The Streamline Brands Blog

August’s Missy Medal for Achievement went to SwimLabs co-founder Michael Mann for setting not one, not two, but three world records at the Masters’ Summer National Meet in Mission Viejo, California. Along with Colorado teammates Craig Petersen, Kirk Andersen, and Greg C. Scott, Michael set a new world record in the (combined ages) 240-279 400-meter Medley Relay. They beat the previous record by 4.53 seconds in a time of 4:32.15.

Streamline Brands is excited to announce the rollout of our enhanced learn to swim curriculum across our family of swim schools: Swimtastic, SafeSplash, and SwimLabs. With a refined emphasis on safety, stroke technique and making swim lessons fun, our enhanced curriculum and true skill progression deliver clear value to students and parents. These attributes, along with our revamped instructor training, teaching aids and technologies, differentiate our swim schools from the rest of the learn to swim market.

“It’s one thing to inspire all these little girls by winning a bunch of medals. That’s easy. But it’s another thing entirely to be an inspiration when things aren’t exactly going your way.” - Missy Franklin, Relentless Spirit: The Unconventional Raising of a Champion

• Few people describe winning a bunch of medals, especially gold medals, as Missy did at the 2012 London Olympics, as “easy.” It’s difficult to win a race at any meet, let alone in the most competitive swim meet in the world. Despite the difficulty and the rarity of winning or setting a record, the swimming world and American culture as a whole glorify winning, setting records, making PR’s, sustaining dominance. A definition of success based on fast times and victories can be seductive but also dangerous to a swimmer’s well-being, as Isabelle Robuck explains in “Defining Success Beyond Fast Times and Medals Just Might Save Your Swimming Career (and Life)” .

On the return to “desk -life” from the “deck-life” after a week in Irvine, CA, watching US Swimming Nationals, I reflected on five life-long and valued lessons that swimming has imparted to me.

When we are younger, people are willing to give us as much support as we need. Parents, teachers, coaches, and good Samaritans always seem to be looking out for us, especially if we ask for help. As we get older we become more self-reliant and our safety net seems to get smaller and smaller until we don’t have one anymore. The support system we took for granted isn’t there anymore and we can feel alone. Some people thrive on going through life without any support, I am not one of those people. I am more than self-sufficient and can get along just fine on my own, but I thrive when I have the right team and support around me.