Meggy McVey - California, USA
Everyone should know how to swim. It’s a life skill and so good for both mental and physical health.
I swim for my sanity. I swim for my happiness.
“As I reflect on life now, I realize how much swimming truly contributes to who I am. My passion is to teach and coach swimming. Many of my best moments are when I am in this space. It's one of the only times I am truly present.”
A water baby from day one
“I was born to be in the water. My mom tells the story of her swimming two miles the day I was born. Being the firstborn in my family it was my mom who initially taught me how to swim.
“The aquatic lifestyle my mom enjoyed so much was to become a significant part of my life. She was a triathlete in her younger years, as well as a swim teacher. She worked alongside one of the pioneers of Ironman racing in the 1980’s, Scott Tinley, when he was just starting out as a professional triathlete. Mom has always encouraged me to swim. The same for my younger sister who also swims, and previously coached and taught swimming. All three of us caught the swim teaching bug.”
Summer league to year round
“My summer swimming was based at the Lakewood Country club, only a five minute trip from home. We would practice at 8am in the morning for an hour, and then my group of best friends would stay at the pool for the remainder of the day. We would have such fun times, often creating trouble for the coaches. But they, and we, loved it.
“I still have a clear memory, when five years old, of my first swim coach, Caitlin Stephenson. Caitlin coached the summer swim league, then only aged 15 herself, yet her enthusiasm and care of her swimmers was always evident. I clearly remember Caitlin teaching me breaststroke and the underwater breaststroke pull-out skill. She was always in attendance at our swim meets, watching every single one of our races, screaming bloody murder the entire time. I loved it.
“As well as my swim coach, Caitlin became my babysitter, and close friend. We are still close to this day. Someone I consider as my non-blood sister.
“A year later I joined the year- round swim league, swimming 3-4 days per week plus a swim meet at the weekend.
“My parents drove a Euro Van, fully equipped with a table and backward seat, ideal for the swimming family. We would pack our dinner and eat it in the van before swim practice. I can still recall my mom's specialty, macaroni with carrot and broccoli, followed by dessert. Delicious!”
Learning to respect the ocean
“On a California family vacation when aged 11 I joined the Junior Lifeguard program. We were taught ocean safety, how to read tides, ocean swimming and more. Still today, open water ocean swimming inspires me, and would love to do more of it in the future, but there are too many sharks in California for my taste. I will explore other waters, shark-free, to fuel my ocean swimming needs going forward.”
SMU summer camp influence
“I fondly remember attending swim camps at the Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas for two summers when I was 12 years old, staying in dorm rooms with other swimmers from across the US.
“I recall we would swim multiple times each day and eat awesome food at night. I remember thinking it was so cool, being at camp with all these other kids on my own without my parents. I felt free, yet part of a team.
“It is these memories of the SMU summer camps which inspire me to one day organise my own swim camps, allowing others to share great experiences just as I did.”
Swimming gave me great times in my younger years
“I loved competing in the swim meets when I was young. The mornings in the pool are my fondest memories. The adrenaline and being with your teammates and having the coach cheer you on were exciting times. These were good, happy times, and the friends I made then are still friends to this day. In some way I now miss those days.
“Aged 15 I started coaching and teaching swimming, summer only, at Lakewood Country Club, the same pool I used to swim at 10 years previously. I stuck with this role until aged 19 and to this day has probably been one of my favourite jobs.
“Aged 17 I stopped my personal swim training, feeling burnt out and in some way rebelling as teenagers do at some point.
“When I was living in Colorado for college, I secured an awesome job at the local community pool as the swim team coordinator being in charge of the scheduling for the team practises, lessons and swim meets.
“This role returned me to the world of ‘swimming’, providing opportunity for me to swim once again. This I embraced, swimming with the Colorado State University Swim Club for a year before I decided to leave college and travel.
“I eventually planted my feet in Kauai where I stayed for two years. I quickly became involved in the open water swimming scene at Anini beach. The beauty of swimming with the amazing clear water, spotting numerous sea life, turtles and colorful fish, was beauty at its best.”
Giving back by becoming a swim teacher
“For me, the water sparks joy, so right now, I am in the process of building my business ‘Swim with Meggy’. I am deeply passionate about helping others learn to swim and find their love of and for swimming.
“After my early days of teaching, at the Lakewood Country club, I stepped in and out of teaching others. But in 2019 I stepped back into teaching with a vision to build myself a swim teaching business. I gradually developed a reputation in the local area of providing quality coaching, with my clientele base continuing to grow giving me the confidence to launch ‘Swim with Meggy’ in 2020.
“Swim with Meggy offers private swim tuition and group lessons of 3 learners for the more advanced swimmers. I operate out of the pupil’s family home pool (I travel a bit) or in the local community pools when it is possible.
