's Capital Treasure: Coach John Flanagan's 50 Years of Excellence, EP 250

Speaker 1 0:01

Welcome to the award-winning Champions Mojo hosted by two world record-holding athletes. Be inspired as you listen to conversations with champions and now your hosts, kelly Palace and Maria Parker.

Speaker 2 0:16

Hello friends, welcome to the Champions Mojo podcast, the podcast where we talk about things that are interesting, inspirational and important to swimmers. I'm your host, Kelly Palace, and today is a special edition, as it's our 250th episode that marks five full years of publishing this weekly podcast. Maria is in Taiwan this week for cruise bike business, but she will join me at the end of this episode for our takeaways. We're celebrating this big milestone with a very special interview that's near and dear to my heart. Today's interview is with the renowned, legendary coach from the nation's capital swim team, John Flanagan.

Speaker 2 1:00

John has impacted thousands of swimmers over his 50-plus years as a coach of USA and master swimmers. He's coached multiple US national team members in both pool and open water. I personally swam for John in the DC area starting in the 1970s and I still make an almost annual pilgrimage back to swim with him. As a master swimmer, as John's first senior national and Olympic trials qualifier, and someone who has put in hundreds of thousands of yards and many years with John as my coach, I feel honored to be part of John's amazing legacy. John taught me so much more than how to be an elite swimmer. He taught me how getting through hard things in swimming would help me get through hard things in life.

Speaker 2 1:53

John Flanagan is one of the most honorable, dedicated and humble coaches in the sport of swimming. While he's coached greats like Michelle Griglione, Andrew Salisgar and Janet Hue, just to name a few, he's flown below the radar as a big-name coach. He's quietly, diligently and professionally shown up to coach his best every day. For 50 years he's trained and created hundreds, if not thousands, of champions in swimming and, most importantly, in life. I consider myself fortunate and so grateful to have swum for John Flanagan. Here is the on-deck interview that I had to pull the questions out of John because he's so humble. I hope you'll enjoy it. When did you very first start coaching?

Speaker 3 2:45

What year? 1971.

Speaker 2 2:47

1971. Okay, so what job was that?

Speaker 3 2:51

That was with the capital C-Devils, better known as the Stafford C-Devils.

Speaker 2 2:56

Was that Jane Stafford?

Speaker 3 2:58

Yes, that was. Was that a Haines Point? Okay, wait, john, now next question.

Speaker 2 3:02

Wait, I really want to know this answer, John.

Speaker 3 3:04

Yes.

Speaker 2 3:05

Is it true? You've never missed a practice on-deck due to sickness of your own?

Speaker 3 3:12

A practice? No, but I had a heart attack in 2013. I was in the ICU for two days and then went to senior championships at Oakmar.

Speaker 2 3:22

When you started coaching at Haines Point, was it masters or was it kids, or what was that first?

Speaker 3 3:29

It was masters.

Speaker 2 3:30

Okay, and how many people were in that group?

Speaker 3 3:33

Five.

Speaker 2 3:35

And then, what did it grow to?

Speaker 3 3:37

200 in 2008.

Speaker 2 3:39

Was that the peak of that big group? Yes, okay. And when you coach masters, what is your favorite set that you generally give to master swimmers, because this is a master swimming podcast.

Speaker 3 3:52

The sets are all different. No, they're not. I've been in there, I like to repeat some.

Speaker 2 3:57

But if you were, what do you think? The John Flanagan?

Speaker 3 4:00

go-to set is. I think the go-to set is somewhere in the 200 range.

Speaker 2 4:04

Oh, yeah, go like what.

Speaker 3 4:06

Lots of red.

Speaker 2 4:07

Lots of red, meaning you want to be in pain 2,500 set aerobic three. Okay, like 10, 200.

Speaker 3 4:16

That would be nice.

Speaker 2 4:17

Okay Now I remember growing up with you as my coach from age nine, that every day after our practice you did tons of butterfly 5,000 butterfly or some crazy number, tell I-.

Speaker 3 4:30

Myself.

Speaker 2 4:31

Yeah, yourself, you were in training and you always did a butterfly set after our set. What was that? 2050s 2050s were they all fly?

Speaker 3 4:41

Yes.

Speaker 2 4:41

Okay, and was that training for YMCA Nationals generally?

Speaker 3 4:47

Just in general. I like to do that set.

Speaker 2 4:50

When was the last time you were training yourself in the water? 1998., you don't swim at all anymore.

Speaker 3 4:57

No, I row.

Speaker 2 4:58

Oh, you row. Okay, what have you been doing with your?

Speaker 3 5:01

rowing, I go six miles at low end aerobic, white, aerobic one, and if it's in Clement weather I row on the erg at the same rate, and that's how I stay in shape.

Speaker 2 5:15

And you have taught so many of us swimmers this discipline, this ability to push through a lot of things and to keep going, and one of my favorite things I've ever heard you say is that swimming is life and life is swimming. Can you expand on that philosophy that you have?

Speaker 3 5:34

I just think it's a good way to stay healthy and keep discipline in your life, and I intend to get back to it fairly shortly. Awesome, and toying with that idea at 77. Maybe in the next year I'll start to get wet again. Jump out of the boat and get in the water.

