For three episodes we built the problem and found who could fix it. Now the real question: how does “everyone does a little” actually work? In episode four of The Long Course, Mark gets concrete — and a little fired up. The wisdom that could fix this sport already exists, scattered in every pool in the state: the right thing to say after a bad swim, the idea that made a meet fun, the recognition that landed. The catch is it’s trapped, because we’ve never asked anyone to look up from their own team and share it. This is the case for taking one small step — changing the routine by a hair — and a look at the home being built for the other side of the sport, so the little bit you do finally adds up with everyone else’s. Give a little, take a little. Keep your heads up.

If swimming has drifted, who's supposed to fix it? Not the governing bodies — they make rules, not culture. Not the families — their focus is their own kid, rightly so. In episode three of The Long Course, Mark lands on the group that's actually left: the people whose stake is the long-term health of the sport. The milers, not the sprinters. Then the hard part — why they haven't, and the one path that might actually work. Keep your heads up.

If you only saw the promo for episode one, you probably think this series is about parents ruining swimming. It isn't. In episode two of The Long Course, Mark goes looking for who's to blame for the sport's drift — and finds there's no villain at all. Parents still love their kids. Coaches still care. Programs still want to thrive. What changed is the technology we use to share the sport: it made results instant, constant, and easy, while the deeper stuff — growth, belonging, the daily experience — got left behind. The result is an always-on leaderboard that quietly became the only measure of success. Nobody chose it. And that's exactly what makes it so hard to fix. Keep your heads up.

The Long Course - Episode 1 : Heads Up

No coach will ever tell a swimmer to lift their head up — head down is how you go fast. In the first episode of The Long Course, Mark does the opposite: he asks you to look up at the sport and tell him if it's the best we can do. After a full swimming career and a twenty-year break, he came back as a parent and a coach — and barely recognized what he found on the pool deck. This is what he saw, and why he thinks the sport has quietly drifted. Keep your heads up.

It's always refreshing to hear about a school or a community adding a pool, but it's not easy and it's not a short term investment of time. Wayzata Boys Head Coach David Plummer shares the work that went into getting it from an idea and hope to an approved facility

MSV continues to grow and evolve to best support the athletes in the state. Former Gopher Josh Johnston is jumping on board to help build out a set of tools and resources to help our athletes along the that journey. Josh gives us a look at what we can expect.

Grace Benin, the coach of Hopkins girls and Maple Grove boys join the Vibecast to share some insights on her first couple of seasons coaching. what she's learned along the way, how she leverages her swimming experience to be a more effective coach, and what advice she has for those youngsters considering making the jump into coaching

Another up and coming coach in the high school ranks. Mitchell Reynold of CDH join to talk about the program building he's been investing in and all the things he's learned along the way....not to mention the nod to the fact the good coaches never stop learning