“My approach is to customize my teaching to ensure each learner is initially feeling safe and comfortable in the water. It is only then will I introduce new skills, techniques and challenges. I offer two main programs. One being focused on water safety and basic learning to swim. The other is a ‘stroke technique’ focus program with attention paid on all of the four competitive strokes. From here swimmers can move to swim teams, or lifeguard programs.
“I mostly teach young children, aged from infants to 10-year-olds, although I include adults on occasions where I have opportunity. As of now, I am currently working with a more senior learner which is a terrific experience for me. Meggy with pupil George below
“My program has continually grown to the point of now being at capacity, which is so exciting. I have often dreamed of being my own boss and shape my life schedule around my teaching. It is now becoming real.
“In the future I see expansion. Coaching a swim team, offering private swim coaching, swim camps and lifeguard training programs.”
Meggy coaching tips
“I love coaching stroke, my favourite area of teaching. There are three main principles I work on with the swimmers I coach.”
Neutral head position
Maintaining the neutral position when rotating to take a breath.
Make sure you get a nice reach, but don't extend, at the front end of the stroke.
Bonus tip: “Make arrangements for someone to film you swimming. Viewing yourself in action will help your perspective of your stroke technique. A mobile phone is all you need to obtain clear vision of your swimming style. Try to film from the side, and the front position as you swim towards the camera.”
Back swimming for myself
“At the same time as I was returning to teaching, I returned to the pool for my own personal swimming, working my way back into swim shape swimming with the local USA masters swimming league. This involves swimming three sessions per week in Solana Beach, California at a salt water heated outdoor pool. Being part of these sessions holds me accountable for my efforts as I am not the best swimmer in practise. But when it comes to racing, I am extremely motivated.
“I generally prefer swim sets which are long but do not feel long. I like when the coach breaks the sets and session up enough to kind of trick you as to how much distance you have swam. By the end of the session, you are like OMG, I just swam 2 miles.
“I am looking forward to competing when meets start back up after COVID. Perhaps a 500-yard freestyle or part of the relay team, the two things I enjoy the most.
“In addition, once per week I swim by myself. The solo session is where I try new things in my swimming. It is during these swims where I test certain drills, sets or workouts, which increase my inspiration for future sessions and training sets I coach.
“For me, swimming laps is where I find my most creative ideas; one of the only places I can truly disconnect from the day-to-day challenges of life. I will not wear a smart watch while I swim. I have no need or wish to think about what is happening outside my lane.”
A session example ( 3250) which I would really enjoy will be like this:
Warm Up: 500 swim
(500)
Preset: 4x75 Kick-Drill-Swim
(1200) 300 pull
4x50 knuck paddle working on stroke length
200 swim - focus on stroke ‘catch’
4x25 scull
100 build pace swim
Main set: x8 (100 freestyle @ base + 75 kick with fin)
(1400)
Cool Down:
(150) 2x25 kick with fin underwater (love doing this …. I am a kid again)
100 relax swim
“A good session is when I have used all of my swim equipment, fins, paddles, pull buoy, with my favourite session sets include ‘pulling’ and ‘sculling’.”
Meggy, when a visitor comes to Encinitas California, what places would you recommend they take a swim?
“The Boys and Girls Club In Solana Beach. The pool is outdoors and heated. I just wish it was a 50-meter pool.
“If you are wanting to swim in the ocean, La Jolla shores cove is great”.
And other places you recommend?
“Growing up in Dallas, Texas. My mom would always take us to the SMU outdoor 50-meter pool. I remember the cold-water sprinklers spraying over the pool on the hottest days. It was amazing. The pool isn’t there anymore, sadly. A great memory!
“Open watering swimming at Anini Beach In Kauai
“Barton Springs Natural Spring water in Austin, Texas- A MUST!
“Deep Eddy a natural spring water, in Austin (photo below) A MUST!
“Another goal I have for my swimming future is creating a bucket list of the pools and bodies of water where I want to swim. Worldwide swimming travel, meeting other swimmers along the way.
“On the ‘list’ so far are:
The year 2000 Olympic Pool in Sydney, Australia
Bondi Icebergs pool - Sydney, Australia.
I would love to swim in the Irish Sea in Ireland
I hear there are beautiful pools in Spain and Bali.
These are locations I want to explore and experience.”
Surfing, Aidan, Moondoggie and Herwaves
“My other ‘love’ is surfing. While I learned to surf when I was seven years old, I have only consistently surfed for the past five years. Surfing is where I met my partner Aidan. Surfing together is one of my favourite things.
“Aidan has just bought a Ford transit van and we are currently fitting the van to act as our tiny home to take on road trips. We named the van Moondoggie. It's such a fun project which we are aiming to have ready for August 2021. When fully fitted, our plan is to take a big road trip at the end of summer, maybe all the way to Vancouver Island.
“While I continue to build “Swim with Meggy’ and help to refit Moondoggie, I work in catering for business events (when COVID allows), and I am a part time assistant for a girl surf clothing company called Herwaves.”