Speaker 2 5:53

Wow, that would be so exciting. And, johnny, you've been in the Northern Virginia Potomac Valley swimming area, for what are we going on there?

Speaker 3 6:03

51.

Speaker 4 6:03

51 years.

Speaker 2 6:05

What's the biggest change you've seen in the master swimming community?

Speaker 3 6:10

I think the willingness to come every day, no matter what, more for a fitness than a competitive. With my group it's a lot of open water swimmers, a lot of triathletes, but people I think are just interested in a good workout and staying fit and the competitive aspects of it either the triathlon or the swimming in the pool or swimming open water is more secondary.

Speaker 2 6:39

So you've been really involved in open water, had a lot of success coaching open water and what kind of drew you to that event?

Speaker 3 6:48

I had a young man who was not fresh out of college but his name was James Keagley and he was heavily involved in the professional aspects of it and got me hooked on it and went to the world championships in 94 in Rome and 98 in Perths and really from then on just really got excited about it. I was at the open water nationals last weekend in Sarasota and had a good time See a lot of my old friends but really enjoy the open water aspects of swimming.

Speaker 2 7:23

So we have a lot of listeners to our podcasts that are triathletes they're new or maybe swimmers that want to transition from the pool to open water. What would be? Maybe two or three tips you would give someone venturing from the pool into open water for their first time.

Speaker 3 7:41

We're pretty lucky in this area to have a lot of open water swims available. We're in the Washington DC area. There are workouts in the Potomac at National Harbor run by Wave 1, which is Mr Dennis Crean, and I think that attracts a lot of people into the sports. And then he runs a couple of major events during the summer, all the way up to a 10K and a marathon down the Potomac which is open to anybody, 22 miles from Great Falls to Mount Vernon. So he's really created a really good atmosphere for people, beginner through expert, to do open water swimming. So we rely on him to run these meets and my youth athletes and my master swimmers gravitate towards them one in the middle of the summer, one in the fall and it really gets him hooked.

Speaker 2 8:39

That's for sure. All right, so over 51 years you've coached hundreds, if not thousands, of swimmers, and you always seem to remember all of us. How do you do that?

Speaker 3 8:54

Just a knack, just all comes back to me once I see somebody like Kelly. I remember it all, her best times.

Speaker 2 9:01

Is it the stroke that you recognize from people?

Speaker 3 9:04

Oh, your stroke never changes, that's for sure.

Speaker 2 9:07

Yeah, and is there anything that you would like all the people you've coached over the years to know that they're your gang, or be there, be square, or anything?

Speaker 3 9:19

you want to say to them. Well, it's just been an enjoyable journey and 51 years here in Potomac Valley coaching masters. Obviously I'm here coaching Kelly today and it's just been a wonderful trip. I mean to call this. My job is. I'm a lucky guy.

Speaker 2 9:39

Now we'll just get you in there.

Speaker 3 9:40

Yeah.

Speaker 2 9:41

All right, thanks, john. Takeaways, takeaways, takeaways. We've heard from you that your favorite section of our podcast is the takeaways. Thank you so much for that feedback. But before we get to the takeaways today, we wanted to ask you if you would please give us a five-star review. That way, more people will be able to find our podcast. Also, if you could subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher or Spotify, you'll never miss a podcast episode if you subscribe, and please share our podcast with your friends. And now the takeaways A rather short interview with a man that has a over 50-year career and certainly a man that I admire tremendously and has been my coach on and off for 50 years John Flanagan, known as Flanagan the man to many of his former. So an interesting interview, maria. What was your first takeaway?

Speaker 4 10:37

I first want to say that, even though I've never met the man, he's a myth in my own mind because I've heard about him my whole married life between you and Jim. So I was real excited to hear the interview and I guess my main takeaway from the interview and no surprises here is this is a guy who has leaned into discomfort his whole life and he described his 20 by 50 butterfly that he would do after coaching us in practice, just the hard things that he's done throughout his life. He didn't say anything in any self-adjusting way, but just that you can tell this is a man who's comfortable doing the hard thing, and that just inspired the heck out of me.

Speaker 2 11:15

Yes, the discomfort and the discipline to show up on the pool deck every day, never miss a practice for almost 50 years, unless he had a heart attack, which was why he missed practice that time. He walks the walk of hard things himself and discipline, and even though he's not swimming right now, he is rowing. He's extremely fit. He's been fit his whole life. I don't know how he had a heart attack, but he did because he's very fit, always has been. There's just so much we could talk about with John Flanagan, but we were only doing one takeaway.

Speaker 2 11:49

The takeaway is the humility that this coach, who's been out there for 50 years, has. You can barely get him to acknowledge all the accomplishments and accolades and what he has done in the sport. It's a little bit like pulling teeth. He didn't want to do the interview, he didn't want to talk about himself. He is the humility and the support of others. Now when you ask him, what can I do to become a better swimmer? He could talk all day long for you, but when you ask him about himself, he's humble.

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Speaker 4 12:24

He just won't do it. Yeah, exactly Surprising because he's been so successful and a lot of times people like that have a lot to say about themselves and what they've done, but not John Flanagan. Great interview.

Speaker 2 12:35

Yeah, not John Flanagan. All right, thanks, maria. Love you, love you, kelly, bye, bye.

Speaker 1 12:42

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